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Glen Williams

The Sean Morrison interview: My untold Cardiff City stories and the difficult conversation that ended it all

Stick Sean Morrison's name right up there among the very best in the pantheon of great Cardiff City leaders.

He gave Cardiff eight-and-a-half years of service and did so with aplomb. He played almost 300 games, won a promotion to the Premier League as captain, scored 33 goals and had a similar number of hairstyles and slam-dunk fancy dress outfits.

He will be remembered so fondly by most in this little corner of the world as a lion-hearted defender but also as one of the most charismatic players ever to pull on the famous blue shirt. A credit to the club he loves so dearly and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought the contrary.

READ MORE: Cardiff City trying to sign 'goal threat' as boss gets green light to chase transfer targets

Last week, the news many probably anticipated but few were ready to hear was announced that Morrison would depart Cardiff City. The word "legend" was rightly thrown about on social media, but Morrison is unsure on how that phrase sits with him.

"I don't know," he says. "It's odd, I guess.

"When you're in it, you don't really look at the stuff you achieve or how people perceive you. I got sent lots of lots of nice messages and the stuff that sat with me the most wasn't the messages of people talking about stuff on the field, but the stuff people were sending me about how I affected their lives or brought them joy in a small moment from just the stuff I did off the pitch.

"That was the stuff that really stuck with me and it meant a lot."

Morrison signed in 2014, a £4m move from Reading, on the same day a dear friend of his, Anthony Pilkington. He estimates there were 45 players in the changing room at that time and new acquaintances were forced to share clothes hooks and bench space.

Russell Slade sorted the wheat from the chaff, trimmed down the squad and, over time, as Morrison puts it, they became a "family".

Morrison became central to that family. He captained the club from 2016 to 2022 and took Cardiff fans on one heck of a ride. Looking back now, though, there is one moment in particular which still makes the hairs on his neck stand on end. And it'll be one that resonates with thousands of Cardiff fans.

"I mean, the goal away at Hull, I still see that video now sometimes and it still gives me goosebumps!" he says, smile beaming, of the strike in April 2018 which shot City back into second place in a huge boost for their promotion hopes.

"Running over to that corner that will live with me forever, that corner of that stadium where there must have been 3,500 fans all in fancy dress. It was the most incredible feeling ever. I'm very fortunate for that to have happened to me.

"And the Reading game. There's a small clip when the fans run on the pitch and me, Mendez (Nathaniel Mendez-Laing) and Pelts (Lee Peltier) are kind of hugging and then as soon as the whistle went I remember just looking across the pitch and we ended up getting rugby tackled by about 40 fans on the deck!

"That was a real family, that changing room."

Watch the Hull goal below

There is no doubting, though, that his favourite thing of all, promotions, goals, celebration parties included, was his relationship with the fans. It's a recurring theme in this interview, the thing which brings him the most joy is the memories he leaves the Bluebirds faithful.

And, suffice to say, they made their mark on him, too.

"My favourite thing about the eight and a half years I was in Cardiff was the fans, I genuinely mean that as well," he adds.

"It was never a problem to take an hour or two out of my time to sign autographs or meet people, take photos and just get to know the fans as best as possible.

"Once I got a couple of years in, these people become friends and you see them after every game and just build relationships with people, meet people's kids. Putting a smile on a kid's face was honestly the greatest gift. Because when I started playing football, to even think that I could have that effect on a young kid who wants to be a footballer is insane to me and it still blows my mind."

One particular interaction with fans, just after Cardiff had won promotion to the Premier League in 2018, goes down as his most treasured, if hilarious, memory. One which his mum still brings up to this day, in fact.

"After we got promoted against Reading, I was having a few beers at the stadium and then we had to get a taxi back home with my missus, mum and dad," he begins.

"So I'm in my club suit, got my medal around my neck and jumped in a taxi, we turn right to go from Canton and by the pub on the corner, the Canton Vaults, there's probably about 1,000 Cardiff City fans stood outside and somebody's clocked me in the taxi.

"I feel so sorry for the taxi driver, because his taxi got mobbed! The windows came down, there were people leaning in the car, mushing the taxi driver in the face, scruffing up my hair, scruffing up my mum's hair.

"There were guys on the bonnet of the car bouncing the car up and down, all singing songs.

"My mum was up at Christmas and she was talking about how amazing that was, because it was literally a couple of hundred fans all bouncing the car up and down. It was phenomenal!"

And we couldn't do a whole interview with out mentioning his famous fancy dress outfits. There were some absolute corkers in there. But, you'll be pleased to hear, he does have a favourite.

"It was the Christmas do, dressing up as Kiss!" he laughs. "Myself, Flinty (Aden Flint), Isaac Vassell and James Collins.

"Yeah, that was a good morning for us all in a hotel room, trying to paint each other's faces!"

