For the best part of the 2020/21 season, Leicester City couldn’t count on their captain Wes Morgan to help them. The 37-year-old veteran’s been struggling with a back injury for months and was in danger of ending his career prematurely. But his hard work and belief paid off when manager Brendan Rodgers included him in the squad for the biggest game of the season – the FA Cup final.”To say my final game for Leicester was the FA Cup final is something nobody could ever take away from me. To even be a part of the game itself was special because I had a back issue that wouldn’t go away, couldn’t really be fixed. I was talking to the medical team as the season was coming to an end. Time is running out. You are in a position where you are trying to push and play one final game, but it is not guaranteed. So I was like, ‘Well, I might as well give it a go. It will be my final season, so if I can get one final appearance, that would be fantastic’.”????”We won that FA Cup for him.” ????Former Leicester City captain Wes Morgan said how challenging it was when the club’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha passed away but thinks he was looking down on all the players at Wembley after their FA Cup win pic.twitter.com/WHEUgag0WI— Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 28, 2021 Morgan did get into the squad after his back issue improved, but he wasn’t expecting to play and get that Wembley send-off, but the manager had other ideas. It wasn’t sentimentality, either. Morgan had a specific job to do against a quality opponent – Chelsea.”I got a call from Brendan in the afternoon before, asking if I was all right to be put on the bench because if he needs me to come on for the last five or 10 minutes. I wasn’t sure if my back would hold out. But I said yes anyway because of the circumstances, the FA Cup final, a game with a crowd. I was buzzing.”Rodgers wanted Morgan to nullify Olivier Giroud’s physical threat if he came on, and while Morgan did have one eye on whether Giroud was warming up, he knew exactly when he would be called upon. Speaking to The Athletic, Big Wes lived through what was his final act in a Leicester shirt.”As soon as we went 1-0 up, I was putting my shinpads on. I know how the boss thinks. I knew there was a good chance. Then he shouted me down from the stands, and he told me to get in the middle and head everything away. I said, ‘Gaffer, don’t worry – I’ve got this’. I was delighted to get on and get an FA Cup medal, the first time Leicester had ever won the FA Cup and it was my final game.”The FA Cup: The oldest competition in the world with a surprisingly young trophyGoalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel had led Leicester in Morgan’s absence all season and Morgan had no intention of taking away the Dane’s big moment. But the son of the legendary Manchester United goalie Peter had a surprise for the Jamaican.”Kasper thought about it and said it didn’t feel right and he wanted us to lift it together. That was amazing from him. To lift it as joint captains and have that picture that will be there forever. What more could I possibly ask for? What a way to finish.”Morgan and Schmeichel list the FA Cup together (©AFP)Going ever further in the past, one can never fail to talk about Leicester’s unbelievable Premier League win in 2016. To Morgan and his teammates, it came as much of a surprise as to everyone else – their goal was only to avoid relegation.”The players didn’t get carried away when we started to string wins. We were still only thinking of getting to the 45-point mark and surviving. It probably dawned on the players at different moments that it could actually happen. For me, it was the away match at Manchester City. We had turned them over so easily, that was when I thought we could actually be champions.”They’ve won the Championship together.They’ve achieved PL survival together.They’ve won the Premier League together.They’ve played in the Champions League together.They’ve won the FA Cup together.A combined cost of £2m.Jamie Vardy and Wes Morgan – Leicester City icons. pic.twitter.com/8Qd9NyjTQY— PF | Transfer News (@PurelyFootball) May 15, 2021 It hasn’t sunk in yet for Morgan that his playing career is over. In time, he will look back through the scrapbooks his mum has kept since his early days at Nottingham Forest.The man who made 30 appearances for Jamaica will now turn to a business and sports management career, having worked hard in recent years to be ready for his post-football days. He’s achieved quite a lot in his nine years with the Foxes. A Premier League win the FA Cup win and playing in the Champions League – it not bad for a guy who only ever dreamt of making a few appearances in England’s top league.
