General
- Thursday July 23rd, 2015 @ 18:32
Morris Signs For Saints!
St Patrick's Athletic are delighted to announce the signing of former Republic of Ireland U21 international midfielder Ian Morris.
The Dubliner joins the Saints having played for several teams in the English Football League including Leeds United, Blackpool, Scunthorpe United, Torquay United and his previous club, Northampton Town.
Commenting on signing the one time Lourdes Celtic youth, Liam Buckley told stpatsfc.com he was pleased to secure Morris' signature.
"We're delighted to add Ian to our squad. He's been training with us the past few weeks and I'm glad we've able to get the deal done and have him sign with us. He's been in England for a number of years and has picked up a lot of experience over there so we hope he can come into the group of players and strengthen us, while also helping a lot of our younger players in their development."
For Morris himself, the move to the club is one he is delighted to get over the line having trained with the Saints' during the club's European matches and domestic fixtures, with the Dubliner claiming he's ready to make an immediate impact.
"I'm delighted to have signed for the club. It's been great to train with the players the past few weeks. It was unfortunate that I couldn't sign until after July 1st and with the club in Europe, nothing could happen. But training with the lads has been great and gave me a great chance to get a feel of things at the club so I'm just happy now that I've signed and I'm looking forward to playing for Pat's," Morris told stpatsfc.com.
Having been in England for all of his professional career, Morris is looking forward to playing at home and is targeting success with the Saints and a squad he believes can compete for silverware. "I know of a lot of the lads in the squad and grew up playing football with James Chambers at Lourdes Celtic so I know him really well."
"I'm just really happy to be signing for what I think is the most exciting team in the League of Ireland. I think Pat's is the right club for me now, especially with our style of play and the fact that the standard here is really good and I believe we've several players who could easily make it over in England."
Morris is set to feature in the Saints' away SSE Airtricity League game to Sligo Rovers on Friday night should he receive international clearance in time for the fixture, and he's already targeting three points in his first game.
"Hopefully I'll be clear to play against Sligo, and we can get a win. Coming in, I was surprised to see us in third place as I think we can compete at the top as I want to win leagues and cups with the club. We know if we can win against Sligo that we'll close up on one of Dundalk and Cork City as they play Sunday so we'll hopefully be able to get a result tomorrow and take it from there."
