Archived News from May 2015
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MURRAY EXTENDS CONTRACT & SPEAKING TO TARGETS
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Murray extends managerial contract
mansfieldtown.net, 21st May 2015 Boss signs fresh deal after helping us retain our Football League status. We are pleased to confirm that Adam Murray has signed a new contract in his position of manager of Mansfield Town F.C. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/murray-extends-managerial-contract-2465888.aspx#PowDshCoAmGXUG3f.99 The 33-year-old, who is the second youngest boss in the Football League, took charge at One Call Stadium midway through last season and successfully helped us retain our Football League status. Murray is excited by what the future could hold for the club and believes we are making several progressive steps as we bid to challenge in the higher echelons of Sky Bet League Two next term. Our manager said: “It was something that I haven’t pushed, because I wasn’t the main priority. The job [of retaining our Football League status] was the main priority. “We can now open up the vision to nail things down. Obviously my position was one of those things, so we’ve sorted that out.” ---------------- Adam Murray: Mansfield Town manager gets new contract http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32829588 Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray has said he has signed a new two-year contract, reports BBC Radio Nottingham. The 33-year-old replaced Paul Cox at the League Two club in November, but only agreed a deal until the summer. Mansfield were 19th in the table when Cox left and finished the season in 21st spot, but were seven points clear of the two relegated sides. Murray, who is still registered as a player, only made one appearance for the Stags after becoming manager. He became the youngest boss in the Football League when he was appointed player-manager and won seven and drew six of his 29 games in charge. Murray told BBC Radio Nottingham that his new deal was incentive-based. "That's what I wanted because that benefits me as well," he said. "We've sat down and had a good conversation and it's something that secures the immediate future with options in both hands to take it forward. I'll be here with you for a couple of years." ------------------ Murray has signed new deal to stay as Mansfield Town manager chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Thursday 21 May 2015 Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray today confirmed he had already signed a new two-year contract to stay at the helm. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/murray-has-signed-new-deal-to-stay-as-mansfield-town-manager-1-7272675 With most attention focused on players coming and going, Murray said he had already sorted out his future, though exact details of the contract remain under wraps. He explained: “Last season I didn’t push it as I wasn’t the main priority. Now we’ve got the job done and our targets met, I can begin the get things nailed down and I was one of them. So we’ve sorted that out. “How long I am here will all depend, which I wanted, on how successful I am. “If I am not doing what I feel is right I am not going to sit here and collect a wage. I’m not that kind of person. “People know I demand high standards of everyone so I demand them of myself and I wanted my deal to be kind of progression-based and achievement-based. That’s how it’s ended up and I’ve got what I feel is fair, so you’re stuck with me for a while now. “Players, agents, people in the game now want to come and talk to us because they know we are a little bit out the box. They are excited to see what we are going to do next year, so it’s really positive. “I’ve said to my staff if I ever go into that kind of management mode that becomes mundane and typical manager kind of way of doing things then slap me round the face. “The game has turned into a new breed. It’s moving very quickly and we are going to be a part of that.” -------------------- Murray speaking to many targets mansfieldtown.net, 21st May 2015 Boss in positive mood as he outlines ‘three tiers of recruitment’. Manager Adam Murray says he is speaking to a number of transfer targets, who he believes will help our squad to compete at the top end of Sky Bet League Two next season. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/murray-speaking-to-many-targets-2466300.aspx#YZGwMxQSQc1cd3Do.99 Speaking at this morning’s press conference, our boss, who also confirmed that he has signed a fresh deal to remain as manager of the club, outlined his desire for us to keep making progressive steps in the right direction - both on and off the pitch. He said: “The chairman and the board [of directors] are very pro-active and positive and they want us to attack the top end of the league. “The recruitment is a very intense process and I’m doing a lot of digging to make sure that we get the right people as well as the right footballers. “We’ve got five or six [players] that are virtually there. They are players that have either come from a higher level or affected this league in a positive manner over the last