Born (28/July/1984) and raised in York, Michael Morton attended Millthorpe School and York College. He was a City supporter, most famously pictured at Wembley in 1993, Dean Kiely, City’s keeper that day being one of his boyhood heroes.

He’d attend City games with granddad who had been a prominent local amateur player with Rowntrees.

As he grew older, supporting had to take second place to playing. He spent some time playing with City juniors and then Middlesbrough before a senior career beckoned with the likes of Garforth Town.

Drawn towards formations and figures, it was inevitable that coaching would soon call. He recalls that he was often to be seen helping out in under 15 and under16 soccer schools.

An early (and long term) influence was David Harrison who Morton played under and later worked with at Leeds (2003-9). After a long spell with Everton, David Harrison was named Head of Youth Recruitment by Manchester United in March 2023. He also names John Francis, a former Burnley striker, now head of their academy, Rick Passmoor and Steve Holmes as strong influences on his career. As his playing career wound down, his coaching career ramped up. In 2005, he was offered a full time coaching role at Leeds where he was to complete his caching badges. He is a UEFA ‘A’ licensed coach.

In 2009, he was head hunted by Manchester City’s academy where his main roles included academy coaching and talent identification. One unsuccessful task was to establish a centre of excellence in York. At times, he worked under Brian Kidd with the first team squad. He returned to Leeds' academy in 2018 and remained there until City came calling in 2022. Early part time roles included Under 19 Head Coach at York College (2008 - 2018) and with Reform Coaching (2011-4).

Whilst at Manchester City, he was given some opportunities to work in men’s football with Pickering Town and Tadcaster Albion (2013-8) where he saw the club reach the 2017/8 Evo-Stik North play offs. He worked as assistant manager under Paul Marshall and later Billy Miller before stepping up to become manager. He took a team that had finished just above the relegation zone a season earlier into the play offs. At Taddy, he worked with experienced professionals like Jon Greening and Michael Ingham.

He also worked at i2i as their Academy Manager (2012-8), setting up an academy where he was able to implement his own ideas. Ronaldo Viera, later Leeds and Torino, was his star graduate, one of 9 professional footballers they produced.

In 2018, he took up a post as Youth Development Phase Lead at Leeds United when he was offered the chance to return to Leeds’ academy and learn under Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds regained their top flight status.

Come late 2022, Morton started to hear rumours linking him to York. At the time he was considering taking a team of coaches across to Norway and had spoken to another National League side.

Arriving at City in December 2022 as David Webb’s assistant, he took charge for the first 2 games when Webb was struck down with covid. They were a backs to the wall 2-0 win at high flying Woking and a routine 5-0 FA Trophy win over Blyth. Barely 2 months later, after Webb was sacked on February 8, Morton was appointed City's interim manager on the sacking of David Webb. Taking over after a calamitous run of results (and performances) and amid the ongoing ownership crisis, he guided City to safety and was appointed permanent manager on May 23.

The 2023 close season was difficult, starting in the Glen Henderson era, money was tight. He indicated that he wanted to go into the new season with a small and tightly knit squad. Once the Matt Uggla takeover was completed, money became readily available and by the time he was relieved of his duties on August 28, he had 36 professionals in his care. Equally, his desire for a squad with "Premier League" fitness seemed to go awry as City were frequently second best fitness wise in the opening games. His last 2 home games saw City's defence torn to shreds by Altrincham and Rochdale. He was sacked on the evening of the 1-3 defeat by Rochdale.

Speaking a couple of weeks after he had completed his takeover, Matt Uggla openly admitted that he had a new manager in mind when taking over but was quickly won over by Mikey Morton, the pair were on the same page. But had that statement already set in motion the end?

After all the pre-season hype, City had just 2 points from 6 games when he was sacked. Whilst handicapped by late signings and injuries, he regularly changed formations (seemingly to match up with the opposition) and his clarity of thought from the previous season became lost in a series of cliched interviews (transitions and stats to the fore). There was talk of unrest in the camp, Dan Pybus left under a cloud whilst Alex Hurst was rumoured to be have refused to play and despite using 25 players in the 6 games, Mitch Hancox surprisingly featured for just a few minutes. Despite the squad size, there was a persistence to play Maz Kouhyar at left wing back whilst midfield and forward options were limited.

