Retiring Morgan hailed by Reggae Boyz teammate
Published:Saturday | May 22, 2021 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
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Former national goalkeeper Ryan Thompson has paid tribute to former teammate Wes Morgan, who announced his retirement from football yesterday. Thompson described Morgan as the consummate professional. Morgan’s retirement will take effect at the end...
Former national goalkeeper Ryan Thompson has paid tribute to former teammate Wes Morgan, who announced his retirement from football yesterday. Thompson described Morgan as the consummate professional.
Morgan’s retirement will take effect at the end of Leicester’s City final game of the English Premier League (EPL) season against Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow. It will bring to a close a 20-year career that has seen him make over 700 club appearances, 170 in the EPL, as well as earn 30 caps for the Reggae Boyz between 2013 and 2016.
Morgan got his start at Nottingham Forest in the English third-tier (League One) in 2002 and spent the better part of a decade at the club, helping the team gain promotion to the English Championship in 2008. He moved to Leicester City in January 2012 and earned his first call-up to Jamaica a year later.
Thompson and Morgan were part of the Jamaica squad that advanced to the Concacaf Gold Cup final in 2015, and said that what has always stood out the most to him was Morgan’s commitment on the field, and his personality off it.
“He was willing to fight for people around him,” Thompson told The Gleaner. “He was willing to give his 100 [per cent] every time he was on the field. Something for me that always stood out more than anything else, we were very close throughout our tenure with the national team; it’s just his humility, man. You will never ever come across a pro who is as highly successful as him and he still remains on the ground.”
Prior to that summer, Morgan, who helped Leicester gain promotion to the EPL in 2014, played a critical role in avoiding relegation during the 2014-15 season. Ten months after the 2015 Gold Cup final in July, he captained Leicester City to the EPL title.
VICTORY FOR JAMAICA
Thompson said that Morgan’s triumph was also a victory for Jamaica.
“Everybody became a Leicester City fan,” he said. “That year when he won, we won. It felt like Jamaica won. It’s a perfect example of an underdog story, someone who grinds, who went to the lowest league, who came back up.
“Morgan was one of the big stories there because of where he came from, what he has accomplished, his road to the Premier League [title]. So we were happy and again it felt like Jamaica had done a major thing.”
Morgan helped Leicester to a UEFA Champions League quarter-final finish in the 2016-17 season, and most recently celebrated the club’s first English FA Cup title last Saturday with a 1-0 win against Chelsea. To date, he has made over 300 appearances for both Leicester and Nottingham Forest.
Morgan tweeted yesterday that he was honoured to have lived his dream of playing international football with the Reggae Boyz, and expressed his appreciation to those who have shaped his two-decade playing career.
Social media mention (Twitter)
“Thank you to all the coaches and parents who supported and helped me when I was a kid playing for my local teams and who gave me the chance to make it as a professional footballer.
“To all my Jamaica family, Nottingham Forest family, Leicester City family, and to all the people from those clubs who I knew but are no longer with us. And last but not least, a massive thank you to the fans for their tremendous support throughout the years. I hope I have made you proud.”
– Leicester City captain, and former Reggae Boyz skipper Wes Morgan announces his retirement from football.