'I'll always ask myself "What if?"': Ex-Wales man Joe Morrell on rebuilding his life after Portsmouth heartbreak
Joe Morrell made 105 appearances for the Blues, scoring once, after joining in August 2021
The swelling in a left knee requiring further surgery serves as a lingering reminder, as if Joe Morrell could ever forget.
A naturally ebullient character brimming with positivity, there’s an infectious energy when the Welshman passionately addresses a coaching future which has already begun at pace.
Certainly his January return to home-town club Bristol City to work in their flourishing Under-21s set-up has handed Morrell a fresh challenge which has reinvigorated footballing ambition. The buzz is back.
Yet, inevitably, the past nags away.
A career which saw the former midfielder represent his beloved Wales 37 times, including at the Qatar World Cup finals in 2022, and lift the League One title with Pompey has provided many souvenirs to treasure.
However, it ended prematurely. Cruelly, an injury sustained while on League One duty with the Blues at Oxford United forced Morrell to retire in October 2025 at the age of 28, following an 18-month battle to return.
Now coaching occupies his focus, throwing himself into the Robins role with the customary commitment which characterised those all-action displays for club and country.
Yet, during occasional moments of quiet contemplation, Morrell cannot help but reflect on ‘What if?’.
‘There will always be an element of “What if” in my career’
‘When I played for Wales, everyone was a better player than me, everyone was a bigger name than me,’ he told The News.
‘In the 2020 European Championships, the front six were Joe Allen, Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale, Dan James, Kieffer Moore, Harry Wilson - and me. My job was to run around, win the ball back and give it to the better players.
‘If I needed to kick people, then I kicked them. At that time, Joe Allen, a really good technical player, was in his 30s and had suffered from a few injuries, whereas I brought a bit more intensity, energy and aggression. With Bale and Ramsey in front of me, you don't have to be a master tactician to explain my job in that team.
‘That’s the player I was. I couldn’t be Aaron Ramsey, I couldn't be Harry Wilson, I couldn’t be Gareth Bale, I was never going to be that, so I was somebody who played on the edge. I was really aggressive, really intense, providing the team with a foundation to win the game.
‘I wasn’t going to be the match winner solely, that was never my job. If I was ever better than our forward line in a match, it probably wouldn’t have been a good game!
‘Yet whenever I watch Wales now, there will always be the thought that I could be playing in that, I should be playing in that. Then I remember there’s nothing I could have done differently, so I can live with that.
‘There will always be an element of “What if” in my career, but also there are so many things I never thought I would have achieved - and I have had a career. Imagine if this had happened at the age 18-19, at the very start.
‘It’s scary how quickly it can be over. The roller-coaster of emotions in football is so extreme and my story is a very real example of that. There’s a lot I can take from my playing career into my next chapter.
‘I’m still proud of what I achieved, with loads of good memories. That has also set me up well for the next part of my life in coaching, something I am really, really excited for.’
Career agony at Oxford United
Long-time leaders Pompey travelled to Oxford in January 2024, striving to extend a healthy advantage at League One’s summit.
For Morrell, it represented a 26th start out of the Blues’ 30 league fixtures by that stage of the season, emphasising his pivotal role in their promotion push under John Mousinho.
Then, on 34 minutes, the Welshman crumpled to the floor clutching his left knee, with no opponent in the immediate vicinity.
He was later diagnosed with a chondral defect, involving a piece of cartilage snapping off and now floating in his knee. Aged 27, he would never play football competitively again.
Morrell added: ‘I announced my retirement last year, but I love football too much to leave. There was never that thought to walk away and do something completely different.
‘Absolutely I can understand why some want to do that when your playing days are over. There’s so much stuff you have to deal with in football, it is ruthless and so hard to plan your life.
‘But, for me, it will always be football, I am so passionate about it. I feel I can make a difference in coaching, that I can be better in what I do next.
‘As a coach, there’s nothing stopping you, as opposed to being a player where you have a certain amount of talent and physical capabilities - then, if your knee stops working, you’re done. There’s nothing like that with coaching, which is what really appeals to me.
‘Last summer I was looking for a club and trained at Reading, Plymouth and Burton. They all wanted to sign me, but I couldn't get to the point where I was fit enough to play.
‘The demands of a professional footballer in 2026 are so high, the physical output is so elite, my body’s just not capable of doing that any more. When you fail three medicals, you don’t really have too much of a choice but to retire. That’s your body telling you something and football clubs telling you something.
‘I failed those medicals because of the strength in my knee, the swelling would be too much after training and the strength scores weren’t good enough. There were different reasons at different clubs, but it was all around the knee and them believing I wouldn’t be able to withstand a 46-game league season with 200 training sessions.
