In the second part of a new series on Live4Liverpool titled ‘After Melwood’ (Andy Firth was the subject of the first instalment), we profile ex-Liverpool academy players who never managed to establish themselves at Anfield and examine what became of their careers after their departure from the Reds. This time, we look at one-time Academy striker Adam Morgan.
Now 25, Morgan recently shed some new light on an incident between Brendan Rodgers and Raheem Sterling on Liverpool’s pre-season tour of USA in 2012. The now-Manchester City winger appeared to shout “steady” at his manager after being called out on his attitude, with Rodgers duly threatening to send Sterling home if he repeated that indiscretion.
However, in a newly-published article by James Pearce for The Athletic about the sometimes pilloried Being:Liverpool documentary, Morgan claimed: “It maybe gave some people the wrong impression about Raheem because he’s such a nice fella, so down to earth. Raheem was adamant he had said ‘he stepped on my toe’ after feeling like he should have had a free-kick, but Brendan heard it as him saying ‘steady’.”
Adam Morgan at Liverpool
Morgan made a name for himself in Liverpool’s youth ranks after scoring 21 goals in 20 games for the under-18s in 2010/11 and apparently he had even been earmarked as ‘the next Robbie Fowler’. After Rodgers took the managerial reins from Kenny Dalglish in 2012, he brought the teenager with the first team squad on their pre-season tour to North America.
In the youngster’s first appearance with the senior side, albeit in a friendly, he scored for Liverpool in a 1-1 draw against Toronto FC, Rodgers’ first match as Reds manager. He was called into the starting line-up for a subsequent friendly against Tottenham and made his competitive first team debut a month later in a Europa League qualifier against Hearts, when he appeared as a late substitute for Fabio Borini.
He started the second leg against the Scottish club and found the net at Anfield, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside in a 1-1 draw (as per BBC). He also started in the away defeat to Anzhi Makhachkala in the Europa League group stage that season but those would end up being his only three senior competitive appearances for Liverpool, failing to replicate his prolific form at youth level on the first team stage.
What has happened to Adam Morgan since leaving Liverpool?
The striker went on loan to Rotherham in 2013 but he made just two appearances for the Millers before returning to his parent club. A subsequent loan move to Yeovil was made permanent but his time at Huish Park was scarred by a mutual dislike with manager Gary Johnson and a loan spell at St Johnstone in late 2014 was ultimately cut short.
Morgan was released by Yeovil the following summer and signed for three clubs in just eight months, with free transfers to Accrington Stanley, Hemel Hempstead and Colwyn Bay. He lasted less than a month at the latter after they cancelled his registration following his failure to show up for one match. While Morgan’s career was clearly floundering during the 2015/16 season, his former Melwood team-mate Sterling was now at Manchester City following a £49m transfer from Liverpool.
His next stop was Curzon Ashton, where he scored six goals in three FA Cup games in 2016, three of which came in an incredible 4-3 defeat to AFC Wimbledon in which his team blew a three-goal lead in the final 10 minutes against the League One side (as per BBC). Shortly after that eventful game, he signed for Halifax Town, where he stayed for just over a year before joining Sligo Rovers in the League of Ireland in early 2018 (as per TransferMarkt).
Morgan had a flying start at Sligo, with four goals in his first six games, before his contract was terminated after six months following a succession of injury problems (as per the42.ie). He then made a short-lived return to Curzon Ashton before adding Widnes, Mossley and now Romford to his extensive list of clubs (as per TransferMarkt). Romford is the 12th club for which he has signed since going out on loan from Liverpool seven seasons ago and, as noted in a piece in The Athletic, has already begun exploring the possibility of football agency work once his playing career ends.
While Sterling has gone on to score 89 goals for Manchester City and win 56 England caps, Morgan’s career took a rather different direction following his attention-grabbing cameos for Liverpool in the summer of 2012.
Liverpool fans, are you surprised by the trajectory of Morgan’s career since his occasional appearances in the Reds’ first team under Rodgers? Share your views in the comments section below!