few seasons. “At the minute I’m excited,” continued our boss. “I know that people start panicking because we’re not coming out talking to everyone and saying we’re signing this player or that player, but the players we’re talking to are players that are going to affect the top end of this league. “I’m not looking for players to come in and go through the motions and I’m not selling our football club as one which is going to be fighting relegation next season. The club in general, the chairman, the board, myself and my staff, we want to be challenging at the top end of the league and that’s our aim. “We’re going to be a team that attacks, creates chances and goes and scores goals, and we need players that are assured of doing that.” Murray also says he’s outlined players who fall into one of three tiers of recruitment - all of which he believes will help improve our squad and transform us into promotion contenders. He added: “The chairman (John Radford) is a driven man. He’s put pressure on me to go and achieve and that’s a good pressure. He’s told me to get players that will make us a side challenging [for promotion] and that’s what we will do. “What I have said to him is that I’m not going to go out and say [to targets] ‘We’ve got X amount to spend, you come here’. Over the last few years we’ve probably spent money in the wrong areas and I believe that when you spend your money wisely, you will get a good value and a good player. “We’re looking for footballers to come in that can play a certain way, that can play expansive and who are intelligent, that are technically very good, and we also want to bring experience in because I think we lacked that last year. “We’ve got a good base of young kids, but they aren’t going to grow unless we bring experience in, so there will be a part of my recruitment where people will say ‘I don’t understand that one.’ “There will be [players with] potential signed, there will be [players with] experience signed and there will be proven players signed. We’re going for three tiers of recruitment and I hope the balance will be a successful one.” -------------------- Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray not worried about players jumping ship chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Thursday 21 May 2015 Liam Hearn and Rakish Bingham followed Ritchie Sutton and Matt Rhead out the door at Mansfield Town this week for better deals, but boss Adam Murray is more than happy with his potential replacements. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/mansfield-town-boss-adam-murray-not-worried-about-players-jumping-ship-1-7272902 Hearn, coming back from a three-year injury nightmare, signed a deal at Lincoln City while Bingham returned to Hartlepool, where he went on loan in Janury. “They’ve obviously made their decisions for their own personal reasons, but they were two totally separate cases,” said Murray. “Rakish’s contract when he first came in was based on it going up, accumulating up to a certain value on appearances made and whatnot. “And looking at what we are trying to bring in and how last season went, the deals I offered the players were what I thought were value for what they brought to the club. It was up to them if they wanted to buy into what we are doing. The boys have chosen they want to take their futures elsewhere and we respect that. “Probably over the last couple of years we’ve probably not been wise with our dealings. “We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire of people that I believe will affect this league, so we will move on very swiftly. “It was always going to be the case there would be a couple of options.” He added: “Rakish chose to go back to Hartlepool. I know he spoke to them a couple of weeks ago so his head had been slightly turned. But that doesn’t faze me. I want people here that are going to be kicking the door down to stay. “Liam’s was a different scenario as he’s not really played football for two years, so his deal had to be structured in a way that I had to look after the football club first and foremost and limit the risk of anything in the future happening to Liam. “He is fit and has worked his absolute socks off to get where he is, but the common sense thing was that, with the two years he has had, we had to make sure the deal was right for the football club. “Liam got offered a year straight off at Lincoln and he took that. It was a little bit disappointing as we put a lot of time and work into Liam. But at the same Liam has got to look after himself and what’s best for his family and we respect that. “He is a top man and I got on really well with him. There was no hard feelings on that one. It was just a case of he chose to do what was best for him.” With four players offered deals already having gone, Murray is aware several others could follow if they don’t accept the deals on the table. He said: “Footballers are footballers and the decisions some of them have made speak volumes for where people are at. We are looking for people that want to carry on our journey and want to be here for the right reasons. “With the contracts we will offer, we haven’t got to go out and offer peanuts but I won’t go out