Archived News from February 2016
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AN EVENING WITH ADAM MURRAY - notes
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Monday evening, 1st February 2016
video available in full for StagsPlayer subscribers (in three parts): http://www.player.mansfieldtown.net/latest-news/6b9c2b19-b24d-4a9a-a179-5fc7f4a459ac A few snippets from “An Evening With Adam Murray”: This is only the scratching the surface of all that was said, but they were the things I found most interesting (and not just stuff that has been said before). Transcribed by Martin: Nicky Hunt gave us that experience. He wasn’t a leader in the mould of McGuire though. It was a surprise that we got the bid. I tried to get Dan Alfei in the summer. Swansea didn’t want to let him out in the summer, so we went for Nicky at that time. Pearce went to the Conference because he's an inconsistent beep, and that's my battle with him. But he's only had one bad game this season. Micky (Moore) batters him in training and gives him a constant kick up the backside. When he's on it, he's the best centre half in the league, for me. He can play, he heads it, he reads the game. It's when he finds it too easy you get problems. I want to make this club competitive, never looking over our shoulder, year in year out getting better. I wanted to change the brand. We still have it over us with some people that we’re bullies, we whack it and kick it and bite you. And you need part of that, it's league two. But I can't watch that. So a big part of it is to change the brand. Now in the journey we've got to make the brand effective. We had something like 72% possession first half against Luton without doing anything with it. (Q: Why did you keep swapping dugouts?) I changed it at the start of the season because last season I didn’t like the opposition getting in the linesmen's ear when little decisions don’t go your way. But I'm way too angry for it (ie being there). (Q: Can we keep Taf for next season?) We want to keep him. I've chatted to him and he wants to keep his options open for next season. But I know that I'll get 110% out of Taf. The chairman's given me the nod that we'll be able to offer him something in the summer that we think is competitive. (Q: How did Brian Jensen take it when you dropped him?) Physically and mentally, he was looking a bit sluggish and I had to take him out. He agreed with that. He was disappointed that he'd let his standards drop. But he'll come back fighting. Scott’s come in and he's been terrific. He's more aggressive on the pitch and he keeps everyone on their toes. (Q: When do the coaching staff’s contracts run out?) They run out at the end of the season, and as it stands, I'm happy. There is a possibility and it is only a possibility that I might bring an older head in. I haven’t made my mind up 100% yet. If I feel the timing is right, I might do it. (Q on training facility) We're currently at Notts Uni on a Tuesday. Hopefully the new training facility with be available next season. (Q: Why are our transfer fees always undisclosed?) Because we don’t want anyone to know. (Q: The sending off of Green was stupid) I totally agree. For 10 seconds he turned into a basketball player. About two minutes before, Walton had trod on Greenie. Greenie's not the best when he loses his head. He was in a state of mind that he'd missed a couple of chances. And he made a bad decision. The lads were pee’d off with Greenie after the game. There were a few words said because of that. (Q: How much would it take to get you to sing your favourite song tonight?) “Undisclosed”! (Q: The chairman gave Paul Cox a car for being 5-1 up against Barrow. Has he offered you anything?) Yes a tractor to do the top pitch. (Q: How do you feel when our latest signings are revealed on Mrs Radford’s facebook page) You just like it with one of those thumbs up! (Q: Were you interested in signing Liam Lawrence?) No. I don’t think he’s what we need. (Q: Was Luke O’Neill in your thoughts for replacing Nicky Hunt?) When Hunty did his hamstring, we spoke to Southend then as Luke was not in the team. Luke’s on a lot of money, so that was a tricky one. He would have suited us. But Luke is back in the team now. Our defeats this season have come when we’ve had too many kids in at the same time. It doesn’t work at this level. And at times we've looked pretty without effecting it. I’ve got to get the balance right. (Q: Are you confident of keeping the squad together for next season.) For next season, everyone apart from Tafazolli is on options. When Jack (Thomas) is on it, he’ll be in the team week in week out. We’re having an U21 next season. The youth team are flying. But the gap from that to first team is massive. We've got some great young kids, Cain Smith, Zane Hakeem, Tom Marriott, but the step up is huge for them. The U21 side will enable us to keep the U18s for an extra year or two. Give them an education as well, so it’s not just football. It’s a major step for the football club. (Q: Has there been any interest in any of our players in this window, other than Hunt?) Yes. Nothing concrete. Four enquiries on four separate players. (Q: Do you want to reveal who those players are?) No If I'm honest I'm too close to this club (in an emotional sense) and I'll only be able to do this job for a certain amount of time (Q: Is there an issue with the fitness of Adi Yussuf?) Yes. Adi's come in from being non league for a long time. It took us ages to get him fit, then he had time with his religion and that knocked him back, then he got injured and that knocked him back, then we got him to a stage where we thought he’s ready to go and he got injured again. So you saw on Tuesday, he’s so honest that when he scores, he can’t breathe for about four minutes. Because we haven’t got a reserve team he’s not been able to get game time, which is the most important thing. So we're running his so and so’s off and physically we’re battering him but he needs game time. (Question about Lee Collins) I'd like my daughter to marry Lee Collins. (..if she wasn't 12). A proper man. He was at right back on Saturday and immense. But I do see him playing somewhere else: I see him possibly sitting in front of the back four. We've not talked about Chappie this evening and he deserves a mention because he's taken a bit of stick. He'd played every minute of every game and not missed a day's training and he'd become sluggish due to fatigue. So he needs a rest. But he's ultimately a very good player. (Q: Can we have the coming out tune (On the ball) back please?) Personally, I get the tradition and everything, but the thing for that walk out is ultimately we need the players in the right frame of mind, and if we can get a bit of tempo into the music, subconsciously it might make that 1% of differencs. I had a bit of a run-in with Alan Lakin (safety officer) the other week. I took the plugs out of the away dressing room, because I didn’t want them plugging anything in. I didn’t want them to have any atmosphere in there. Final word: Let’s keep winning, and when we don’t win, let’s stick together and go and win the next one. ------------------- |
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