Morison. 'No excuses'

Last updated : 03 September 2022 By Michael Morris

Boss Steve Morison says there are "no excuses" after a total overhaul of his Cardiff City squad.

Callum Robinson's £1.5m deadline day capture from West Bromwich Albion was Morison's 17th signing of the summer window.

The 39-year-old manager says he is now more than happy to take responsibility for his remoulded Championship outfit.

"It's much better because I can to sleep at night, shut my eyes and know there are no excuses," said Morison.

"That's the best way to live your life. Control what you can control. Don't worry about the uncontrollable."

Morison praised owner Vincent Tan for backing him "100 per cent" during the transfer window and says he is now really content with the make up of the squad as he looks to improve their Championship prospects, while continuing to develop a new playing style.

Having stepped up to his first manager's job last October, Morison said: "I put a plan in place when we took over.

"First we had to get safe. We had to get Championship football secured and put a model together, our vision of what we saw and the board agreed. They backed it.

"We had a budget to stick to, which we've done.

"It looked a challenge initially, but once we started looking into it, we found it was better to have a budget to work to because then we knew everyone was here for the right reasons, rather than being here for a pound note, for example.

"That's brought a great unity and created an environment where we know everyone can look at each other in the place and know there is no-one sitting next to you and being asked to do the same job as you but on an astronomical amount of money compared to what you are getting paid. So it's a good place."

"I said I'd change things, change the outlook of the squad, the dynamics of it and I couldn't have done that without the support of people around me.

"But I think we have gone a long way to achieving that.

"Can we do better? Yes. Can we get better? Yes - and I'm sure we will over time - but we've got to start somewhere."

Much of Cardiff's recruitment happened early in the window and after exhausting the free transfer options in his quest for a striker, Morison revealed Robinson's availability was a late call.

"Callum was not available three days ago, then he became available and the board, the owner [Vincent Tan] and Ken Choo [the chief executive] jumped at the chance and supported it.

"I said it would go down to the last minute and it did. All we had to do was be ready and thankfully we were."

Morison takes his Cardiff side to Millwall on Saturday, a club where he spent much of his career as a player and remains their third highest goalscorer of all time.

Cardiff are looking to halt a run of four games without a victory but Morison is looking forward to the time ahead of the World Cup break in November and beyond.

"Between now and November it will be really good to see where we can get this squad to. Yes, it's more pressure because there's nothing to hide behind now.

"Is there still evolvement to the squad? Yes. Are there still changes to be made over time? Yes.

"But ultimately, for me and my staff we're sitting in a much happier place. We know if it works it's great. If it doesn't at least it was done in a way we wanted it to be".