and throw money at people that I don’t think are going to put this football club in the higher ends of the table. “I am not going to talk about budgets. We are in a position where we can go and get good players in and we will do is wisely. “I won’t say I was surprised. We knew what we were dealing with. I was disappointed in certain areas as sometimes you think you know people and you don’t. But this is football and nothing ever surprises you. The boys that were here last year did a superb job for the club and they have moved on now. It’s a clean slate. “This is a big recruitment process for me as well as the club as I am aware I will be judged on my product and I love that. It’s my pressure now. “The chairman and the board have been very pro-active. We want to attack the other end of the league this year so the recruitment is a very intense process. I am doing a lot of digging to make sure we have the right people as well as the right footballers. “We’ve got five or six that are virtually there. And they are people who have either come from a higher level or have affected this league in a positive manner over the last few seasons. We are talking to good players. “The word has got around now how we want to go about the league next season, so we are getting some very good players getting in touch because they want to be part of our vision and our philosophy and where we want to take the club forward.” ------------------- Budget talk banned as Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray aims to compete at top end chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Thursday 21 May 2015 Adam Murray is determined to have fans talking about the exciting players he is bringing in and not budgets this summer. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/budget-talk-banned-as-mansfield-town-manager-adam-murray-aims-to-compete-at-top-end-1-7272835 Last summer all the talk was over chairman John Radford having halved the club’s budget - and a season of struggle followed. But manager Murray today said that Radford and the board had been nothing but helpful with the names he had put forward so far and, in a week where four more of his players had left the club for better deals elsewhere, excitement rather than worry remained his strongest emotion. He also confirmed that, among his targets were two youngsters about to be released from Premier League clubs and that he had as many as half a dozen deals with new faces all but sealed. “Worry is the last thing on my mind at the moment,” he said. “The last three months were worry. Now I am just excited. “I know that people start panicking because we are not saying we are signing this player or that player. But as soon as deals are done we will let people know what’s happening. “There are a couple of youngsters from the Premier League that I am speaking to whose season hasn’t yet finished. There are a couple we are waiting on and there are five or six that are virtually there. “You can understand that a lot of clubs at our level are all talking to the same players as we all want the best ones. “All I can say is that the people we are talking to will affect this league at the top end. We don’t want to bring in anyone who will just go through the motions. I am not selling our football club as one that is going to be fighting relegation again. “The club in general, the board, myself, my staff want to be at the top end of the league and that’s our aim. “There’s no worry, no panic. All the areas we are looking at are taken care of with the targets we’ve got. “We only scored 30-odd goals last season. So, with all due respect to the players that were here last year, if I had kept all four or five strikers on the books, I deserved to be thrown out a window. “We need players that can up our goal tally. We are going to be a team that attacks, a team that creates chances and goes and scores goals and we need people that are assured of doing that.” Murray added: “I am not going to have a summer like last summer which was based on ‘the budget is poor and we can’t compete’. We can compete. “The chairman is a driven man and he is putting pressure on me to go and achieve, but that’s a good pressure. It’s one where he says go and get me players that can make us a challenging side, so that’s what we will do. “What I have said is that I won’t go out there willy-nilly and say look - we’ve got X-amount. I am aware in the last few years we have probably spent money in the wrong areas, and I believe if you spend your money wisely you will get good value and a good player. “We are looking to get players in that can play a certain way, that can play expansive, are intelligent and technically very good, and we also want to bring that experience in which I think we lacked last year. “We’ve got a good base of young kids, but they are not going to grow unless we bring that experience in as well. “It will be part of our recruitment that we bring in potential, we bring in experience and we bring in proven players.” On the Premier League targets, he added: “I have got to be respectful to certain people. To be fair to them, they are being professional and they are still working. It’s not fair to nail things down while they are still in a job. “Whether these deals come off is down to the negotiations which we can’t really start until they stop playing. “If I am being honest I have looked at some of them for a couple of years now. It was just a matter of time and waiting until they were ready to make the step into full-time men’s football at League Two, which is very different to playing U21s games. You’ve seen with Callum (Elder) if you get the right one, they can really affect this league.” ------------------ New pre-season philosophy for Mansfield Town chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Adam Murray promised this season’s pre-season training and fixtures will be a major departure from past years. