Morrison stalls on Blues contract
Clinton Morrison is refusing to sign a new contract with Birmingham as he fears losing his place for country as he has done for club.
Not for the first time in his career at St Andrews, Morrison finds himself firmly down manager Steve Bruce’s pecking order when it comes to strikers.
Bruce recently confirmed he wants to sign Walter Pandiani on a permanent basis as the Argentinian has proved a big hit at City since his arrival from Deportivo La Coruna at the end of January on a loan deal until the end of the season.
With Emile Heskey back in the England fold, and Robbie Blake trying to justify his £1.2m (€1.7m) price tag since his transfer window move from Burnley, 25-year-old Morrison has become a bit-part player with Blues.
His mood has altered dramatically because after the Republic’s 1-0 win over Portugal in a Lansdowne Road friendly on February 9, Morrison made it clear he was willing to stay and fight for his place and put pen to paper on a new deal being offered by Bruce.
But since then he has played just 65 minutes of first-team football, coming off after an hour of a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last month and then playing just two minutes as substitute to Pandiani in Sunday’s derby victory over Aston Villa.
With the World Cup on the horizon next summer, Morrison can see himself only keeping the bench warm in Germany should the Republic qualify from a tight Group Four.
“I’m keeping my options open which is always the best way,” said Morrison, in stark contrast to his comments of six weeks ago.
“All any footballer wants to do is play football, not just sit on the bench, and at the moment I am sitting on the bench.
“The manager [Bruce] has offered me something, but I don’t want to sign it right now. I want to wait until the end of the season and see what happens.”
Morrison’s situation is made worse by the fact Sunderland striker Stephen Elliott has been promoted from the under-21s for Saturday’s clash against Israel in Tel Aviv as he is playing regularly and scoring goals for the Coca-Cola Championship leaders.
Morrison can sense Elliott breathing down his neck, adding: “Stephen is a young striker who is doing well at Sunderland and is one for the future.
“He is coming through, so you do have a slight worry and look over your shoulder every now and again, but I’ve got confidence in my ability to stay in the team.
“I know he is playing regular football and scoring goals, but I’ve scored goals in that division, so I’m not going to get into a debate about whether he has scored goals.
“I’ve proved I can score goals in that division which is just a step up to the Premier League, and I don’t think I’ve done too badly scoring seven goals in 12 starts.
“So I don’t worry about other people. I just look at what Clinton Morrison is doing and if he is producing when he puts on that green jersey then he should stay in the team.
“If I keep playing like I do then I don’t think I should be dropped.”
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