Rovers Sign Striker Morrow


By Matthew Jones
August 30 2010

Tranmere Rovers have today completed the signing of another striker, as Sam Morrow joins from Coleraine

 

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Tranmere Rovers have today signed their fourth new striker of the summer, with Sam Morrow joining from Irish club Coleraine.

Former Ipswich striker Morrow has joined for a nominal fee, though Tranmere have not announced the length of the contract Morrow has signed at the club.

 

25-year old Morrow started his career with Ipswich before joining Scottish club Hibernian in 2004 having made only one appearance for the Tractor Boys.

Three years at Hibs saw Morrow net only three times in 40 appearances for the club, though he scored twice in eleven games on loan at Livingstone and once in a further eight games on loan at Partick.

Hibernians Sam Morrow (white) challenges Gedi Butrimavicius during the Intertoto Cup second round fi


After being released by Hibs in 2007, Morrow joined Derry City in Ireland where over a two year spell he scored 14 times in 44 games before joining Coleraine last February, though he failed to score in three games for the club.

Morrow, born in Northern Ireland, has also represented his country at U21 level, though is yet to make an appearance for the full side.

The striker joins Rovers have impressed boss Les Parry whilst on trial at the club last week and will go straight into Tranmere's side to face Accrington Stanley tomorrow night in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy.  He is expected to wear the number ten shirt vacated by Terry Gornell.

Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Total Tranmere (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 10:33

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Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matthew the rover (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 10:37

So this transfer has gone through. Give this lad a chance please, hopefully he'll do well. He's got a decent goalscoring record in Ireland (about 1 in 4) whilst his record at Hibs is misleading I think as about three quarters of his appearances were as a substitute.

Les seems keen on him and he could well be there missing thing we need up front.

Welcome Sam, now lets have some goals!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: bigmart (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 11:23

I wonder if he will play wide in a 4-3-3 or meaybe we could revert to 4-4-2 and he will play alongside enoch.

Fingers crossed that he can do a good job for us in whatever position he plays in.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matthew the rover (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 12:13

I'd imagine that with so many injuries at the moment we'll play 442 tomorrow

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Kop Man Mike (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 12:54

i agree with Mathew the rover.

please give this lad a chance.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: guitarian (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 14:34

I know Les said there was gonna be no panic buying, but is this the 5th or 6th new striker he's brought in? I'm sure they've all got some good qualities, but this seems crazy to me

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Date: 30/08/2010 14:56

Welcome Sammy lad, lets get some goals!

Come on!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: sean trfc (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 15:19

lets hope that he scores goals and les parry doesnt take enoch of for him

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: dr.death (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 16:03

Let's go 442 with Enoch and sam up top creswell and zoum on the left darville and fraughn on the right

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Kop Man Mike (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 16:05

i hope we play 4-4-2 tomorrow.

this should be the team:

Collister

Darvill
Blanchard
Goody
Cresser

Brown
Welsh
Labadie
Fruaghan or (moore if fit)

enoch
Morrow

how did Zoom play at CB on Saturday ?? maybe we can play him at CB ?

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: DevonExile (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 16:11

What is the basis of the claim that he has a good strike rate.His career record suggests the opposite. It reads like a record of failure.Over the years we have had a number of players that failed to make the grade with an English team and then returned to Ireland before signing for Rovers. I cannot think of one that was even remotely a success.

I am not getting at the individual but this looks like another signing typical of so many in the last 18 months i,e nothing on paper to make the pulse run and most have lived down to expectation

Ofcourse lower league clubs sometimes discover gems through good scouting. If,for example,.
we had signed a striker from non-league football that had a good scoring record at a lower level I would be excited for some such players make the transistion given time. On the other hand I see no reason to assume that a 25 year old that is not scoring in Irish football, will suddenly become successful in Div 1.

It is odd that so m any supporters will dismiss lightly the loss of Curran and Gornell, who still have time to improve, yet will spring to the defence of any new signing.I know that final judgement of a player must await performance on the pitch.It is,however perfectly reasonable to evaluate a signing. Some assume that a negative assessment is getting on the players back.There is no justification for that conclusion.At a match I would always support a player. Sadly this seems on first evidence like a signing that is consistent with the pattern of squad that is decling in quality

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: dr.death (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 16:41

A lot of people took swipes at Enoch when they looked at his record but given a few games and his match fitness improving he has two in two. So we should not judge a book by it's cover and give a player time to settle and get used to their new surroundings and then make a judgement either good or bad. Let's stop this negativity and can we get back to supporting our team through thick and thin. Just remember u could go and become glory hunters and take the ferry across the Mersey!!!!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matt34 (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 17:17

People need to see the bigger picture. His goalscoring record is NOT the only thing he is going to do. His record is not misleading, not if you take into account the number of times, he may have made assists / key contributions.

