George Morrell (1872-after 1915) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager. He joined Woolwich Arsenal as manager in February 1908, having joined the club from

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton ...

. Although in his first full season he helped the team finish sixth in the League, with low attendances the club had fallen into debt and had to sell many of their best players, with stars such as

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and

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all leaving during 1908. Although Morrell led the club to 6th place in 1908-09, at the time an all-time best, after that the club declined, finishing 18th the next. In 1910 Arsenal were taken over by Sir Henry Norris but despite speculation he would be sacked, Morrell continued in his post. Arsenal rallied to finish 10th, in mid-table, for both the 1910-11 and 1911-12 seasons. Morrell applied for the job of

Leeds City Leeds City Football Club was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before the First World War. It was dissolved in 1919 due to financial irregularities, after which Leeds United was established as a replacement. History The club was ...

manager in the 1912 close season but dropped out of the running after being dissuaded by the Arsenal board; the job went instead to

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

, who would one day manage Arsenal. Unfortunately for Morrell, by staying he oversaw a massive drop of form in 1912-13. Woolwich Arsenal eventually finished bottom of the First Division, giving Morrell the distinction of being the only Arsenal manager to have overseen a

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. Despite relegation, Arsenal, who had by now moved to the new

Arsenal Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickname ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

, retained Morrell and under him they came close to automatic promotion, finishing third in the Second Division in 1913-14 (missing out on second on

goal average A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

) and then fifth in 1914-15. This placing was high enough to get them eventually elected back into the expanded First Division in 1919, when competitive football resumed after the conclusion of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; however,

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and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

had finished higher that season and were not granted promotion. Arsenal's return to the First Division appears to have been mainly thanks to political machinations by their chairman, Henry Norris, rather than their performance. By then, Morrell was no longer Arsenal manager; after having been told he was due to be sacked at the end of the 1914-15 season due to the suspension of football due to

, he resigned on or around 19 April 1915. He returned to Scotland to manage Third Lanark and his fate after that is unknown.

References

External links

Soccerbase profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, George Arsenal F.C. managers Scottish football managers 1870s births Year of death missing