August 6 2002

Clinton Morrison

Clinton Morrison said Palace froze him out of pre-season friendies before his move to Birmingham City.

Morrison moved to Birmingham City in a £4.5 million deal, which took a few weeks of negotiations to be completed.

During this time, Morrison played no part in any pre-season games and has claimed that his fitness has suffered because of it.

He said: "I thought it was well out of order to be honest. The manager and chairman told me they thought it was best if I stayed away from the club while the transfer was being sorted out.

"I found that Palace had suddenly put me on 'gardening leave' so, instead of training with them and playing in pre-season matches, I was working out in the gymnasium on my own.

"What it meant was that I was losing a little bit of pre-season fitness which I'm now having to build-up again at Birmingham. But my target is to play in the opening Premiership match of the season at Arsenal."