The beauty of cup competitions is their unpredictable nature. As well as shock victories you tend to see unlikely heroes who grab the headlines, whether it is scoring the winning goal; saving a decisive penalty, or simply a moment of individual brilliance. As we fast approach the 3rd Round of the Capital One Cup we decided to look back at those unlikely heroes who simply made their name in one magic moment during this prestigious Cup Competition and find out what has happened to them since.
Whatever happened to Steve Morrow…
Anybody who’s ever written an article regarding calamitous sporting celebrations will have come across the name Steve Morrow. The versatile Northern Ireland international pulled on the Gunners shirt on 62 occasions in the Premier League, but his name is still notorious amongst fans of the North London club for what happened in the 1993 League Cup Final.
Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday were locked at 1-1 after Paul Merson cancelled out a John Harkes opener before Merson then turned provider for Steve Morrow who bagged the winner with what was coincidently his first goal for the club. However, in the aftermath of the game, Tony Adams attempted to lift Morrow up to parade the match winner round the pitch, only for Adams to slip, dropping Morrow, who promptly broke his arm, causing him to miss the rest of the campaign including the FA Cup Final against the same opponents.
Morrow hadn’t long broken into the Arsenal side, having only made his debut in 1992, coming on as a substitute against Norwich City. He proved equally adept at covering positions in either midfield or the defence and this helped him become a key member of the squad during that cup double winning campaign. Despite this, Morrow found himself more marginalised the following season, making just 13 league appearances in 1993/94, but he played the game of his life in helping Arsenal to victory in the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Final as the Gunners beat Parma 1-0. He also featured in the Cup Winners’ Cup Final the year after in the defeat to Real Zaragoza that is remembered most fondly in one half of North London more than the other thanks to Nayim’s outrageous lob.
Once Bruce Rioch took charge at Highbury, the writing was on the wall for Morrow and he played just five times in the whole of the 1995/96 season. The arrival of Arsene Wenger saw Morrow deemed surplus to requirements and the hero of the 1993 League Cup Final was shipped out to QPR, initially on loan before he made the deal permanent. Although the player was a regular during his time at Loftus Road, making 91 league appearances, he couldn’t stop the side being relegated from the First Division. A loan spell at Peterborough didn’t work out so Morrow headed over the pond in 2002 where he joined Dallas Burn. He made 41 appearances for the MLS outfit, and became their assistant manager after retiring due to a persistent neck injury.
After a few spells in and out of the job, he became the permanent manager of the club in 2006 but lasted just two years in the role after struggling to help FC Dallas make any sort of impression on the division. Morrow came back to England and took up a role with Arsenal again as their International Partnerships Performance Supervisor – a role that involves scouting players in various countries and also working with a network of elite academies across the globe in grassroots football. Given Arsenal’s reputation for finding and cultivating overseas talent in their own academy, Morrow is charged with a pretty important role to find the next big thing waiting to be snapped up.
Although Morrow never produced anything as spectacular as his League Cup Final winner during the rest of his Arsenal career, he will always be remembered for his versatility and hard work at the club. He put in a decent shift in the Northern Ireland jersey as well, playing on 39 occasions and scoring just the one goal. Fortunately, his teammates were sensible enough not to pick him up and parade him round the pitch afterwards…