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/new-pre-season-philosophy-for-mansfield-town-1-7273155?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed He also revealed he would be running an U21 side next season rather than a reserve side. After announcing a prestige home friendly with Premier League Leicester City on Saturday, 25th July, Murray said: “We have got some things that are done and waiting to come out in the press, including a Championship side. “But I didn’t want to have a lot of fixtures this pre-season where you are constantly defending, constantly chasing the ball and you team’s not seeing success because it’s pointless. “My pre-season will be very different from what a lot of the lads will have been used to over the years. “We are not going to spend pre-season running around parks and running up mountains and hills because we are footballers. If I ever see one of my players at 3pm on a Saturday running up a hill then we’d have major issues. “We will train to be footballers and we will work very hard. We will go into pre-season fit and very confident.” He added: “We are looking at not having a reserves next year, more of an U21s outfit. “So we won’t have 400 first team pre-season friendlies. Some of them the U21s will go to play some of the games as we have got such a good group. “A lot of the young boys will also go out straight away on loan to gain experience which I think is much more effective than playing in reserve games where there’s not much riding on it. You saw the effect it had on Jack (Thomas) and a couple of the other boys will do that.” ------------------------------------ Blair and Jones told to be patient over new Mansfield Town deals chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Long-term injured duo Matty Blair and Luke Jones will need to prove their fitness before Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray will risk offering them a new contract. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/blair-and-jones-told-to-be-patient-over-new-mansfield-town-deals-1-7273159 But Murray stressed the club would be fair to them and felt both were currently flying. He said: “I’ve had positive chats with the chairman about both of them and chats with both lads and they are aware they need to be a little bit patient with us as we need to see they are hitting certain targets. But they will have a fair opportunity.” Jones missed the entire season with Achille’s heel problems while Blair damaged his cruciate ligament in his knee just after signing in January. Murray said: “Matty is flying now. He is ahead of schedule and we are hoping he will be back at the start of the season or maybe just after. “We will treat him like we did Hearnsy. We won’t put any pressure on him. He is at St George’s Park in two weeks which is always a major part in rehab. “We are over the moon with him. With the way he is as a person, if we let him play now he would. We are having to hold him back. “We will sit down with him over the next couple of weeks. Obviously we have to hit certain targets with his rehab before we throw ourselves in and I won’t put the club at risk and we won’t do anything that’s going to come back and bite us on the backside. But at the same time we are being fair with people. “Luke Jones is also coming on well. He had a bit of a setback with his rehab which has put him back and he might be a little longer than Blairy.” ------------------- Decision time for Palmer over new Mansfield Town deal chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Adam Murray said the ball was back in Ollie Palmer’s court over his Mansfield Town future. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/decision-time-for-palmer-over-new-mansfield-town-deal-1-7273164 The young striker, who has just returned from a successful loan spell at Grimsby that ended in a Wembley play-off final, has been offered a new deal. But Murray said that, while he would give Palmer better coaching to improve him as a player, he couldn’t guarantee him that he would be his first choice centre forward. “Ollie has had a good period away in the Conference. I think he needed it to get his own confidence up,” said Murray. “We have offered him a contract. Ollie now has got to go away and decide what he wants to do with his future. “The big thing for these young centre forwards is they all want to play and all want to be that first number nine. Rakish (Bingham) was the same. He wanted to be the main man. If I was totally honest with Rakish I didn’t see him as the main starting number nine. “I think he still needed a bit of time to fill out physically and needed to grow in his game. “Ollie is going to have to make the decision if he wants to come into an environment that will allow him to grow or if he wants to be the main man. We will give him a lot more coaching than he’s previously had into specific areas.” ---------------- Chapman phone ban as Murray clinched deal for Mansfield Town chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Adam Murray has revealed how he had to confiscate Adam Chapman’s mobile phone to stave off competition for his signature on the day he joined Mansfield Town last week. