Shayden Morris on why mum is the word on his recent Aberdeen revival and his eternal debt to Jim Goodwin
Shayden Morris knows his Aberdeen career is rocketing in the right direction - even if his mum has been left stunned by his new-found Pittodrie stardom.
The winger is a firm favourite with the Red Army, has his own song and when his mother, Claudette, was up for last weekend’s win over Kilmarnock he was on the front of the match programme and was the talk of the city. Morris is hoping to entice his lucky mascot, who hasn’t seen the Dons lose, up to a few more games to aid Aberdeen’s European push between now and the end of the season.
The winger said: “My mum was at the Kilmarnock game. She was happy and came up with her two sisters so she was buzzing. Especially seeing the programme and reading it. My auntie is a librarian, so she's like, wow, this is crazy. And then all the good things, like walking around the city with the fans coming up to me and loads of pictures. They were like, is this the same Shayden? The same baby Shayden. She was loving it.
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“It was good. She just came up with her two sisters. After the win as well, there were good vibes. She gets up to a game maybe once every couple of weeks.
“She tries to come with my brother and my dad. Since she's been up, we've won every game she's been to.”
Morris was on the front of the programme and has his own Shady Mo song. In her few days in the city, she was stunned at the way her son has transformed his Aberdeen career. The former Fleetwood player admitted it was good for his mum to see because she and the rest of the family who had to lift him when he was struggling at Aberdeen after Neil Warnock had sent him home to get out of the firing line.
The 23-year-old, who has scored against Rangers and Celtic this season, admitted: “Yeah, that's the thing. I went home and probably needed that time to reset, looking back at it.
“It's probably one of the best things that's happened, learning from that and learning about myself. I feel like I've grown.
“We spoke a lot, like my brother and stuff, they said we'll be here now, but we'll be there when you come back. For it to be still at Aberdeen, where I've come back, has been a beautiful journey.”
Aberdeen lost to Celtic in midweek and will be looking to get back to winning ways tomorrow as they look to stay out in third place.
Fifth-placed Dundee United make the trip north and are only one point behind in the European chase. Jim Goodwin takes his United team north and Morris knows he owes him a debt for signing him for Aberdeen.
He acknowledged: “He's the reason I'm in Scotland. He's a good manager, a good guy. I really like him but I'm sure he won't want to see me playing this week.
“He kind of didn't have to say much to take me to Aberdeen. I knew how big the club was coming here. I felt something, that this is the right step for me and then I think just joining was like, he was really good with me, one-on-one and stuff.”
Morris was still relatively young and had to be patient under Goodwin but knows it has stood him in good stead for the here and now. “I didn't get the opportunity I wanted but it was good to come,” Morris added. Jim, he believed in me. I saw the belief.
“I kind of just needed to take my chance. So it did take me a bit of time to adapt but I feel like now I've fully adapted.”
Dimitar Mitov and Krister Tobers are both fit enough to start but the game probably comes too early for Ester Sokler, Jack Milne and Dante Polvara.
