I’ve worked for SIX managers in 12 months and this is why Celtic legend Scott Brown can do well at Fleetwood

FLEETWOOD striker Callum Morton has worked for a staggering SIX different managers in just 12 months.

But he believes Celtic legend Scott Brown — who took over the Cod Army this summer — will prove a success on the north-west coast.

Morton, 22, was on loan from West Brom for the first half of last season but Simon Grayson was sacked in November and replaced by Stephen Cairney.

The frontman then spent the second half of last term in the Championship on loan at Peterborough and had played just five games before Darren Ferguson was axed.

Then he managed one appearance under caretaker Matthew Etherington before Grant McCann took over and froze him out of the side completely after just one game.

Now Morton is back at Fleetwood after signing a three-year deal to play for manager No6. Even a Watford player, past or present, would be hard pressed to have worked for so many different managers!

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And he said: “It was a bit of a whirlwind season but it makes you better for it — experiencing playing under different managers with various styles of play.

“I learned that you had to adapt quickly to different managers.

“Football management is a cut-throat business — a couple of bad results and they’re panicking, trying to switch to different formations and styles as well as putting in different personnel. So you learn to be ready for everything like that.

“That sets you up for managers coming and going. As much as you want stable situations with managers, it does set you up well for the cut-throat business of the game.”

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Grayson was the reason why Morton signed for Fleetwood in the first place — with the ex-Leeds boss making him feel wanted after a difficult injury-hit campaign on loan at Lincoln.

Morton said: “I had a lot of loan options last season at bigger clubs than Fleetwood but Simon made it clear how much he wanted me, how I was going to play in his system and he was going to give me freedom to play. He made me feel wanted and I was so sad it didn’t work out for him here.

“Stephen Crainey stepped up from the under-23s and it was a difficult time for him to come in.

“I had the chance to play in the Championship at Peterborough, which in hindsight was not the right move for me.

“It was a difficult situation for Ferguson as they were battling relegation. It was literally now or never for him.

“We got to the point where we lost a key game to Derby and ultimately that was the end of the reign.

“It was a very unfortunate situation for me to walk into and one for him to find himself in so it didn’t work out as planned.

“After playing one game for Matt Etherington, McCann came in and started me in his first game in charge which we lost 3-0 to Hull. 

“He made it clear soon after he was going down the route of only playing players that would still be at the club the following season — so with me being on loan that wasn’t going to be me.

“It was such a frustrating time because I was training every day and ultimately not getting a sniff in the matchday squad and that was disappointing going from a place where I was comfortable playing good football. 

“That was a decision I made at the time and in hindsight it wasn’t the right one. But sometimes you never know until you take the plunge and do it.”

Morton, though, is happy to be back in Lancashire. The club are ambitious after a season that saw them only stay up on goal difference.

The striker won promotion from League Two with Northampton via the play-offs two years ago.

And he said of Brown: “The new gaffer has been very intense, which you would  expect from a former player of his calibre. He wants the standards to be really high around the club, whether that be on the training pitch, in the dressing room or even around the canteen. He has made that clear from day one that those are his expectations.

“This group has bought into that and you can tell it’s going to be an intense season with games and training. He is going to be good for the club. He’s the profile of manager you want —young, hungry and as a young player myself I want to be learning off someone who has played at a high level.

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“And you can see by the calibre of player he has brought in so far. Players who have come to Fleetwood who have played at a higher level than this have come to the club for the  way they grow players as well as the manager and who is here  — and the squad is definitely getting stronger.

“We just need to not concede as many goals as last season.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk