'Sheffield Wednesday won't have great memories of me!': Portsmouth newcomer and ex-Reading and Charlton man Michael Morrison on Hillsborough reunion in League One opener

The 34-year-old arrived at Fratton Park on Tuesday in a whirlwind transfer to bolster Danny Cowley’s central-defensive options.

Having been set to join Championship side Huddersfield on Monday, he’s now in the frame for a Blues bow in Saturday’s League One opener at Hillsborough.

Morrison spent six forgettable months with the Owls after recruited from Leicester City for an undisclosed fee in January 2011.

He totalled 15 appearances before bombed out of the squad by manager Gary Megson and offloaded to Charlton that summer.

Now, 11-and-a-half years later, he’s returning with latest club Pompey.

Morrison told The News: ‘I didn’t have a very good time at Sheffield Wednesday, I signed for three-and-a-half years and ended up being there for six months and training on my own!

‘We changed the manager after two weeks. Alan Irvine signed me – Gary Megson got rid of me.

‘They’ve not got great memories of me, to be fair!

‘It was a long time ago and wasn’t the best time of my career, although what I will say is sometimes when you have challenges and things don’t go well it does refocus your career.

‘After that period I thought “It’s not going well here” and you can go down a different avenue.

‘Luckily, I had played with Chris Powell previously and he signed me for Charlton. I really buckled down and it was pretty much the making of me.

‘When I joined Wednesday I was aged 22, still very young. The club were struggling and it can sometimes be hard to play at Sheffield Wednesday when things aren’t going well because expectations are so high there – and rightly so.

‘On my league debut at home to Charlton, Darren Purse was playing and every time he got the ball he was getting booed.

‘The ref turned around and said “Don’t worry about it Pursey, don’t listen to them”.

‘This was my first game, as a youngster and playing right-back. I’m thinking “What have I signed up for here!”.’

Morrison’s final outing of a brief Owls spell was a 1-1 draw at Dagenham & Redbridge in March 2011.

And for the remainder of the League One season, he was told to stay at home

He added: ‘I was driving up to Sheffield in April and had a phone call from the Wednesday secretary saying “Listen, don’t worry coming in. Gary (Megson) said not to bother”.

‘So I had two months off – then left in the summer.

‘I signed for Charton and we got promoted the following season, it was a bit of a battle between us and Sheffield Wednesday at the time.

‘We travelled up there in January 2012 and won 1-0 at their place through a really good Johnnie Jackson free-kick.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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