Stuart Edward Morgan (born 23 September 1949 in Swansea) is a Welsh former professional footballer and football manager. A

central defender 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 ...

, he made 222 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

playing for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

and AFC Bournemouth. As manager, he took charge of

in the Football League and Weymouth (twice) and Dorchester Town in non-League football.

Career

Morgan joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

as a junior, turning professional in March 1967. However, he was never to make the West Ham first team. He joined

on loan in February 1969, making his league debut on 15 February in a 2–1 win at home to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

. He remained at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

until the end of the season, playing 14 league games. In November 1969, Morgan moved to

where he played 46 times before moving to

in August 1972. He scored twelve times in 81 league games for Colchester, captaining them to promotion under manager Jim Smith in 1974 before moving to AFC Bournemouth in March 1975. He was appointed manager of Weymouth in November 1978, guiding them to second place in the

Alliance Premier League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

in 1979–80. He left Weymouth in November 1983, returning to Bournemouth as part of Harry Redknapp's coaching staff, where he remained until September 1985 when Morgan was appointed as manager of

. Torquay finished bottom of

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

that season, the last before automatic relegation to the Conference would begin. The next season Torquay struggled again and only survived on the last day of the season, at Lincoln City's expense, thanks to a late equaliser against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

from Paul Dobson in injury time added after Torquay defender

Jim McNichol James Anthony McNichol (born 9 June 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who is most noted for his career at Torquay United and Exeter City. He was capped by Scotland at U21 level. Playing career An apprentice at Ipswich Town, Mc ...

had been bitten by a police dog. Morgan resigned in May 1987 and the following month began his second spell as manager of Weymouth. He took 'The Terras' to second place in the league before a flooded Wessex Stadium pitch meant that they did not play for six weeks, thus losing their momentum. Morgan then joined forces with Harry Redknapp again, as Chief Scout of Bournemouth, where they enjoyed a lot of success. In August 1993 he was appointed as manager of Dorchester Town, where he took 'The Magpies' to their highest ever Southern Premier League finish, but was sacked in September 1999 after a 3–0 defeat in the

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 ...

qualifying rounds to a

Taunton Town Taunton Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Taunton, Somerset. They compete in the , the sixth tier of English football and play their home matches at Wordsworth Drive, which they moved into during the 1953 season. ...

side that contained manager

Russell Musker Russell Musker (born 10 July 1962) is an English former footballer who played for Bristol City, Exeter City, Gillingham, Torquay United and Walsall between 1980 and 1992, making over 180 appearances in the Football League, before embarking on a ...

and four players, Tom Kelly,

Mark Loram Mark Roysten Gregory Loram (born 12 January 1971) is a former British motorcycle speedway rider who won the World Speedway Championship in 2000 and won the British Championship in 1997, 1999, and 2001. Career Born in Mtarfa, Malta, Mark ...

Chris Myers Chris Myers (born ) is an American sportscaster. He has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Final Four, The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Triple Crown, the Olympics, and the Daytona 500. Early life and care ...

, and

Darren Cann Darren Cann (born 17 June 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He is the men's soccer coach at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. Career Cann was born in Torquay. He joined Torquay United as ...

, all of whom he had signed while manager of Torquay. He later worked as a scout for West Ham United and Portsmouth and is currently a full-time scout for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Stuart 1949 births Living people Footballers from Swansea Welsh footballers West Ham United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Reading F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players English Football League players Welsh football managers Torquay United F.C. managers Weymouth F.C. managers Dorchester Town F.C. managers English Football League managers Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Association football defenders