Disney's gratitude to former boss Morrison

John Disney enjoyed a memorable managerial debut season.

Disney was named Connah's Quay Nomads boss shortly after ending his playing career last May.

At 34 years old, he has guided the Nomads into Europe and in doing so won the Cymru Premier manager of the season award.

As he reflected on the transition from player to manager, Disney acknowledged the influence of a previous boss - ex-Manchester City and Huddersfield Town captain Andy Morrison.

"He's been a real big support to me - I had some unbelievable times with Andy," Disney told BBC Sport Wales.

"He's been a massive, massive part of my career and definitely the best manager that I've played under.

"His tactical awareness and the way he delivers things... how he's not managed higher in the Football League, I don't know."

Morrison, whose most recent role in football was head coach of Sri Lanka, revealed in March that he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a rare neurological condition which attacks the facial (cranial) nerve, leading to one-sided facial paralysis.

"Of course, at the moment, he's not very well, which has been well documented," Disney added.

"I speak to him regularly - I know he will be OK because one thing is for sure, Andy is a fighter and that was always transcending to the group.

"We had loads of leaders in the group that played under him but he was the person everyone wanted to impress at all points in time.

"When he is back fit and well, football deserves him to be playing a massive part, but the main point for Andy and his family at the moment is him being well."

Morrison had taken charge of the Flintshire club in November 2015, when they were languishing at the wrong end of Welsh football's top flight.

But with Morrison at the helm - backed by club owner Gary Dewhurst - the Nomads began qualifying regularly for Europe before winning league titles in 2020 and 2021.

Their European highlight came in the 2019 Europa League qualifiers, when Nomads overcame Kilmarnock.

"I was fortunate enough to be part of the group that won the league back-to-back," said Disney, who joined Nomads as a player in 2016 and made more than 300 appearances.

"I won everything at the club from the Welsh system but my most memorable nights as a footballer were winning rounds in Europe.

"[Against] Kilmarnock, we were 1-0 up in the first leg, going into the 89th, 90th minute, and we ended up losing 2-1.

"We were down, we were really low as a group. But Andy Morrison and the staff, they've got to take loads of credit for how they made us believe that we could go to Kilmarnock and get a result."

Nomads were under pressure at times in Kilmarnock, but Morrison's team scored two second-half goals to triumph 3-2 on aggregate.

Disney remembers it is an "unbelievable" night - and hopes for more of the same during his tenure.

"Being on the pitch, you always sort of look at players you're playing against - Scottish internationals you're playing against, players that have ended up moving to Celtic and big football clubs, and you think this is going to be tough," he said.

"The bus journey back was really good as well and then everyone was back in work the next day.

"You look around the training ground and there's loads of pictures around from all of those great memories.

"My main desire now is to try and get those back and try and do that with a different group of players."

Now it is Disney's turn to lead Nomads into Europe, having finished as Cymru Premier runners-up to qualify for the Conference League.

They will discover their opponents next month, with Disney's players due back for pre-season in a couple of weeks' time as they prepare for the first qualifying round in early July.

"I'm excited for my players to be a part of it, the ones who haven't played in there before," Disney said.

"Ultimately, I think the reason why a lot of players come into this league is to try and compete in Europe."

Disney's task of shaping a squad for Europe and the new look 16-team Cymru Premier is already under way.

"The way we're looking to move next year is that we're trying to get a lot more full-time footballers into the club," he explained.

"The league's looking different and we're going to try and be the first ones to probably look different from a full-time, part-time perspective as well.

"Hopefully it brings a freshness to the league of new faces coming into it."

Disney says Nomads are really proud to have certain young players who "people are looking at" - and believes the Cymru Premier could become a division where more youngsters come in and develop into assets.

"It might take a couple of years for that to be the case," he said.

"It goes back to driving those standards and learning, even for myself personally, with a lot of younger players. That's going to take some time."