Archived News from April 2015
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MURRAY: WE'RE IN IT TOGETHER / PLYMOUTH PREVIEWS
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We’re in it together
mansfieldtown.net, 9th April 2015 A buoyant Adam Murray spoke at length about his relationship with Stags fans this morning in a passionate interview ahead of this Saturday's trip to Plymouth Argyle. In it, he said that the supporters and players would help 'drive each other' and that he wouldn't change his rapport with the fans 'for the world'. The boss began by clarifying his comments after our Easter Monday match at home to Shrewsbury Town, which were misconstrued in some quarters. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/were-in-it-together-2386006.aspx#tADJXEOwligG605E.99 “It was a bit strange on Monday because I had a couple of messages saying ‘don’t blame the fans’ and I think some people took [his post match comments] the wrong way,” said Murray, at this morning’s news conference. “I was a little bit disappointed for some people to think that I would blame the fans. For one: I’m not that stupid and two: I’ve got nothing to blame them for. All I would say is, be better. They tell me to be better and this is the way our relationship works. “Sometimes it’s tough for people to take the fact that I do speak how I feel. I won’t give you the clichés or the boring stuff, otherwise it’s pointless me doing press [speaking to the media]. “It’s the way I am, and as a manager, that’s how I want to be. I want to feel the pain [when we lose], I want to feel the good times when we win. “I don’t want to change my relationship with the fans. I want to tell them to be better, I want to push them. I expect them to do that to me, and my group [of players]." As a player, Murray enjoyed a glittering career with the Stags: helping the club to promotion from Division Three in 2002, captaining the team to the FA Trophy Final in 2011, securing a third-placed finish in the Conference Premier the year after and skippering the team which lifted the title in 2013. “They’ve [the supporters] written me off a few times: 'his legs are gone, he’s not good enough'," said Murray. "I’ve always come back fighting. I’ve told them they need to be better and they’ve always come back fighting. I’ve never blamed them and I never will; they’ve never blamed me and I don’t think they ever will. “Over all that time, I’ve asked the fans to be better, and they’ve asked me to be better. That’s how we work and I think they understand it, I understand it. It’s one of them things; we want the same things. “They’ve always made me be better than I’ve been as a player and now as a manager. I love it. I wouldn’t change it for the world. “What we will do is we’ll drive each other. “I think what the fans know is that, after we’ve lost and I go home, it tears me inside out because this club’s my life, it has been for a long time. They could have someone to sit here just for the job or the money, but in me they know they haven’t got that. This is about the football club and what I believe is best for it." Murray then praised his players' recent endeavours, as we head into the final five games of the season. “I have a chairman and a board who are demanding, but they back me 1000%. I have a group of players who are 'unreal', and are fighting tooth and nail. "If I were heading in to war tomorrow, I’d take every single one of them. We are as strong as we have been at the minute, as a team. “The boys are giving 200% and can’t give any more for the cause. For me that’s the pleasing thing. Yes, we are lacking in certain aspects but we’re doing the best we can. “As tough as it is at the minute, the football club is in a good place and I’m privileged to be sitting here “I can’t wait for the future because even though it’s tough to see what lies ahead at the minute, what lies ahead is really positive.” Ahead of this Saturday's trip to Plymouth Argyle, there may be late fitness tests for Ricky Ravenhill (ankle), Jamie McGuire (ankle) and Vadaine Oliver (shoulder). ------------------------------- Will Stags gamble on Hearn at Plymouth? by John Lomas, Thursday 09 April 2015 All eyes will be on Mansfield Town’s team sheet at Plymouth on Saturday to see if the name of Liam Hearn is on it. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/will-stags-gamble-on-hearn-at-plymouth-1-7201197 As the Stags scrap it out for the vital win that should all but secure their League Two future at Home Park, goal ace Hearn is hoping to secure his own future as a feared striker eight months after suffering a serious knee injury. Hearn has slowly built back his fitness and has now made 15, 45 and 83-minute reserve outings. As Stags lurch towards a new club record low for goals scored in a season, Hearn is exactly what they have been missing. But, with this being the third serious injury the unlucky Hearn has had to fight back from in as many seasons, Murray is well aware putting him back in too soon could end the player’s career. “I have said from day one, it is his livelihood we are messing with,” said Murray. We need to get our tin helmets on and strap our seatbelts on “It’s not just a couple of weeks. But Liam is looking good and looking strong. “It will be a decision made between the two of us and will be the right decision for Liam. “He is doing really well. He looked strong in the reserves. He feels good. He feels well and he is not getting any reaction. “But it is very different playing 83 minutes against 19-year-olds in the reserves and playing against League Two opposition.” Probably needing just one more win, Stags have just hit a four-game losing streak ahead of their trip to high-flying Plymouth. But, after the 4-1 home humiliation by York, the Easter defeats against promotion-chasing Southend and Shrewsbury saw much improved displays and deserved at least a point. Said Murray: “It was a strange weekend. Obviously we are disappointed to lose two games but happy with the performances. “I don’t think we have ever been as focused as at the minute. The lads are angry and disappointed with the last two results after those performances. We are very positive going into this next run of games.” Stags head for Plymouth having scored just 11 away goals all season, and Murray said: “We are well aware of the problems this season and this group are doing their best to rectify that. But overnight we won’t pull an Ian Rush out of the wardrobe or anything like that. “The boys are all giving 200 per cent and they can’t give any more. “These lads are unreal and if we went into war tomorrow I would take every one of them. It is tough