Lewis Morgan focused on Celtic and not another Ross Re-union at Hibs

HOW many of you immediately thought that Lewis Morgan would be heading to Hibs on loan when you heard the news that Jack Ross had been appointed as the new Hibs manager?

Jack, who was sacked by Sunderland a few months back, had Morgan down at the Stadium of Light on loan last season and of course managed and mentored the Celtic winger when the two men worked together at St Mirren in their Championship winning season.

And yesterday Morgan spoke about his contact with his old boss about him taking the Hibs job where Morgan also gave an update on how he sees his Celtic career going, what’s happened to date and his ambitions going forward.

Morgan was called into the Scotland squad in both the October and November international breaks to provide manager Steve Clarke with additional cover after he had to deal with some call-offs. So Morgan is there or thereabouts for both club and country but just seems to have that little bit more to go to make the real break-through.

And he also answered our question about whether he’ll be going to join Jack Ross at Hibs!

“I texted the manager to congratulate him. It’s a great appointment for Hibs,” Morgan told the Media, as reported by Scottish Sun.

“I have worked with him before and know him really well. He’s a top manager and excellent coach. I’m sure he will be a success there.

“I think he was harshly treated at Sunderland. It was a tough job at a massive club. Expectations were high. I don’t think the fans were desperate to get him out. But in terms of the work he did, I think you can still see the progress now, the way they are going. Given the right amount of time I am sure he would have created something special down there.

“But it’s a great appointment for Hibs. I wish him every success — obviously just not against us!”

Morgan realises too that everyone will be linking his with a loan move to Hibs and it certainly would make sense although it has to be remembered that there appears from the outside looking in, significant bad blood between Celtic and Hibs at Boardroom level after the John McGinn transfer stand-off over the 2018 summer. On the logical conclusion that many have made linking Morgan with another Ross re-union, the Celtic man said it wasn’t on the cards.

Morgan celebrates his only Celtic goal scored in Stockholm against AIK in Celtic’s 4-1 win

“I know people have mentioned it but he hasn’t! I just texted him to wish him well. He replied but that was it. I’m just concentrating on working hard at Celtic.

“He was brilliant with me. I think he’s the same with all of his players, he just managed to give them an extra yard. All the players who work with him can expect to improve. The Hibs boys should look forward to playing for him, he’ll get them playing good football.

“He was massive for me. I was playing regularly for St Mirren when he arrived but he helped bring my game on. It was that last season under him where I kicked on and caught people’s eyes. I owe him a lot.”

Morgan, who answered Clarke’s late call-up call and was an unused substitute in the 2-1 win against Cyprus on Saturday, is hoping to get some game-time against Kazakhstan tomorrow night.

“I haven’t played as much so I was delighted to get called up for the Scotland squad and it’s about trying to impress in training.

“It’s been brilliant at Celtic and the boys have been playing brilliantly. Obviously it’s frustrating, no player is happy when they are not playing. But all I can do is work hard and try to impress the manager and be ready for when I get the chance to prove myself.

“The Scotland double headers are tough and the manager is going to need everyone. It’s been good to be part of it and I’ll be ready if the manager needs me.

“It’s the same with Celtic. There’s a lot of games from now until Christmas and everyone will need to play their part. I want to feature as much as possible and maybe get more minutes than I have recently. But that’s down to me.”

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