3 in 11 for Livingston. Couple of assists, would make that 5 in 11.

Partick 1 in 8. Couple of assists, 3 in 8.

Derry City 14 in 44. 10 assists, (which I think is feasible), 1 in 1.8 average roughly

Coleraine 0 in 3. 2-3 assists would make this good.

People overlook such things, thats's why (as I've stated before), Peter Crouch assisted 6 times in 9 games and helped put Liverpool top 3, but he was moaned at for not scoring.

I wouldn't care if Morrow got 15 assists and no direct goals. The team need goals, frankly, if 1/5 of all goals this season came from deflections I wouldn't care. His record to me is not helped by certain sites failing to list his other contributions.

I can't say how many times he's "indirectly" scored, but for me Tranmere have signed a guy with 100+ games to his name, some maturity and a little international experience, albeit not at the highest level.

Come on people, what do you want? Another striker that's played less than 10 times for a Chamionship club as a starting and substitute player and is under 21?

What's the betting at least one person comes on here, if Morrow scores or assists against Accrington and moans that it was in a meaningless competition against lower league opposition and proves nothing.

To me this is a great signging, considering Les hadn't even got around another £600 a week to try and get people like Trundle, Macken, Hume and Owens.

He's got experience, played in different footballing scenarios. The time at Hibs will be good, as he's experienced playing against players, most of whom are equal to or better than the standard of around the top 20% in league 1.

I like him and I want this to work out and frankly if Tranmere had had a budget of around £2,500 a week, I wouldn't have been dissapointed if he was one of maybe 4-5 new strikers signed this season.

Considering the expreience we've got this season from new signings, he's the only one apart from Blanchard, Cathalina and Showunmi that has close to or above 100 games to their name. Some signings had 0-10 appearances and were barely above school age.

People wanted experienced players at Tranmere. He's got some, which considering the not far off tinpot financial constraints, les is working with. Morrow is a good signing, although admittedly a 1 year deal isn't ideal, if what I read is true, but hopefully if he's on maybe 6-8 goals direct and / or indirect by Christmas, they could leverage at least another year on his contract.

GOOD FOR LES I say, managing to procure such players, especially Showunmi. If Tranmere do have a fighting chance of staying up this season, right now it's Les, Kevin and the backroom guys who CAN do it, not Paul This, Ian that, or Jose the other (Sm15)

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: SWA (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 17:26

We're not going to get goals by signing loads of strikers, we need a creative midfielder to create the chances for the strikers. We could have 100 strikers and none of them would score 10 goals due to the lack of service from midfield!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Dazbowski (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 18:02

Amen to that!

I also think McGurk will start ahead of this lad, short term at least.

Why so many strikers though? As the above post righly says you can play 6 strikers and score no goals if there is noone in midfield ceating for them!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Kop Man Mike (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 19:01

i wonder if adam Mcgurk would be any good on the wing???

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: SWA (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 19:50

Rather than playing unheard of strikers out wide, why don't we just sign a wide player? Parry's decision to waste his budget signing 6/7 strikers but no creative midfielder and wide player is bizarre.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matt34 (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 21:34

I understand the comments about midfielders, but don't forget, Tranmere can integrate Blanchard into midfield, Cathalina could possibly play wide and Mahon when he's back, plus Taylor can be integrated into the middle too. Though I did think maybe one or two new midfeilders might come, but it's still possible by tomorrow.

The strikers could be seen as some kind of strength in depth exercise, given the formation typically used I would suspect.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matthew the rover (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 22:42

DevonExile, Iain Hume's strike rate whilst at Tranmere was hardly great, but most would have him back...Ian Muir had a shocking strike rate before being signed by Frank Worthington, many consider him the best player to ever wear the white shirt...Chris Greenacre scored nine goals in 83 games for Stoke, but then I bet you'd have him back too.

Look at the bigger picture. Some players don't click at some clubs, make the change and then just completely turn themselves around.

