I can only hope to find something in life I love as much as Steve Morison loves Millwall. Emma Watson could be lying scantily clad on my bed, gesturing for me to join her, a hot bacon sandwich in one hand and a DVD of Superbad in the other, and I’d still be less than half way there. Today one of our highest earners (and lowest performers) has departed for a club located 250,000 years of evolution further back than humans as we know them.

Credit where it’s due, Steve “the shift” Morison was a key player for Leeds last season at points. When there was dissent in the dressing room and Neil Redfearn needed a striker to lead the line and play the “defensive forward” position, there was only one man up to the job. For all the love for Billy Sharp, for all Antenucci’s ability, for all Doukara’s… urr… size, Morison was the only man seemingly capable of doing it. A dreary, unenthusiastic figure for most of his time at Leeds he managed to force his way into our sarcastic hearts.

Today his contract was terminated by mutual consent for an undisclosed fee, allowing him to time-travel back to prehistoric man at The Den where his grasp of literacy will no doubt have him burnt at the stake. Rumoured to be on £17,000 a week at Leeds his removal from the wage bill will be a welcome thing indeed. With Doukara, Antenucci, Wood and Erwin at the club it seems unlikely that he’d get much playing time anyway.

The last of the Warnock era?

It’s less about dreary old Steve sloping off to the land of the Hominids, more what it represents. To my mind, this is the last Neil Warnock signing to leave meaning that horrible period of chronic under-investment is behind us. Remember when Warnock decided we needed to entirely overhaul the playing squad, which meant selling Adam Clayton (a good player) and bringing in Michael Brown, Paddy Kenny, Luke Varney, Michael Tonge, Jason Pearce, Paul Green, El Hadji Diouf, David Norris and all sorts of “quality”. Jamie Ashdown was a good backup keeper and Jason Pearce had his moments. Diouf was useful at times too, but on the whole this was a terrible period for Leeds. Largely it was a who’s who of ex-Sheffield United players and opportunistic freebees from sinking Portsmouth.

Stephen Warnock turned out okay in the end, but Neil Warnock’s reign was unforgivable. How could you trade Luciano Becchio for Steve Morison and DARE to call it a good piece of business. Let alone employ the ugly, ugly football.

So inept was uncle Neil that he termed Ross Barkley “not good enough” and reneged on the loan deal. What kind of corrupt mind sees Ross Barkley as worse than Michael Tonge?

The Warnock era extends beyond just the grizzly man it is named after; it was also a period of insane contracts. What possessed Leeds to give players like David Norris long deals and ones like Steve Morison £17k a week? The cleansing of this era means that we’re beyond that financial madness. Granted, we have entirely new ones where Antenucci has goal bonuses that apparently eclipse Mowatt’s basic salary, but one problem at a time.

Out with the old, in with the new

For all his faults (of which he has many), Massimo’s transfer policy has the right idea, even if the execution has been inconsistent to date. Where the Warnock era dragged in aging players and offered them lucrative deals far longer than necessary, we’re seemingly more shrewd now. Players are offered lower basic rates with performance incentives. Loans are rarely commissioned without an agreement to make the move permanent for a set fee should the player impress.

It feels less reactive (in intent, at least) because it means we’re seeking players on ability, not on availability. Even the most stout Warnock supporter (are there any?) would struggle to argue that the Portsmouth players weren’t purely convenience signings. But in players like Erwin (21), Dallas (24), Adeyemi (23) and Wood (23) we’ve got individuals who can only improve. I won’t begrudge a 4 year contract for a 23 year old the same way I would handing it to a 53 year old David Norris. Sol Bamba (30) is a good signing too, adding experience and leadership where it’s needed most.

Let’s not forget that Doukara is still only 23 too. Berardi 26, Cook 18, Mowatt 20, Phillips 19, Murphy 25, Bianchi 26, Byram 21, Bellusci 25, Cooper 23, Taylor 21, Wootton 23, Silvestri 24.

There’s a focus on younger players and that’s a better thing.

So Morison’s departure is a cathartic event for me, because it finally marks the end of the Neil Warnock era. For all the annoyances I have with the tactics and the performances, the short term nature of all his signings irritated me most. Signing half a dozen aging players on inflated contracts in the tragic hope of getting promoted doesn’t build a good football team, it builds a team that needs wholesale reworking in 2 seasons time when the Sheffield United stars of 1971 you hired have all had their hips crumble to dust.

It’s yet to be seen if this squad of players can go on to be as good as I believe they can be, but if nothing else the fact we’re buying players at the correct end of their careers is a big step in the right direction.