Manchester United Legend On the Bench: Albert Morgan

In 1996, the late Norman Davies left Manchester United (under concerns over his health), leaving a significant dent in the club’s back-room staff department. Most of the people directly associated with the club deeply regretted the moving on of a man who had been a legend in the boot room for over twenty years. They bid him farewell and gave him their best of wishes to carry forth his battle against cancer (Which he sadly lost in 2008).

Yet the hole he left by would be overlooked by most of the fans that the club has nowadays. It is true that an international fan (Unless they are really weaved into the functioning club mechanisms) wouldn’t care too much when a Kit Manager leaves the club; same goes for most of the club staff. But the man who replaced him has now come on to be an off-field legend of Man Utd. Yes, he might not have done as much for the club on the field like Sir Alex, Giggs, Scholes, or Neville, but he has been there with the club, he has done his work with pride and honor, and now Albert Morgan has reached a somewhat iconic status with the fans.

Albert Morgan with Sir Alex Ferguson

It all genuinely started when Nike released an advertisement of the NikePRO Inners, consisting of Albie(as he is lovingly called) and ex-Red Devil talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo. In the video, Albert shows off his football skills, and the fans took the whole incident very well, with close to half a dozen Youtube videos of the same ad being posted, and one having more than a million views. That shot Albert into instant appreciation amongst the international fans, and people started taking notice of how much the back-room staff works behind the scenes. This gave rise to many chants from the OT faithful like “Kitman, Kitman, give us a wave” and “da na na na na na na na, da na na na na na na na, KITMAN!” (Rip of the old Batman Tune). And amusing as the chants were, needless to say Albie and co deserved it.

I remember one of my British friends sending me a piece from the United magazine which had an article about Albert in it. He seemed to have a genuine love for the club and it was fantastic to see that he was like a father figure for many of the younger players. Sure, at the end of the day, under macroscopic scrutiny, a kit-man’s only job is to lay out kits, get the training gear and game gear prepared without fail, and take care of the Boot-room, but Albie is more than that. Many would remember this year when Rafael Da Silva got a head injury against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road and had to be stretchered off. Fabio, Rafa’s twin brother was nervously pacing the touchline. It was Albie, who came up from the bench, and put an arm on young Fabio’s shoulder. He spoke to him, made him calm until the ground staff got him off the pitch. It is moments like those when Albie’s influence on the club was really visible. Even when Scholes was sent off against Man City in the FA cup semi-final, Albie went straight up to him on the touchline, and asked him to calm down as he went into the dressing room. All other staff were busy returning their focus to the match.

In the end, it is clearly visible that this man, Albert Morgan has been a loyal servant for the club for over a decade now. He deserves recognition as well as appreciation. He is a great personality and one of my favorite staff at the club. Lets hope and believe that he stays with the club for years to come. So, lets all now say, “Glory Glory Albie Morgan! As the kits go marching On! On! On!!”.