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Michael Morrison continues to remain young in his nearly 20-year career - and only part of that is down to his constant fresh trims. The Cambridge United captain is enjoying a new lease of life as the face of the U's new era, two decades on from his debut with the club. The 37-year-old is now the oldest player to permanently skipper a side in the EFL following Darren Pratley's retirement this summer. Morrison, who signed a new one-year deal at Cambridge in May, remains an integral part of the squad's rebuild in the fourth tier. Despite relegation to League Two, the U's are flourishing off the pitch, following their two-year partnership with Brooks Running. The deal is one of the most significant marketing milestones in the club's history, ahead of its upcoming Docu-Series for CBS, aimed at emulating Wrexham in boosting its commercial presence in the US. In addition, Cambridge's new £3. 5m training facility is worlds away from the facilities on offer when Morrison made his first appearance for the club in the National League at age 17 in 2005. Speaking to talk SPORT. com, the defender has fond memories from that first stint, but is immensely proud of the team's transformation. “We used to get dressed at the training ground, walk around to Coldham's Common, and literally train in the park, that was 21 years ago, ” Morrison exclusively told talk SPORT. “So when I first came back, we were just finishing up the building, the building's done now, and it looks amazing, pitches are brilliant. “It's got everything that we need, ice baths, it's got all the gym stuff that we need. We've got staff in there that are really good as well, and the improvement from there to there, as you'd expect, it's night and day! “The club keeps pushing on every year, it's doing stuff with the infrastructure around the place, and that includes at the stadium as well. ” Cambridge's decision to thrust Morrison straight into the first-team from the academy represented their dire situation at the time. The Abbey Stadium outfit had similarly just been relegated and had been forced to shut down the U18s amid financial struggles. In contrast, Cambridge U16 Dan Nneji joined Brighton for a club-record academy transfer fee this month, with the budding starlets that remained all decked out in Brooks trainers. “Football's changed a lot, really, with young players in the academies, the way it works now, ” Morrison continued. “It's not often that you're lucky enough to get these star young players into your first team, because the big boys come and take them so quickly. “We're seeing 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds leave before they get into the main building - that's credit to the staff, there's a really good catchment area around here, and they're working hard to get the best players and deliver the best programme. ” Morrison himself was once that starlet attracting interest from the Premier League's elite, having had trials at Everton and Chelsea. He also had a two-week stint at Newcastle, when then-manager Glenn Roeder delivered an assessment that lives long in the memory. Morrison added: “I should have been there for five days, ended up there for 10 days, thinking, 'right, this is going well, ' and he pulled me in his office and was like, 'I just don't think you're quite as good as Rio Ferdinand. ' “I come out thinking,  well,  you're not going to sign many players if that's the bar he's looking at. ” In a full circle moment, Morrison could soon be a coach of emerging young stars, having done his LMA diploma in football management. The former Birmingham City captain has already demonstrated his wildly different methods for getting the best from EFL talents. Morrison wore the armband for Reading when Michael Olise took his first steps towards announcing himself as a star in the making. Rather than using a direct approach, the veteran empowered flair players whose advice Olise was more likely to listen to. He explained: “We had Lucas Joao and Yakou Meite, who were really big influences on him. They were superstars in our team at the time at Reading. “They were people that Michael could look up to and that were more like him, whereas an old, experienced centre-half doesn't translate as well. “I think it's about trying to empower other people and let them know, have their awareness of how much they're influencing the team. “I don't think either of Yakou or Lucas thought of themselves as leaders, and they had a massive effect on Michael Olise, I think, at the time. So it was really important. “To be fair to Lucas, he scored a lot of goals, and Yakou ended up injured, but that was a really good, powerful team. And Michael came through at a great time, and it's great to see him doing so well. “But yeah, I'd like to say you have a little influence on someone's career. ” Olise made his senior debut for Reading in March 2019, before exploding onto the scene in 2020/21. The 23-year-old scored seven goals and registered 12 assists to claim the EFL Young Player Of The Year award, and Crystal Palace swooped to activate his £8m release clause that summer. A total of 41 goal involvements in 90 matches for the Eagles sparked a stampede to sign him, with Bayern Munich winning the race to complete a £60m move 12 months ago. “I think the [Reading] manager, Veljko Panovic, at the time was very understanding of his psyche and how best to get Michael into the right areas on the ball and to show his qualities, and, as well, make sure that he knew it was a team effort. “So there were a few of us trying to unlock that potential. And you can see it now and it's brilliant, ” Morrison told talk SPORT. Morrison, a part-owner of three barber shops, hasn't been as successful using his influence on some of his current teammates. “You ask Brophs [James Brophy], he won't go in because he thinks it's too expensive, and we're actually quite cheap. We're very reasonably priced. ” The pair were at least on the same page for Morrison's stunning solo effort against Shrewsbury that won League One goal of the month in October 2023, with my brother technically awarded the contribution on the stats for the five-yard pass at the start of the move. “It was only the few assists that he had, I think, ” Morro joked. “To be fair, he always goes, 'Oh, I assisted that one'. “Marko [Marosi] was in the car school, the goalkeeper at Shrewsbury at the time. I didn't even realise, we signed him, and we were in the car, and started talking about the goal because I like to bring it up. “And he was like, 'I was actually in goal that day. ' So that was quite funny. I never let him live that down. .. ” © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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