Football is full of transitions, whether that be a player’s first experience in an academy, making the step up from schoolboy to professional, playing a first senior game or a maiden loan spell.
The support mechanism in place provides the perfect conditions for those experiences, giving players the best opportunity to achieve their goals and realise their potential. What comes after football is often purely optional.
Many choose to go into media, becoming pundits for international broadcasters and sharing an expertise that has developed over decades. Others, meanwhile, wish to complete their qualifications and venture into coaching or management.
Morgan, however, has always had a significant interest in business. He studied the subject at college as a teenager before entering the world of professional football and has now opted to re-educate himself.
With the assistance of the Professional Footballers’ Association, the 35-year-old is undertaking two programmes – Sports Business and Corporate Governance, in order to lay the foundations for a post-playing career.
“The Corporate Governance course shows you how to act within the governance of football and the governance of business in general. It’s pretty in-depth and that takes place once a month for six months with assignments in between. Both are pretty flexible courses.”
In a recent visit to King Power Stadium, former Nottingham Forest striker Lee, who holds a position as an Equalities Education Executive at the PFA, congratulated Morgan for his recent achievements in education.
“Never in doubt,” Lee joked as he embraced Morgan with a friendly handshake after the 2016 Premier League champion received his Corporate Governance results.
“I passed the course with a B+, which is great,” said Morgan, who graduated in April at Wembley Stadium, where former City player and caretaker manager Chris Powell presented him with his diploma.
“The Sports Business course finishes at the end of May, and we’ve just received our final assignment, which is a big one. It’s not as hard as Corporate Governance.
“It’s more about taking in what they have to teach us and learning and picking up things as we go along. When it comes to assignments, you have to give presentations and gather information.”
“I’ve always had business in the back of my mind,” Morgan told LCFCQ. “It’s always been something that I wanted to revisit, and I felt like it was time to do that given the stage I’m at in my career.
“I spoke with Jason Lee, who is a representative from the PFA, and he approached me about a few different bits, including which direction I wanted to go into after my playing career. I wanted to get into the business side of football at a football club somehow.
Morgan and Lee first met when the former was a young player rising through the ranks at Nottingham Forest. They have kept in contact ever since and both still live in nearby Nottingham.
Lee’s aim with Morgan has been to pass on post-playing career advice and to help guide him in the correct direction – something he has done for many former players who are seeking to extend their involvement in football in different capacities.
“He produced a couple of options that he thought would assist me and give me the necessary knowledge and education regarding the ins and outs of football and business in general.”
The full feature can be found in Issue 8 of LCFCQ, which can be purchased from the Foxes Fanstore at King Power Stadium or from shop.lcfc.com for just £4.