George Hirst has revealed he almost came to blows with departed captain Sam Morsy early in his Town career, but believes the incident was illustrative of the high standards maintained by the former Blues skipper.
Morsy, who left the club to join Kuwait SC earlier this week, had been captain throughout Hirst’s entire time at Town since the striker joined initially on loan from Leicester City in January 2023.
Following confirmation of the Egyptian’s exit on a free transfer ahead of the pre-season victory at Aberdeen, Hirst described the moment he was fully introduced to Morsy during one of his first training sessions at Playford Road.
"I’ll say a brief story,” he recalled. "I’d been there about three days and he came in and absolutely flattened me in training.
"I wasn’t too happy about it so I stood up and we had a bit of a confrontation. We both offered each other out in the car park and we didn’t speak to each other for a few days but from then we were as good as gold.
"I always look back and think it was a test. He was like that - it might be your first day but don’t think you’re bigger than anyone else here, I will flatten you. The best thing I did was stand up to him and I think he’ll admit that himself.
"To have someone like that in the squad who from the get-go you know every day in training is going to be intense, aggressive and ultimately you have to raise your standards.
"That’s what he was so good at was making sure everybody else’s standards were exactly where they needed to be. For me personally, he’s played a massive part in my career and is someone who will definitely be missed.”
Morsy departs for the Middle East having made 165 appearances for the Blues across four years and looks set to be succeeded as captain by Dara O’Shea, who wore the armband on six occasions last season.
Hirst acknowledged that Morsy's absence will leave a hole in the dressing room, but is adamant the Blues have enough leaders in the group to fill the void.
The Scotland international said: "I don’t think someone like that is easy to replace. To replace someone like that has to be a group effort, everybody in the group has to step up five per cent more.
"To ask for one player to come in and be that Sam Morsy is difficult and borderline impossible. It’s very much a group effort and he will be a massive miss.
"It was the right thing for him and something he wanted to do and I wish him nothing but the best.
"He will be a massive loss and it’s up to us as a group to take that on board and find new leaders, whether that’s as a group or individuals stepping up and giving five per cent more in a leadership role then that’s what it has to be.”
Morsy’s likely replacement in midfield is new signing Azor Matusiwa, the Dutchman having arrived from Stade Rennais in the largest transfer fee ever paid by the Blues as a second-tier club.
Defender Cedric Kipre has also arrived from the French top flight, while Morsy’s experience has been trumped by the signing of 40-year-old Ashley Young, who has more than 750 career appearances and 39 England caps.
On the new arrivals, Hirst said: "Really good, all incredible signings. Azor, you’ve seen what kind of player he is - he’s tenacious, he’ll rat about and wants to make tackles. But when he’s on the ball he’s calm, he’s got composure and he’s looking to pick a pass.
"Cedric is an incredible athlete and not someone you want to be training against every single day but luckily I’ve got the privilege of doing so. He’s going to be massive for us with his athleticism and that sort of stuff.
"Then you’ve got Ashley Young whose career speaks for itself, I don’t really need to say too much on that. He’s played however many games and won however many trophies, so to have someone like that in the building is only good for the squad. If we can learn five per cent of what he knows then we’ll be in a good place.”