STEVE Morison has admitted he would have taken the Millwall job if it had been offered to him.
Former Lions skipper Morison retired from playing last week and took up a coaching role in his former club Northampton’s academy. He has gained all his coaching badges.
Morison left Millwall in the summer to join Shrewsbury on a one-year deal but called time on his 18-year playing career to start his coaching journey.
Morison applied for the vacant manager’s job at another of his former clubs, Stevenage, but was told he needed more experience.
The former Norwich and Leeds forward didn’t register his interest in the Millwall vacancy after Neil Harris’ departure, admitting it was “a bit out of my reach”.
“I put my name forward for the Stevenage job,” Morison told the Not The Top 20 podcast. “I did that officially a couple of weeks ago. But I got a response that they were going to look for someone, if they don’t stick with the caretaker (Mark Sampson), with more experience.
“I’ve been advised by them to go and gain some experience as a number two. So I’ve had my first knock-back in the managerial world, which is fine, I’m going to get that.
“I was obviously disappointed on a personal level because I think it’s somewhere that would have been a great starting block, especially as I have an affiliation with the fans there.
“I’m not going to go and be a number two at another club because that’s not where I see myself. I see myself as a number one.
“The biggest thing I’m lacking is experience but you have to get experience somehow. I’ll keep knocking on a few more doors and see what happens.
“Until that point I will be throwing myself fully into the level I’m at now and coaching the academy boys.
“Millwall was a bit of my reach. Don’t get me wrong, if they’d rang me and said, ‘Steve, we want you to do it’, then I would have done it.
“But I didn’t want to put my name forward because I don’t think I’m 100 per cent ready for it yet – not that you’re ever ready to manage Millwall.
“I’d too much of a relationship with Neil Harris and all that kind of a situation, just leaving the club, it didn’t sit right at the right time to put my name forward for something like that.
“If they’d asked me to help I would definitely have helped.”
Morison played just nine games for the Shrews before calling it a day, but he has no regrets.
“It’s a decision that I’ve made so it sits really well with me. It’s not something I’ve been forced into.
“I look back and think I had a really good time, it was mainly highs. The lowest moment was leaving Northampton first time round.
“They say all good things have to come to an end and it’s come to an end for me now. I’m really pleased that I’ve been able to go straight back into work. I feel at home, I feel comfortable there, it’s where I spent a big part of my career.
“I just hope that now I can pass on a bit of what I’ve learned. I’m sure I’ve learned something over the years.”
Image: Millwall FC