It was noted that Mark Hudson cited the environment Morrison created for new players to enter at Cardiff. Morrison knows how difficult it can be for some people to integrate in a new environment and points out that, with Cardiff, players generally up sticks and move their families to the Welsh capital, unlike some clubs in the north of England or London, for example.

So it can be a challenging time for new signings. Morrison took the responsibility of helping players to settle in very seriously, but he can't take all the credit.

Being captain of a club like Cardiff City is a two-person job, according to Morrison, and he reserved special thanks to his wife, Stacey, without whom, he believes his experience at the club would have been far worse.

"When players come and sign for Cardiff, whether on loan or permanently, Stacey, literally the first day, she'll try and find them on social media, their wife or their girlfriend, she'll add them, she'll get their number and then they get put straight into the girls' group chat," he says.

"Stacey was always a massive advocate for trying to make them feel welcome as well because not only would that help players settle in, it helps the family settling completely and she's been incredible the whole time I've been here. She's my rock. She's the one that sees me when I come home after we've lost two, three, four-nil and has to deal with my mood swings and my grumpiness.

"So without her, I know my career at Cardiff would never have been what it was. And she's gutted to have left. We put down roots. You make so many friends, away from football as well, it was it was a tough one to take."

Morrison played 90 minutes for Cardiff's under-21s against Sunderland on December 21, a 2-0 win. He found out he was not getting a contract just a few days before.

"Huds (Mark Hudson) pulled me and we had a really tough chat to be honest. Because we are friends, we've known each other a long time, and it was a conversation I probably felt like he shouldn't have had to have done. But I'm glad it was him," he says.

"The writing was on the wall for me, anyway. I knew, previous to that conversation, I believed that was going to happen. I knew it was coming. And I'd got I got my head around it a long time ago."

Asked if he thought he would have received a contract last summer if his horrible ACL injury at Barnsley in February last year hadn't have happened, he doesn't hesitate with his reply.

"I think I would have got a contract. Yeah."

He goes on: "It's part and parcel of the game. Would it have been nice if I didn't get injured? Yes, absolutely. And for it to be such a severe one with the ACL.

"But once it happened and there was kind of breakdown in communication from then to the beginning of pre-season, that's when I was disappointed and angry and not sure what was happening. I was kind of left in limbo. That, for me, is what hurt the most.

"That's when I got my head around it, really. Once I could then focus in on the rehab and just think: 'Do this for yourself, do this for yourself, do this yourself,' by the time it had come to December, I was fully fine with whatever decision Cardiff City made."

Morrison found out about Rotherham's interest just before the New Year. He saw it as a good opportunity to play Championship football and, as he puts it, "go to war on a Saturday" again.

"Look, I'm not match fit in terms of playing game after game after game, but I'm ready to play matches," he says.

"To be involved on a Saturday, my first game in probably 11 and a half months since I had the injury. As a competitor, someone who wants to win and wants to compete, that's what I've missed the most, going into war on a Saturday. That's what you want to do as a footballer, after all the hard work of playing I'm very excited."

There is the little matter of Rotherham playing against Cardiff City in March, which, as you can imagine, has not escaped Morrison's attention. One thing he can bank on, he reckons, is his old pal trying to kick lumps out of him.

"It's exciting!" he says. "I'm a bit sad, though, I'm a bit gutted it's not at Cardiff City Stadium, to be honest. That was the thing I was most hurt about initially, the thought of not being able to put on the shirt again and walk out in front of the fans and have a proper goodbye.

"I'm sure I'll get another opportunity in the next few years to come back and have that. So we get the second best option, playing them up at our place, at Rotherham. It will be strange to come up against Rallsy (Joe Ralls)! When you've played alongside someone for so many years, to now be on the other side of the pitch to him is going to be strange.

"I'll be excited. I'm going to remind him that I'm going to want his shirt. But he will be kicking lumps out of me!"

Morrison is still just 32 and hopes to have many more years of playing the game. He does, though, have one eye on what comes next, having already obtained his UEFA B coaching licence. He hopes to do his A licence at some point in the next 18 months, too.

He is unsure just yet as to whether he will go down that route post-retirement, whenever that might be, but he views it as another string to his bow. It would be a crying shame if he didn't carry on in football, though, because the sport would be a far worse place without him.

So, too, is Cardiff. While he, and fans, likely understand the footballing reasons why he is not with the club anymore, his presence and charisma around the place leaves a massive hole. The feeling is mutual, too, of course.

When asked for his final message to those brilliant Bluebirds who supported him the length and breadth of the country for more than eight years, his answer is as classy as you would expect from such a man.

"When the club asked me to write a message of thanks, the first I wrote out was about 17 paragraphs long!" he laughs.

"I've got so much to say, but just thank you, really. Thank you for so many amazing memories over the years. Every Cardiff fan I had the pleasure of meeting, you made mine and Stacey's time in Cardiff an honour and joy. I am very privileged to have played for so many years and so many games for an incredible football club.

"It was a dream come true to be able to pull that shirt on so many times."

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