Steve Morison is under serious consideration to re-take the reins as Cardiff City manager in a shock move by the club, WalesOnline understands.
The Bluebirds parted ways with Morison back in September when the club were in 18th position in the Championship table, with Mark Hudson succeeding the former Millwall striker in the dugout. Sabri Lamouchi then took charge in February and eventually steered the club to safety.
Lamouchi, however, has been told he will not stay on as manager and it has left Cardiff looking for a new man to take charge ahead of the 2023/24 season.
READ MORE: Cardiff City new manager search Live
And we are told that Morison, who has steadily moved up the bookmakers' odds list in recent days, is a real contender in what would be a first for Vincent Tan with regards to re-hiring a manager he has previously parted company with at Cardiff. It is understood Tan himself is veering towards the idea of re-appointing Morison.
Morison was brought to the club as under-21s manager and oversaw an 11-game winning start to the youth team's 2021/22 season. That run coincided with the sacking of Mick McCarthy and Morison subsequently took the reins and steadied the ship. Following some positive loan transfers in January last year, he guided Cardiff to Championship safety.
He brought through youth and was entrusted with rebuilding a squad from scratch on a minimal budget and brought in a decent core of Championship players, but ultimately the squad proved to be light on quality. He parted ways with the club just a fortnight after the summer transfer window ended.
At the time, Tan felt he had to relieve Morison of his duties or the club would go down. However, neither Hudson nor Lamouchi managed to push past the 18th position the club were left in when Morison departed.
Some believe he didn't get enough of an opportunity to mould the squad properly into a unit, given he had completely ripped up the style of play, too. Others believed he had run his race and it was the right time to let him go.
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The potential appointment might alarm some Bluebirds supporters who could perceive it as a backwards step. The manager's straight-talking or perhaps abrasive style also drew criticism from both inside and outside the club, including his comments about youngsters Isaak Davies and Max Watters after certain games.
Whatever your view, it would take a pretty serious climbdown from Tan to reappoint a manager he got rid of just eight months ago. But we are told that Morison is interested in coming back and the club are interested in the prospect.
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