Player Profile: Callum Morton

Credit Graham Burrell

Name: Callum Morton

Position: Striker

Born: 19 January 2000 Torquay

Parent Club: West Brom

Loan Ends: June 2021

Lincoln Appearances: 13 (8) Goals 3

Credit Graham Burrell

Callum Morton began his career with Yeovil Town, joining their academy in 2015 and penning a two-year scholarship in 2016. He impressed West Brom by scoring against them in an FA Youth Cup victory in 2017 and joined for an undisclosed fee shortly afterwards. He played his first senior football, of sorts, in the Checkatrade Trophy in 2017/18, turning out three times for West Brom Under 21s. He appeared in the same squad as Max Melbourne, Alex Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Alex Bradley in defeats against Walsall (3-1), Shrewsbury (3-0) and Coventry City (2-1).

The following season, after three more appearances in the Checkatrade Trophy, he was loaned out to Braintree in the National League, making his senior debut in their 2-0 home defeat against Barrow. He scored his first senior goal on Boxing Day as they lost 3-1 at Ebbsfleet, and bagged a hattrick as they thumped Barnet a little under a month later. His stint in Essex was a success, with 14 outings and a total of five goals.

The following season, after spending six months back at the Hawthorns, Morton joined Northampton on loan. He impressed with the Cobblers, making his Football League debut as a sub in the 3-0 win against Scunthorpe United. He started his first game three days later, bagging the only goal in the Cobblers 1-0 win at Macclesfield.

After a brace at Walsall and another at Grimsby, Morton and the Cobblers found themselves in the League Two play-off picture. They lost the first leg of the semi-final 2-0 to fancied Cheltenham Town, but Morton hit two as they overturned that deficit with a 3-0 win to get to Wembley. Morton scored again in the final to secure promotion as they thrashed Exeter City 4-0.

Courtesy Graham Burrell

In the summer of 2020, Morton penned a four-year deal at the Hawthorns before joining the Imps on loan on the same day as fellow West Brom man Alex Palmer. “Callum came to the floor during the play-offs and every football fan would have watched him,” said manager Michael Appleton. “We have a really strong front line now, we are delighted to have him on board.”

He made his debut as a late sub in the Imps 2-1 victory at Gresty Road against Crewe in the League Cup, and made his Imps Football League debut a week later against Oxford. In between, he made his first start for City as we drew 1-1 with Scunthorpe United in the EFL Trophy, but he had left the field before we went to penalties.

On September 15, Morton scored his first goal in Lincoln colours, hitting the net in the 90th minute as Bradford City were thrashed 5-0 in the EFL Cup. Four days later he came on late as we beat MK Dons 2-1 at Stadium MK.

In the days after the MK Dons win, Morton suffered an injury to his shoulder in the gym, which eventually required surgery. It was unclear at first what the damage might be, with a couple of weeks mooted as a possible duration. Sadly, Morton needed surgery and returned to West Brom for rehabilitation.

He returned to Lincoln early in February 2021 to finish the final stages of his comeback and become a part of the squad for the League One run-in. He scored on his first game back, a depressing 2-1 defeat at home against Fleetwood Town, and again as we drew 1-1 with Sunderland, but was not suited as a direct replacement for Tom Hopper when the latter got injured and often struggled with the physical presence of League One defenders.

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