Is Ravel Morrison destined to be England’s new Gazza?

Ravel Morrison - a wasted talent

There are few things in life more frustrating than watching a person of great promise spurn their talents. The list of great footballers who, for any number of reasons, never amounted to the sum of their individual parts is too long to be broached in this article.

However, it is striking that in the same week Paul Gascoigne was offered a fresh-start in English football (having almost killed himself during a marathon drinking session), the Manchester Magistrates Court confirmed that Ravel Morison will go on trial next year over allegations that he threatened to throw acid in the face of his ex-girlfriend and have her killed.

Gascoigne, of course, has become something of a by-word in English football culture for great talent never realized. And the manner in which Gazza’s tendency towards self-destruction ultimately ruined his career hauntingly prefigures the fate that has befallen Morrison.

In this light, the Birmingham City manager Lee Clarke’s comment to the BBC last year that “he [Morrison] is the best [English] footballer since Paul Gascoigne” takes on an unsettling prescience.

It was not long ago that Morrison stood as the great white hope of English football.

The midfielder joined Manchester United in 2009, aged 16. Morrison made his first-team debut just over a year later in the League Cup and was called up to represent England at under age level shortly after.

In the 2010/11 season Morrison was also a central force in driving Manchester United to the FA Youth Cu, becoming a sure bet for parlays.

Hype began to abound the young midfielder who Sir Alex Ferguson famously referred to as “the most talented youth product to come out of Carrington since Paul Scholes.” Indeed, Scholes himself tipped Morrison for greatness after his FA Youth Cup exploits.

But it is poignant to reflect on what Morrison’s career could have been had he heeded Steve Cording’s advice and replicated Scholes’ professional approach to the game.

Because at this point off-the-pitch troubles were already beginning to stymie the 18-year-old’s progress at Old Trafford.

Where it all went wrong for Morrison

Morrison received a referral order for witness intimidation in mid-2011, and was soon back in court again in connection with an incident in which he smashed his girlfriend’s phone during an argument.

By 2012 Morrison’s bad media reputation and frequent absences from training were sufficient for Ferguson to cut loose a talent who he had long ear-marked as a future star.

In January 2012 Morrison was sold to West Ham for a cut-price £650,000.

The Hammer’s boss, Sam Allardyce, was quoted by Paul Hayward of The Telegraph as stating that Sir Alex confided in him that Morrison is "a brilliant footballer” who “could be a genius if you can sort him out… [he] needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life."

And although Morrison did not reform himself immediately upon his arrival at Upton Park (he was fined £7,000 by the FA for publishing a homophobic Tweet just a month after joining the Hammers), media controversy gradually quietened down around him and the midfielder began to force his way into Allardyce’s first-XI after a loan spell at Birmingham City.

By the beginning of last season Morrison had become an automatic starter for West Ham and the media celebrated his resurrection.

Jacob Steinberg of The Guardian and The Daily Mail’s Laurie Whitwell both wrote gushing pieces in praise of the 21-year-old after he scored a wonder goal against Spurs during West Ham’s 0-3 win at White Hart Lane last year.

Indeed, there was even speculation that the midfielder was in line for a place in Roy Hodgson’s World Cup squad.

But after January this year, the same off-field issues that plagued Morrison’s fledgling career at Old Trafford returned. He lost his place in the Hammers’ first-team and was sent on loan to QPR for the second half of the season – effectively ending any hope that the player may have had of travelling to Brazil.

Furthermore, Morrison became involved in an on-pitch bust-up with the Manchester United winger, Wilfred Zaha, during an England Under-21s match against Lithuania.

Despite rumoured interest from Cardiff City, the midfielder’s progress has stalled once more. And given that Morrison’s up-coming court case could result in a jail sentence, the 21-year-old may well join the unenviable ranks of prodigiously talented young English footballers who never realized their potential.

Both Queens Park Ranger’s manager, Harry Redknapp, and the Liverpool boss, Brendan Rodgers, have spoken this summer of emerging English players being given too much, too young; and Gazza was perhaps the first and highest-profile talent to fall victim to the insidious celebrity culture that characterizes English football today.

Ultimately Morrison’s decline is nobody’s fault but his own. However, the manner in which he is exalted by fans and the media one week and ravaged by them the next has undoubtedly contributed to his struggles.

In this context, Morrison’s plight should give us some pause for thought about the way in which we engage with the English football media. Because if too much pressure is heaped on 17 and 18-year-old shoulders too consistently, the likelihood of a talent like Morrison achieving what he is capable of looks very remote.