Youth development is a slow-burning process in which results are rarely fully forthcoming until several years down the line.
There are countless examples of such in a Bristol City context; Tommy Conway being the most obvious having signed for the Robins at the age of seven before making his Championship breakthrough 13 years later after several loans and careful nurturing through the age groups.
Alex Scott is slightly different, at the other end of the scale - albeit having previously experienced an academy at Southampton and being of a more mature age - but it took him just 18 months from joining City’s Under-18 programme to starring for the first-team.
Not wanting to make comparisons, and City technical director Brian Tinnion is cautious in doing so - admittedly while highlighting Lloyd Kelly’s similarly rapid progress as a reference point - but Elijah Morrison’s path could prove to be the quickest of them all.
The 16-year-old was only recruited last August via the impressive Bristol Inner City Academy in Easton, yet four months after taking his GCSEs he finds himself training regularly with the first-team, appearing on the bench for a League Cup tie - and had City not been losing to Lincoln City he may well have made his debut - and, on Saturday, making a notable contribution against a Premier League side.
City beat Southampton 2-0 at the High Performance Centre with Morrison assisting one of Tommy Conway’s two goals as he closed down a Saints defender, robbing him high up the field before feeding the frontman.
Tinnion has not only been impressed with his progress, but how comfortable and at-ease he’s been with his elevated surroundings in such a short period of time.
“We recruited Elijah from Bristol Inner City as an under-16, so he hasn’t even been in the academy that long," Tinnion told Bristol Live. "We saw him when we watched Ephraim Yeboah, who we signed, and Elijah was in the same team, and then we went and watched him in a cup final and he was very, very good.
“So, we took Elijah as an under-16 and then he’s come in and hit the ground running; he’s a great lad, really athletic, a good runner, competes well, will tackle, will head it, has got quality with the ball.
“He was at school four months ago and he’s come into the building and he’s just hit the ground running. He’s thriving, he’s training with the first team - they’re really encouraging him. He looks at home, which is quite unbelievable really for a lad who only left school in the summer and was playing for BIC.”
While these first few steps have been deeply impressive, and captured the imagination of the staff at the club, nobody is getting carried away - least of all Tinnion who knows, for all the smooth sailing, choppier waters could lie ahead.
The secret is increasingly out; appearing on senior benches at the age of 16 will do that, plus the simple fact he is now being asked about the teenager who, until he made his bow for the Under-21s in October, was barely known to anyone outside of Failand or those with a key eye on youth football in Bristol.
“I remember I put Lloyd Kelly straight with the Under-21s once he finished school, so he missed the 18s,” Tinnion added. “I don’t like to put too much pressure because he’s doing well at the minute but they’ll have their ups and downs; they’ll have a period when they’re flying and then they’ll have a dip, and it’s how we support them in that time.
“But he’s a talented boy. We talk about mentality, he’s one of the most focused with one of the best attitudes I’ve ever seen in a young player, if I’m honest. He’s thriving with the opportunities he’s getting.”
Beyond his talent and ceiling, what’s fascinating about Morrison is exactly which position he’ll end up specialising in. His ability on the ball lends him to a creative No10 role, but as he’s been deployed mainly in the Under-21s, Tinnion believes he’ll increasingly migrate to a wide role on his natural left-hand side. Blessed with attacking skills and defensive tenacity, he could develop into a natural winger, or an all-round wing-back.
“He plays with such an intensity and drive, so he can play as a 10 or an attacking 8 but he’ll probably end up as a left wing-back or left winger because he’s aggressive, he’s quick, he can go past people, he can deliver, he can score goals,” Tinnion said.
“So we’re excited about him but there are other ones who just haven’t had that opportunity yet, who you may find in two years time there’s one above Elijah Morrison because that’s how it works. There’s a window of opportunity, they get it, but there’s others chomping just behind to get that opportunity.”
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