After The Real EFL exclusively revealed ongoing negotiations between Jody Morris and Swindon Town for the vacant head coach role at The County Ground, we wanted to take a closer look at the man leading the race.
https://therealefl.co.uk/2023/01/25/exclusive-swindon-town-head-coach-search-update/
Jody Morris was a midfielder who started his career in the Chelsea academy alongside John Terry. He became the youngest-ever player to play for Chelsea in the Premier League at the time when he made his debut against Middlesborough. In the 96/97 season, he was awarded Chelsea’s young player of the season.
During his time at Chelsea, he made 124 appearances earning himself a FA Cup winner’s medal in that time. He had a brief spell as captain under the late great Gianluca Vialli.
https://twitter.com/CFC_Chris_/status/1252296953456734209?s=20&t=8S_ORT0VZ5EmnnulE_33GA
Jody, after losing out on his starting spot, was offered a new deal at Chelsea but chose to pursue options elsewhere. He then had short spells at Elland Road and Rotherham before moving on to Millwall where he made 70 first-team appearances, unfortunately suffering a Cruciate Knee Ligament injury.
Morris then moved his career up into Scotland with St Johnstone where he would go on to feature 104 times contributing four goals. Following on from this Jody then moved back down south to Bristol City but had a fairly unsuccessful spell at the club which ended up in him leaving.
In pursuit of a managerial career, he returned to where it all started for him at Chelsea. He featured as a coach for three years in the academy, before being promoted to head coach. Jody led the team to success where he won the FA Youth Cup, they played a high-intensity possession-based attacking football with an ability to use several different formations. While Morris was head coach of the Chelsea Under 18’s they won 59 matches and lost just five times winning the quadruple in 2017-2018.
Former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard took over at Derby County and Morris took the step into the men’s coaching game managing players such as Mason Mount. Morris then followed Frank back to Chelsea as part of the first-team coaching staff following the Blues appointment of Frank Lampard where he remained until Lampard was sacked. He has been out of work since but has been a regular on Sky Sports and other TV and Radio stations.
https://twitter.com/AlexGoldberg_/status/1255596705095061512?s=20&t=8S_ORT0VZ5EmnnulE_33GA
Writers View…
Personally, I think that this is an excellent appointment for Swindon as he has previous experience in the coaching game. He has shown experience in being able to play adaptive fast-flowing football which is what Swindon is looking for. As well as this he will have many contacts from previous career paths that Swindon could potentially be utilizing. He will be linking up with someone he used to coach in Marcel Lavinier. His ability to develop younger players will certainly fit the style the club are wanting to implement going forward.
How fantastic! This appointment is making me re-live the exciting days of Glen Hoddle’s tenure at Swindon. We know where we want to get and this appointment would be the way to do it. Not only exciting football on the pitch but investment in the improvement of the youngsters. The only ‘shadow’ in Jody’s CV would the unsuccessful time at Bristol City. Why was that a failure? I would love to know. Good luck Jody. COYR.