‘There was always an element of me thinking that as well, yet it’s tough when other people see it.
‘Maybe I could have had another knee operation and another year of rehab. Maybe I would have got to the point where I’d be fit enough to do it, but the chances were I was never going to be.
‘That wasn’t really a decision for me in the end, it was made for me. I have always been pretty clear about what I wanted to do after playing and thankfully I was able to go straight into coaching. It doesn’t make retiring any easier, but it helps.’
Returning home
Having announced his retirement in October 2025, Morrell would return to where it all began for the next stage of his career.
As a 16-year-old, he made his debut for Bristol City in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy clash at Wycombe in October 2013, lining up alongside future Pompey team-mate Marlon Pack in midfield.
Although born in Ipswich and spending time in Merthyr, it was Bristol where Morrell grew up - and he graduated through the Robins’ Academy to make six first-team appearances for his home-town club.
Having left for Luton in October 2020 for an undisclosed fee, he would come back just five years later, albeit this time in a coaching capacity with Bristol City’s under-21s.
Morrell had previously rejected the opportunity for a Fratton Park return as first-team development coach under Mousinho, a role vacated by Zesh Rehmen’s departure for Saudi Arabia in December.
Instead, having helped out in Pompey’s Academy, his preference was to start his coaching education in youth football - and in January 2026, Morrell was back home.
He said: ‘I’m loving it here at Bristol City, there are so many things I’ve missed during those couple of years when injured. The pressure, the purpose, the drive football gives you. Obviously I didn’t have that - but it’s back now.
‘I always knew I’d go into coaching and I was prepared for it. I didn’t want it to be at 28, of course, I would much rather it be at 38 following a 20-year playing career. Now I have a unique opportunity to learn and make loads of mistakes.
‘I wanted to work in an Academy for those reasons, it was very deliberate. I didn’t want to be in a first-team environment just yet, it's too early for me and this was the perfect place to do it at a club I know well.
‘Bristol City have a really good Academy and also a good age of player. I feel I can make a real impact and make a difference, building a relationship with players who can see someone who has done what they want to achieve.
‘I’ve always been really passionate about it, I have started my Pro Licence, which is the last step in the coaching badges. I’m really, really excited for the future and want to be the best coach I can possibly be.
‘Pompey did offer me a job with their first-team, but I wanted something different. I had been there for a long time, I had rehabbed there, but it came down to the fact that I wanted to work in the Academy. I have the time to be very deliberate about that, I don’t have to rush into a first-team set-up.
‘If I was aged 34-35, I might want to take a job in a first-team, but, in the here and now, it’s about being able to make loads of mistakes, learning and being able to coach loads. In a first-team environment you can’t because you aren’t the manager and actual time on the grass would be limited.
‘As opposed to here, where I do 5-7 sessions a week and sit in loads of meetings, it really gives me a chance to improve. That was the rationale behind turning down Pompey, I needed something different at a different football club, trying to plan my path to become the best head coach I can. This was the logical first step for me.’
Following the departure of Dennis Baraznowski in April, Morrell was promoted to interim under-21s boss for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.
Certainly it has been a period of upheaval at the Robins. Last month saw James Ellis appointed as sporting director, followed by Michael Skubala’s arrival from Lincoln on a three-year deal as first-team manager.
Morrell is waiting to discover his Ashton Gate future, yet in May began studying for his Uefa Pro Licence, a St George’s Park course overseen by Pompey legend Guy Whittingham.
Another operation on his left knee is also planned, with the Welshman continuing to be impacted by the injury which forced him to embark on a new career at the age of 28.
‘I don’t want to have to cope with pain every day and not being active’
‘I need another knee operation, it affects me daily and probably requires a clear out, but I’m active,’ added Morrell.
‘I can go for a run if I want to, I can go to the gym, I play padel a lot. However, I want to get to the point where I don’t have to think about it every day because it remains painful and I’m still having to live with it.
‘Hopefully I’ll have an operation this summer and that should sort a lot of it out, but I will never be back to the point of playing football.
‘A lot of my job is being active and kicking balls, yet afterwards I’m a bit stiff, I still get pain on the outside of my knee where the injury is. It swells up, it’s sore.
‘That’s the frustrating thing for me. I can cope with not playing football again, but I don’t want to have to cope with pain every day and not being active, because that’s such a big part of my life. Hopefully that’s something which can be rectified.
‘Looking back, things could have been handled differently in terms of how I left Pompey, but that’s a story for another day. I won’t let it taint any memories I have at the football club because I want it to be positive - and I’d like to think I’m a positive person.
‘I am glad the last season I had in football was with that fantastic group of people, winning the first and only trophy of my career. However, there will always be an element of “What if”.’
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