Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom's amazing gesture to Jonathan Morgan

“He came over, shook my hand and told me he was looking forward to a chat,” Jonathan Morgan tells The Star, reflecting upon his first proper day in charge of the United women’s team. “I wasn’t looking to get into a conversation, because I know he’s a really busy guy. But for Paul to do that, to come over and introduce himself when he probably didn’t even know who I really was, I think that tells you a lot about him.”

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Having forged a reputation for himself during spells with Leicester City and Burnley, Morgan was unveiled by United earlier this month after agreeing to replace Neil Redfearn. By his own admission the move to Bramall Lane, where he is scheduled to oversee his first match later next month, “just felt right” following a series of conversations with key figures behind the scenes. But it was the one with Heckingbottom, during a tour of his new surroundings, which truly convinced Morgan he had made the right decision to leave a position where he enjoyed an unbeaten league record.

“The fact Paul went out of his way, that other members of his staff came up and were talking about what we might eventually be able to do together, shows there’s a really collaborative approach here and personally I think that’s brilliant. We don’t have to be in each others’ offices every day or anything like that. But they were bothered, which tells you something about the mind set here, and that’s great. We are all representing the same club. We all wear the same badge on the front of our shirts and so it’s about ensuring best practice for everyone who plays for Sheffield United.”

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Morgan will make his first appearance in the technical area when United travel to Crystal Palace today before returning to the capital for an assignment against London City before hosting The Eagles in South Yorkshire. A former Conference North player, he was forging a career outside of football before being offered a chance to “live out a dream” at Leicester where his father and two sisters were also involved in the set-up. Morgan believes his unconventional route into coaching will be of benefit at United, where the overwhelming majority of his squad combine their sporting duties with other jobs.

“I was a quantity surveyor to begin with, and I’ve got a masters degree. I know what it’s like to work outside the game. Listen, our standards are going to be really high. We won’t settle for anything less and everyone - players and staff - want to adhere to those. But maybe my background makes me a little bit more sympathetic with players. I’m aware that some of them might have had to rush to training after working a full day somewhere else, that they might have spent an hour trying to fight through traffic to get here because they couldn’t get away a little bit early. That’s not to say there’s an excuse for not striving to be the very best you can be. But I think it’s important to have that understanding.”

So what kind of manager is Morgan? A philosopher or a pragmatist? “Probably a bit of both. I’m not going to sit there and regurgitate a coaching manual. There’s things we’ll do differently and we want the girls to get used to different formations and such like. But our motivations and core values won’t change. Passion is the big thing. If people don’t want to win then, quite honestly, you can’t work with them.”

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By his own admission, Morgan has a “high drive” to succeed. “If I lose, I get really sore.” Fitness - “I used to run cross country for England at youth level before choosing football” - will be a central tenet of his regime. The same goes for fighting spirit. Morgan’s first ever training session as a coach “took place on a car park, as we didn’t have a pitch” and he’s scrapped for everything he’s got.

“Basically, I see myself as a run of the mill guy and I’m delighted to have been able to combine my passion, which is football, into an infrastructure for my family. When I began, I started to find that my passion correlated with wins. My dad and my sisters were at Leicester, they didn’t have a manager at the time and that’s when I totally got the bug. I really enjoy the teaching aspect of it too, putting information across and everyone growing as a group.”

United have endured a challenging season so far this term, with Morgan’s appointment designed to help secure their second tier status for another year and then hopefully begin climbing the rankings again. It won’t be an easy task, with many of their rivals enjoying fully professional status or benefiting from much bigger budgets given the money now flowing into the women’s game following England’s triumph at the recent European Championships. But by embracing the club’s values, and with a little help from those working in other departments, Morgan is certain they can get there.

“I’ve always admired Sheffield United, even from afar up until now. It’s a huge name and in one of my first sit-downs with the team we spoke about what the badge on the front of the shirt means, what it stands for and the importance of ensuring we represent the values of this city. I know that’s something Paul is very passionate about as well. Everyone at the club is on the same page and that’s great. We are all United. We’re all determined to be the best we can.”

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