Millwall FC struck transfer gold in £130,000 striker deal: View | OneFootball

Steve Morison joined Millwall from Stevenage in 2009 and was a huge success across two spells at The Den

Steve Morison left Millwall as a legend in 2019 after three spells with the club, where he developed a reputation as a prolific goalscorer, and as a fan favourite at The Den.

In total, Morison made a whopping 336 appearances for the Lions, 277 more than he had made for any other club, showing just how successful his time at the club was.

The Wales international did things the hard way when it came to making a name for himself in professional football, but Millwall's decision to sign him in 2009 will go down as one of the best decisions the club ever made.

His time at The Den saw him perform so well that he earned a move to Premier League side Norwich City in 2011, and it's clear that Kenny Jackett struck gold when he decided to sign him in the summer of 2009.

Millwall's decision to sign Steve Morison from Stevenage proved to be a bargain

Morison had begun his career with Northampton Town but, after failing to make a breakthrough with the Cobblers in the Football League, he joined non-league outfit Bishop's Stortford in 2004, and that set the foundations for his career ahead.

That was enough to attract interest from National League side Stevenage in 2006, and Morison proved himself as one of the deadliest strikers in non-league during this period, nearly earning a move back to the EFL with Crewe Alexandra in 2008, but much to Millwall's relief in hindsight, a move never materialised.

Instead, Morison penned a three-year deal that summer with a clause which allowed him to leave the club at the end of the season should Stevenage fail to win promotion and if he received interest from the EFL.

With the club failing to win promotion, Millwall capitalised in the summer of 2009, signing Morison for a fee of £130,000, a deal which proved to be worth every penny in the years that followed.

Making the step-up from the National League to League One would be daunting for most, but Morison scored 23 goals in his first season at The Den, helping his side win promotion to the Championship after winning the play-off final against Swindon.

Morison had no problems with the step-up in quality that the Championship brought either, and he scored 15 league goals in his first season in the second tier, attracting interest from Premier League side Norwich City in the summer of 2011, and he moved to the top-flight for a fee of £2.8million.

It was a meteoric rise for the Welsh international, and while it seemed like his Millwall career was over after just two years, there was plenty more to come.

Nobody could have begrudged Morison his Premier League move, but it didn't quite go to plan and after a spell with Leeds following his Norwich City exit, he returned to The Den for a second loan spell in 2013.

He scored just eight times during his loan spell, but the best was to come when he rejoined the club on a permanent basis in 2015.

Morison went from the Premier League back to League One in the space of a couple of seasons, and he hit the ground running during the 2015/16 season, scoring 19 times in all competitions as his side reached the League One play-off final, but they were defeated by Barnsley at Wembley, being unable to repeat the trick from 2010.

However, Morison and Millwall avenged this the following season when he scored the winner against Bradford City at Wembley in the 2017 League One play-off final, a goal which took his tally to 19 for the season, equaling what he had done the previous year.

Morison was unable to replicate his previous Championship exploits during the 2017/18 season, scoring just five times, but he helped the Lions to a very respectable 8th place finish in what was their first season back in the Championship.

It was clear that Morison's age was catching up to him at this point, and after just one goal in 41 league games during the 2018/19 season, he left the club in the summer of 2019, joining Shrewsbury Town.

It may not have been the fairytale ending that his Millwall career deserved, but after 336 appearances and 92 goals, he had plenty of credit in the bank.

Millwall's decision to sign Morison in the summer of 2009 for £130,000 was an absolute bargain, and he proved to be an excellent servant to the club across three spells.