Yes, his record's not great, but as pointed out earlier in the thread, Morrow made 40 appearances for Hibs...30 of them from the bench!!! It's hardly surprising he's not been "prolific" when this was his longest spell with a club! He's done alright for Derry and didn't really get a go at Coleraine, but he's obviously impressed all our staff in training and has been offered a contract. What's to suggest he won't score goals here?

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: SWA (IP Logged)
Date: 30/08/2010 23:01

"What's to suggest he won't score goals here?"

Because he hasn't anywhere else, like the rest of our strikers!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: daveyc (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 04:14

Here we go again, the Tranmere Rovers Critics Club, rather than supporters club.

Shut up moaning and give the TEAM a chance. Stop highlighting individual players and picking on them because they have no credible history. We 'support' a team...A TEAM! Not individuals. This is a team sport, get behind the god damn TEAM!

I personally don't care how many goals he's scored elsewhere. Elsewhere IS NOT HERE! All that matters is what these players do for TRANMERE ROVERS and at the moment, neither McGurk, Adkins or Morrow have kicked a ball, yet people are grumbling.

I'm not going to go on and on with examples, but if some of you knew anything about football you would be more than aware of the endless list of players who flop at some clubs and shine at others.

Teams of individuals do not work, teams of team players do. Statistically, Fulham were a better European Team than Real Madrid last season, Bobby Zamora scored 3 times as many as Benzema across the season, yet I don't see Mourinho splashing 30million out on him.

Stop moaning, start singing and start SUPPORTING OUR TEAM, WHOEVER THAT MIGHT BE!

Super White Army!

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: @gony (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 10:17

well said Daveyc

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: DevonExile (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 11:12

Except there is no evidence that this squad is forming into an effective team.In fact all the evidence suggests otherwise.I envy the optimists but it is the quality or lack of it on the field and not the optimism or otherewise of supporters that determines success.Getting behind a team at the match may make amarginal diffference but it is nonsense to suggest that an appraisal on a discussion board makers any difference

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matt34 (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 17:46

Good point about some peoples fortunes at some clubs.

Chelsea paid £10,000,000 for Chris Sutton and he was pants.

He went to Celtic and he was prolific again, the same as he was at Blackburn.

Besides, look what happens sometimes when Tranmere sign experienced players. Stuart Barn Door Barlow, crap at Everton, very good for Oldham and Wigan then poor for Tranmere. His revived fortunes at 3rd tier level, would have suggested a pretty decent return at 2nd tier level, but it didn't happen.

Stuart Rideout, his lasting Legacy, a Hat-trick for Tranmere against Southampton in the Cup, during the cup run days.

Shevchenko and Robinho also spring to mind, as players failing to live up to billing at some clubs.

Look at it this way. At least if one or two Tranmere players, do turn out to be as stinky as rotten haddock, at least it won't cost the club several million to find out.

Cheap@#$%&is still better than expensive crap.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: TT Admin (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 22:02

Stuart Rideout????tongue sticking out smiley

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matthew the rover (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 22:18

Liked the look of Morrow tonight. He looks decent. Composed and clearly knows what he wants to do when he gets the ball.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matt34 (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 23:33

Quote:
Deadly Submarine
Stuart Rideout????tongue sticking out smiley

(Sm126) (Sm126)

Got me bang to rights. I suppose I should really give mention to other former players as well, like Micky Malkin, Wayne McGreal, Clint Aldridge and Reuben Higgins (Sm7) (Sm6)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:31:23:34:08 by Matt34.

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: TT Admin (IP Logged)
Date: 31/08/2010 23:48

(Sm22)(Sm152)

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: Matt34 (IP Logged)
Date: 01/09/2010 18:19

I was alwyas a fan of Calvin McNab at Tranmere, but Eugene Greenacre was class (Sm105).

Re: Rovers Sign Striker Morrow
Posted by: ivvy (IP Logged)
Date: 02/09/2010 00:10

THere no glory across the Mersey !!
DEvon Exile has a point. Players are called strikers even if they don't score. On the other hand, nobody can score unless other players are working with him to that end, and that's down to the manager.
I was heartened to see Showunmi score a couple and make it look easy. I did note that at Dagenham we had people in their box when we scored, We need them there from the word go. Give me a side that can score one more than the opposition rather than sit back in fear of conceeding.

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