Son of former Nottingham Forest player Bill Morley, Trevor was born in Nottingham on this day in 1961. The youngster was first on the books at Derby County before being rejected. The budding striker never gave up to dream of becoming a professional footballer and combined his day time job of trading fruit and vegetables across markets of the east Midlands with a semi-professional football career with non-league Corby Town before joining Nuneaton Borough where he won a Southern League championship medal in 1982.

 

Morley scored three goals for the non-league side in the FA Cup and caught the eye of Northampton Town who paid £20,000 for his services in the summer of 1985. As captain, they won the 1986/87 Fourth Division championship. After scoring 39 goals in 139 appearances for the Cobblers, Manchester City forked out £235,000 to take him to Maine Road in January 1988, there he contributed 12 goals to City's promotion winning run from Division Two. The following season he lost favour with Maine Road’s new manager Howard Kendall who saw no place for Morley in his new look side.

 

Morley had mixed reservations when he heard Lou Macari wanted him to sign for the east Londoners having worked hard in the lower league echelon and grafting through each of the divisions from sixth tier to the English top tier at Man City he was reluctant to drop down into the Second Division with the Hammers. Manager Lou Macari persuaded him and fellow City teammate Ian Bishop to sign for West Ham United on 28 December 1989 in an exchange deal which took Mark Ward the other way.

 

As it happened, the strikers’ uncertainties were soon forgotten, although the pair did suffer a 1-0 reverse on their debut at Leicester City two days after arriving in east London, the signing proved to be a dream move for both of them. On his home debut he hit the woodwork twice in a 4-2 win over Barnsley. The occasion was very emotional to him, playing on the same Boleyn Ground pitch that his Dad had first played upon for Forest in November 1946.

 

The forward soon realised he had joined a good footballing team, he was up and running very quickly scoring his first goal against Hull City and netting 10 times in 20 appearances, including a run of five-in-five during March.

 

In only his second season at the Boleyn Ground, Morley plundered 17 goals to fire West Ham to promotion to the First Division. The 1990/91 season began well and he was enjoying his football, he started every one of the opening 39 league and cup matches, scoring 16 goals. With the Hammers topping Division Two, and also in the FA Cup quarter-finals but going into March 1991, he was seriously injured in a well-documented off-field incident, which set him back.

 

He missed the next nine matches including the FA Cup sixth-round victory over Everton that secured a semi-final tie against his Dad’s team Nottingham Forest. Four days before the Villa Park showdown, he made his comeback against Brighton & Hove Albion and was desperate to play Forest. Even with his lack of match fitness the tie was going well until Tony Gale was controversially sent off for a so-called ‘professional’ foul, Forest went on to win 4-0, but the Hammers fans turned it into an afternoon to remember, incessantly chanting ‘Billy Bonds Claret and Blue Army’ throughout the entire second half. It was a bitter-sweet afternoon for the Nottingham born player. Despite the disappointment, the team took consolation from the fact that they achieved promotion less than one month later.

 

The 1991/92 season was not one to remember, the striker wasn’t in a good place, unfounded untruths following the events of previous months, while instant relegation didn’t help, either. He notched just five goals in 32 league and cup appearances.

 

The striker didn't recapture his earlier form until he spent a summer loan period with Norwegian club, Brann before the start of the 1992/93 Second Division campaign when he teamed up with Clive Allen. Morley struck a further 22 times back in the second tier, as the Hammers confirmed promotion for a second time in three seasons with a victory over Cambridge United on the final day of the season at Upton Park.

 

Morley played in every one of the 42 top-flight matches during 1993/94 and was top-scorer with 16 goals in all competitions and was voted ‘Hammer of the Year’. Sadly, cartilage problems and loss of form in 1995 saw him make just 16 appearances. Over five-and-a-half seasons with the Club he made 214 appearances and scored 70 goals and lived his dream.

 

He joined Reading on a free transfer in July 1995 and later played for Norwegian clubs Sogndal, Nest-Sotra, Brann and Bergen Sparta of Norway’s Fifth Division, whom he later coached in April 2001 as well as becoming Arsenal's Scandinavian scout. Today, he runs three homeless hostels in Norway.