Bryn Andrew Morris (born 25 April 1996) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club Newport County. He has played in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

Early and personal life

Born in

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

, County Durham, Morris attended the

High Tunstall College of Science High Tunstall College of Science (formerly High Tunstall Comprehensive School) is a coeducational secondary school located in the West Park area of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. History The school was originally built to amalgamate Har ...

. In April 2014, he was awarded the sporting achievement award at the

Hartlepool Mail The ''Hartlepool Mail'' is a newspaper serving Hartlepool, England and the surrounding area. As of December 2021, it has an average daily circulation of 1,570. History The paper was founded in Hartlepool in 1877 as ''The Northern Daily Mail'' a ...

's Pride of Hartlepool ceremony.

Club career

Middlesbrough

Morris began his career at

, having joined the club when he was eleven and made progress through the academy. He made his first-team debut on 5 January 2013 in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie away to Hastings United, a match that Middlesbrough won 4–1. He made his league debut on 4 May in a 2–0 defeat away to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Two months after making his debut, Morris signed his first professional contract with the club, which would keep him until 2016. On 21 November 2014, Morris signed for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

. One day later, Morris made his debut, where he came on as a substitute for

Adam McGurk Adam Michael McGurk (born 24 January 1989) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who currently plays for Stratford Town as a forward. McGurk started his career in the Aston Villa youth academy in 2004, but failed to break into the first ...

, in a 1–0 victory over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. His impressive displays at Burton Albion prompted manager

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to th ...

to tip him for greatness. On 13 December 2014, Morris provided an assist for Shane Cansdell-Sherriff to score the third goal in a 4–0 win over

. Despite Burton being keen to extend the loan it never materialised, and Morris returned to Middlesbrough, having made five appearances for Burton Albion. On 6 August 2015, Morris signed for

on a season-long loan, linking up again with

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

, the manager under whom he had made his professional debut. He made six appearances, the last coming against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, for Coventry before being recalled by Middlesbrough on 26 October 2015. On 27 October 2015, Morris signed for League Two club

on a one-month loan. On 28 January 2016, Morris signed for League One club

on a two-month loan.

Shrewsbury Town

Morris was released from his Middlesbrough contract in order to join League One club

on 20 January 2017 on a contract until the end of 2016–17. He made his debut for the club the following day, as an 88th-minute substitute in a 1–0 home victory over

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

. After featuring regularly to help the club escape relegation, he signed a two-year contract extension in June 2017. Morris joined Shrewsbury's League One rivals

on 7 August 2018 on loan until 3 January 2019.

Portsmouth

Morris signed for

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on 14 January 2019 on a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Portsmouth in a 3–3 draw against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 16 February 2019. Morris was cup-tied for Portsmouth's win in the

2019 EFL Trophy Final The 2019 EFL Trophy Final was a football match played at Wembley Stadium on 31 March 2019. It decided the winners of the 2018–19 EFL Trophy, the 35th edition of the competition, a knock-out tournament for the 48 teams in League One and League ...

. On 18 January 2021, Morris signed for

on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Burton Albion

Following his release from Portsmouth, Morris signed for

side

in June 2021. With his game time at Burton limited, Morris joined his hometown club

on loan on 31 January 2022. He made his debut for Pools in an

fourth round defeat away to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

Grimsby Town

On 15 July 2022, Morris signed for

on a one-year deal. Morris was part of the Grimsby team that reached the

quarter final for the first time since

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

, he came on as a substitute in the 2–1 win away at

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

that secured that achievement. On 9 May 2023, it was announced that Morris would not be retained for the 2023–24 season and would be leaving the club when his contract expires on 30 June.

Newport County

On 23 June 2023, it was announced that Morris would join Newport County on a two year contract when his contract with Grimsby Town expired. He made his debut for Newport on 5 August 2023 in the starting line-up against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

International career

Morris has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, and under-19 levels, captaining the team at each level.

Career statistics

Honours

Shrewsbury Town *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

Profile
at the Portsmouth F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Bryn 1996 births Living people Footballers from Hartlepool English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Middlesbrough F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players York City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players English Football League players