Even his last weekend seemed muddled. Having noted at Easter how the “quick” 3 days turnaround between Good Friday and Easter Monday saw the unchanged side he put out for Easer Monday fail to match the energy of Halifax. He regretted fielding an unchanged side, having been swayed by the excellent result at Chesterfield on Good Friday. Come Dorking, he took his entire first team squad to Dorking for a team bonding overnight stay entailing a long coach journey and a lot of time to fill for the non players. Even after that game, he recalled the Easter games. Come Monday, he fielded an unchanged side, bar the suspended John-Lewis and post match he noted how some of his players were “gassed” by half time.

Elsewhere, there were rumours of ill discipline across both last season and this season whilst the summer and beyond had been rife with rumours of signings and team line ups, an uncomfortably high number proved to be true for comfort.

The first 6 games of the 2023/4 season saw City receive 3 red cards and his final game saw Crookes receive a straight red and 4 players (plus Tony McMahon) booked. Discipline seemed to have gone out of the window.

A year after his sacking Mikey Morton told Yorkpress, "First of all, I wouldn’t change the experience, people laugh at me for that, but it was the hardest challenge that I have ever seen in football. The biggest thing for me was that everyone wanted York to be successful, that’s down from Hendo to the Trust. There's a load of good people at York City who love the club and do some fantastic work behind the scenes. There were just a lot of things that weren't in place. It was hostile with the things going on at the top and the fans weren't happy. It was a real challenge, but the biggest shock was how far York were behind the scenes when putting things into place. I just think that they focused on getting that first team right and neglected the bits around it in what supports the players and the staff. It was difficult to put things into place and maybe I spent too much time trying to put things into place for York going forward and trying to professionalise some things behind the scenes, rather than just being a bit stubborn and focusing on the first team. When you're at York City and you're a fan you just want to get it right, not just now but also for the future. Hopefully the people in place now do get the right people in the place, and understand how important it is behind the scenes to help the first team, the staff and the players to be successful. It (his sacking) happened quickly and I'm not saying anything that I haven't already said, but I didn't know if I was going to be in a job. “To be fair, everyone at the club was open and honest with me. That's what I asked for and I said I'd continue putting things into place to try and help with whoever was coming in. I met with Matt, we had a good conversation and he gave me the opportunity to manage the club that I love. Unfortunately, I think that everything just came a bit too quick and a bit too fast. I don't blame Matt and Julie-Anne for their decision, I'm not a bitter manager. At the end of the day, everyone wanted to make an impact. Matt and Julie-Anne came in and showed that they wanted to make the squad stronger and try to get a better squad. It's not easy for Matt or Julie-Anne. I understood that they took over the club, they tried to change things and put a lot of money in, they were trying to put things in place. I have no issues with them. I always said to them when I left that if they ever needed any support on anything or any advice, then I'm always here. I do think that the Uggla's will get it right, but it will take time. We both spoke and he (Matt Uggla) mentioned that he wanted me in a role (after his sacking), and I do think I could offer York a lot of experience on things they need. I just felt that at the time, with everything going on, that one, I was exhausted, I was tired, stressed and shattered, so I needed that time. To be fair to Matt, he was never pushing me in any way, but I was just trying to place what it looked like. Ardley was in and I knew it was tough. I only wanted to be in and around if I could help the manager or help the club move forward, but I didn’t want to step on anyone's toes. I didn't want to get things wrong so I needed them to settle, just so I could see where things were at. I'll always try to help everybody and I think that I can add value to stuff, but I just didn't think it was the right time. (A year on) I've not looked anywhere yet if I am honest. I've had a few opportunities here and abroad, but when I get involved then I am fully invested. If the right opportunity comes up, then I'll look into it. I'm going to be a bit selfish now in my career, it's got to fit for me as well. If it comes about, fantastic, and if it doesn't then I'll keep doing what I'm doing, support York on a weekend when they are playing and keep enjoying my time".

Michael "Mikey" Morton: Linkedin.