Cardiff City manager Steve Morison. Pic: Getty Images.

No Club For Old Men . . . Cardiff City Boss Steve Morison Insists He Won’t Sign Thirtysomething Striker

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By Paul Jones

Cardiff City manager Steve Morison insists he will not be bounced into making a poor striker signing just to get the critics off his back.

Morison’s men slumped to another derby day defeat – their fifth in a row – on Sunday when they lost 2-0 in the Severnside derby at Bristol City.

Morison was frustrated with his team’s finishing ability, or lack of it, and said he was fed up of defending his strikers over missed opportunities.

But the blunt-speaking boss has declared that his response will not be to bring in a well-travelled, ageing forward to try and fix the issue.

“What won’t be happening, is I won’t be getting in a 32, 33, 34-year-old centre-forward just because it appeases everyone,” said Morison.

“It has to be the right player. Someone who will take us forward and help us progress.

 

“If that person doesn’t arrive then people better back the people who are here because that’s all we can do.”

Asked of he was close to brining in another forward player before the transfer deadline, Morison admitted there was nothing in the pipeline.

“Nothing, not a thing. Not for the want of trying or backing above. Like I’ve said to everyone who has asked me so far, I can’t magic someone out of thin air.

“Someone is going to have to become available for it to be possible. Because there are absolutely zero names, because everyone wants to talk about it, but no-one has got a name or are bringing anything to the table!

“The recruitment team are working hard on it. But at the minute there is no-one. There is no-one there. I bet no one in here can give me a name. I’m not asking that to be funny. I’m being serious, everyone is saying to get someone.

“The board have been supportive on whatever we need to do and when we need to do it. Everyone has been brilliant.

“If there is someone on a free who hasn’t had a club, they have missed 12 weeks of the season (and pre-season). It’ll take them 12 weeks until they are up and running. But even then, there is no-one who has jumped off the page.

 

“If we get a loan player it’ll ultimately be a young player who has never scored a goal in the Championship. maybe. So, it’s between a rock and a hard place at the minute.

“So, we keep grinding away and I keep backing the players we’ve got. We are getting chances for them, let’s hope they start putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Goals from Tommy Conway and Rob Atkinson gave Bristol City the derby bragging rights.

The home side took a 41st-minute lead when Nahki Wells crossed from the left and Conway got in front of his marker to net his fourth goal of the season with a glancing header.

Centre-back Atkinson made it 2-0 with a stooping header from Joe Williams’ 64th-minute free-kick from the left and Nigel Pearson’s team held out for a deserved three points on his 59th birthday.

Cardiff missed a number of good chances and Morison added “I understand and everyone else understands, everything else doesn’t matter – we lost the game. That’s all anyone cares about and that’s all we care about.

 

“It was always going to be a tough start to the game. Everyone is fresh, energetic. We saw that period out. They had one chance where Rocky (Ryan Allsop) makes a save.

“Then we have the big moment in the game where we have to score and then they go down and score. They got most of their chances through us committing men forward and them hitting us on the counter.

“It’s all pretty much irrelevant. Nothing you say is going to have an effect. It’s another derby defeat.”

 

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