at the moment, but I can’t wait for the future as what lies ahead is really positive. “We have just got have it now. We have to go for it. The York game kickstarted us and we couldn’t be in a better place.” Murray does have injury worries over midfielders Ricky Ravenhill and Jamie McGuire and striker Vadaine Oliver as well as several players with illness as they prepare to drive down to Devon tomorrow. “We have a few knocks and a bit of illness in the camp so we may have to have a re-jig,” said Murray. “Ricky damaged his ankle ligaments and has had intense treatment all week. But he is one of those who comes in injured, goes home and ices it and comes in and it’s healed. We will take it day by day. “It’s the same with Jamie’s ankle and Vadaine’s shoulder. They will all be last minute ones. “Vadaine fell on his shoulder. We asked if he was all right and he wanted to try to carry on. We kept him on as long as we could, but he looked like someone playing with one arm and we had to make the change.” Stags are six points clear of the drop zone as they enter the final five games and Murray, who took over as manager just before Christmas when Plymouth travelled to One Call Stadium, said: “It has been a rollercoaster few months and I don’t think I could have learned any more if I had just been in mid-table and easy come, easy go. “I am passionate as a manager and I believe in this. I want to feel everything as a manager. I want to feel the pain. It has been a great experience so far and with another three weeks and two days more of this learning curve we need to get our tin helmets on and strap our seatbelts on. “A lot of people are having wobbles and starting to panic around us.” Mansfield face a 540-mile round trip to the League’ furthest western outpost, and Murray added: “You have to deal with those things. But the club have been good enough to allow us to get down the night before as it’s a good old trek. “So we will prepare as well as we can and limit the margins of failure. Then it’s up to us to perform as well as we can on the day. “We need to get points on the board and get a win as quickly as possible. Then there will be a lot of pressure on teams below us to win more than 50 per cent of their games.” Murray is aware that just four days after Plymouth, the club face what could be the biggest game of the season at home to fellow strugglers Tranmere Rovers and admitted: “There is a red ring around it on the calendar. “It will be a big game and it will be a great game. But we are not taking our focus off the Plymouth game.” Murray had tried to diffuse the pressure over the three games against Southend, Shrewsbury and Plymouth by admitting Stags were not ‘in the same ballpark’ as those clubs, but that won’t falter his belief that his side can come away with something on Saturday. He said: “Some fans think I threw these three games away, but I thought they knew me better. If I play football with my little one in the living room I wear shinpads. There is no such thing as a given in life.” Just one win in six has left Plymouth a point and a place outside the play-off places. ------------------ Me and the fans drive each other, says Stags manager Murray by John Lomas, Thursday 09 April 2015 Adam Murray insisted his relationship with the Mansfield Town fans was as strong as ever and that those upset with his post-match comments on Monday had the wrong end of the stick. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/me-and-the-fans-drive-each-other-says-stags-manager-murray-1-7201666 Following the 1-0 home defeat by Shrewsbury, the Stags boss hit out in another emotional post-match interview after some fans booed a substitution while he also felt some fans had put more effort into clapping former Stag Liam Lawrence on his return than getting behind their own side. The fans will always ask me to be better and I will ask them to be better However, Murray said today that he would always be urging the fans on to be better and he expected them to do the same of him. “I had one or two messages this week saying I was blaming the fans,” he said. “But they’ve taken it the wrong way. I am a bit disappointed anyone would think I’d blame the fans as I am not that stupid. I have nothing to blame them for. “The fans will always ask me to be better and I will ask them to be better - that’s how my relationship with them has always been. That’s the way we work. “I am never going to sit here and say I thought we were brilliant or I thought the fans were brilliant if they weren’t. “In my time here at the football club I have never let them down. I played a massive part in promotion in 2002, in 2004 you sold me to Carlisle. “In 2010 I led you to Wembley and then took you into the play-offs and promotion. Last season I played a massive part in keeping the club in the Football League. “The fans have ripped me off a few times saying my legs had gone and I wasn’t good enough. But I always came back fighting. “We always drive each other. This is my life here and it has been for a long time.” He added: “You could have someone sitting here just for the job and the money. This is about the football club and what I believe is best for it. “I am in a really privileged position. The chairman and board are very demanding but they stand by me 100 per cent. “I am 33 and a baby as a manager, but in life I have been to the depths where not many people have gone. I have fought bigger things. “People will have their opinions on certain players and team selection and that’s fine. But for the 90 minutes keep it to yourself and get behind the team. If you have grievances, tell your mates down the pub or your cat when you get home.” Billy Kee has returned to parent club Scunthorpe after his loan came to an end to this week with Kee not playing as regularly as either party would have hoped. But Murray said it was purely a question of Kee’s fitness and the predicament Mansfield had found themselves in. “It was a tough one,” said Murray. “I believe at this level Billy is a really good player. But he took a bit longer than anticipated to get up to match speed. “The situation we were in, I couldn’t give him the regularity he needed.” Murray has already said he would love to have Kee back next season and get him a full pre-season under his belt, depending on Scunthorpe’s plan for the striker. ----------------- short video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaMTMMFyjA and the full video here on StagsPlayer: http://www.player.mansfieldtown.net/latest-news/article/4626412/date/20150409140300/page/0/name/video--adam-murray-s-pre-match-press-conference ----------------- |
Latest | April 2015