Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner explains decision to appoint Michael Morrison as club’s new captain

Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner has revealed that he always intended to appoint Michael Morrison as the club captain from the moment that the centre-back rejoined the club.

Morrison returned to his boyhood club after more than a decade away in January and he went on to feature on 19 occasions as the U’s defied the odds to retain their Sky Bet League One status.

The departure of long-serving skipper Greg Taylor earlier this summer opened up a vacancy and the assumption by many was that midfielder Paul Digby, who stood in last term during Taylor’s absence from the playing squad, would take on the armband on a permanent basis.

However, it was announced prior to this afternoon’s 3-1 pre-season friendly victory at St Albans City that Bonner had instead selected Morrison to lead the team out in 2023/24.

Speaking about the decision to hand the captaincy to the 35-year-old, Bonner said: “I can imagine that (Digby) was the obvious choice that people might have thought because he wore the armband last year.

“I brought Michael Morrison back to the club in January knowing that he was going to be the club captain – that was always going to be the future plan.

“He’s a leader who has done it a higher level, he knows the club inside out and I think he’s brilliant at it.

“The demands we put on a captain are quite big and I think he’s really well set for it because of how he’s prepared and how many times he’s done that role.

“And in and around that you’ve got some brilliant senior players, Paul Digby being one. We’ve got Harrison Dunk, Danny Andrew, Ryan Bennett that can all really lead things.

“Diggers is as close to the captaincy as you can get. He doesn’t need an armband to be Paul Digby so he’ll just crack on and do his thing.

“As we freshen this team up and there is a new cycle, (appointing Morrison as captain) is another part of that. He’s a different leader, a different voice and someone different to drive that. But it’s probably not one person doing it, it’s a group of senior players that drive it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how (Morrison) takes on the role, but he’ll do it great and he already has.”