Jody Morris

Jody Steven Morris (born 22 December 1978) is an English professional football coach and former player.

He was most recently the head coach of EFL League Two club Swindon Town.

As a midfielder, Morris played for Chelsea, Leeds United, Rotherham United, Millwall, St Johnstone and Bristol City.

He became the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League for Chelsea when he debuted at the age of 17 years and 43 days in the home game against Middlesbrough on 4 February 1996 and was named Chelsea's Young Player of the Year for 1996–97.

He won several trophies at Chelsea, including the UEFA Super Cup in 1998 and FA Cup in 2000.

After retiring from playing, Morris became a youth coach at Chelsea's academy.

While at Chelsea, he made 124 league appearances and was a late substitute in the 2000 FA Cup final, receiving a winner's medal.

In April 2000, Chelsea won 3–1 against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League; Morris was later described by Xavi as one of his toughest opponents.

Morris played 173 times for Chelsea across all competitions.

He was also briefly made captain of the club by manager Gianluca Vialli.

However, when Claudio Ranieri took over from Vialli as Chelsea boss, Morris' first team opportunities diminished, and he was linked with a host of clubs including being reunited with his former England under-21 manager Peter Taylor at Leicester.

Morris never regained his position as a first team regular at Chelsea, finding himself behind players, such as Roberto Di Matteo, Dennis Wise, Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit.

He was offered a new five-year contract with Chelsea in 2003, but chose to turn it down.

Graeme Souness offered him the chance of regular first team football at Blackburn Rovers and they shook hands on a deal, but it fell through.

He joined Leeds United instead, but made only 12 appearances for the club.

After a short spell at Rotherham United, where he scored once against Stoke City, he joined Millwall in 2004.

Morris made 70 first-team appearances for Millwall, before fracturing his cheekbone, and then suffered cruciate knee ligament damage at Derby County on his comeback game, towards the end of the 2005–06 season.

He signed a new one-year deal in June 2006, with the club having an additional one-year option.

In June 2007, Morris was released by Millwall.

Morris then had a brief trial period at Charlton Athletic, and trained with League Two side Brentford, in a bid to earn himself a contract at the West London club.

Morris signed for Scottish side St Johnstone, then in the First Division, on a short-term deal at the end of February 2008, playing under Derek McInnes, his former teammate at Millwall during the 2006–07 season.

He scored a goal on his debut against Dundee.

He played in the club's Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers in April 2008 but was one of two Saints players to miss in the penalty shoot-out.

After a successful five months at McDiarmid Park, Morris signed a two-year deal with the Perth side at the end of the season.

He was part of the title-winning team that in May 2009 gained promotion to the Scottish Premier League after a seven-year absence.

Morris signed a new contract with Saints in October 2009, while Derek McInnes praised his influence on the squad.

After McInnes left St Johnstone to manage Bristol City in October 2011, Morris assisted caretaker manager Alec Cleland with the coaching of the squad.

Morris signed a one-year contract with Bristol City in June 2012, reuniting him with Derek McInnes.

Morris had his contract terminated with Bristol City on 31 January 2013 having only made four league appearances for the club.

In the 2013–14 season Morris returned to Chelsea, initially to help coach the Under-21 squad.

He was then an assistant coach of the Under-18 team, and moved to head coach of the team for the 2016–17 season.

They won the treble in 2016–17 and the quadruple in 2017–18.

He was then named assistant manager to Frank Lampard at Derby County in 2018 and Chelsea in 2019.

Morris came through the youth ranks at Chelsea, alongside his close friend John Terry.

The team won the FA Youth Cup for the fifth successive time in 2018.

At Chelsea, Morris coached possession-based attacking football, and used several formations including the 3–4–3, 3–5–2, 4–3–3 and 4–4–2.

In his two seasons as head coach, Chelsea's Under-18s won 59 matches and lost 5 times.

In May 2018, Morris became assistant to former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard at Derby County.

Their first game in charge was a 2–1 win over Reading, thanks to a last-minute winner from Tom Lawrence.

On 25 September, Derby knocked Premier League team Manchester United out of the EFL Cup at Old Trafford on penalties, following a 2–2 draw.