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/chapman-phone-ban-as-murray-clinched-deal-for-mansfield-town-1-7273157?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Influential midfielder Chapman agreed a deal to join Stags from Newport County last week and return to the club he impressed at on loan two seasons back. But he was quickly in demand once it was known he was leaving the Exiles and Murray said: “I signed Chappy as I felt would be a big one for the football club. “The day that he signed we had three managers ringing him on the day trying to stop the deal, so it was a coup for us. “We actually took his phone out the room at one point so we couldn’t get interrupted as it kept ringing.” Later that day Murray also signed utility player Mitchell Rose. One or two fans seemed unimpressed as Rose’s most recent games had been at Ilkeston, unaware he was already in Murray’s plans before the end of last season and the Stags boss had actually farmed him over to Ilkeston himself. “People will say since he left Rotherham he hasn’t had a club,” said Murray. “He hasn’t had a club because I kept him here. “He had my word we would do something. It wasn’t the right time to throw him in and sign him and the time to register him had passed anyway. “I spoke to Ilkeston personally and asked them if they would take him for me and look after him and keep him under their wing. With the way they play it was a good bedding for him for a few months. “Mitch is someone who can play in a number of positions. He is fit, strong and kind of a tough character. But he is very focused and he is hungry to do well. He will add something to the squad that we didn’t have in depth last year.” ----------------- Mansfield Town players can expect different pre-season, says Adam Murray By Sarah Clapson, Nottingham Post, May 28, 2015 Boss Adam Murray says his Mansfield Town players can expect a different pre-season to ones they have been used to in the past. So far, the Stags have announced a number of friendlies against local, non-league sides, with only a visit from Premier League Leicester City offering serious opposition. Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Mansfield-Town-players-expect-different-pre/story-26592315-detail/story.html#ixzz3bcLo6NbW A meeting with a Championship side is also expected to be announced, but the schedule will be very different to last year when the likes of Aston Villa, Leeds United and Walsall featured. "I didn't want to have a lot of fixtures this pre-season where you're constantly defending, you're constantly chasing the ball and your team's not seeing success because I think it's pointless," said Murray. "My pre-season will be very different to ones the lads have probably had over the years. "We're not going to spend the pre-season running around parks and running up mountains and hills because we're footballers. "If I ever see one of my players running up a hill at 3 o'clock on a Saturday then we'd have a major issue. "We will train to be footballers. We will work very, very hard. "And we'll get different things out of each game - there will be a fitness element, a tactical element, an attacking element and a defending element." Several of the pre-season fixtures will be played by a Stags XI, made up of younger players rather than the first-team. Murray is considering scrapping the club's reserve team next term and replacing it with an under-21s outfit as well as sending some of his squad out on loan. Anthony Dwyer and Chris Spencer, youth team players offered professional contracts, as well as teenagers Corbin Shires and Joe Fitzpatrick could all come into that equation. The hope is they can follow in the footsteps of midfielder Jack Thomas, who impressed after returning from a spell at Hednesford Town. "We're looking at not having a reserve team next year; having more of an under-21s outfit," Murray explained. "We're not going to have 400 first-team pre-season friendlies, there will be some that the under-21s will go to because we've got such a good group. "A lot of the young boys will go out straight away on loans to gain experience, because I feel it's effective. It's more effective than playing in reserve games where there's not really much on it." With this summer one of rebuilding as Murray puts his stamp on the squad, he is keen to replicate the team spirit which typified their successful survival battle last season. "We've got certain blocks of days away in pre-season where we're going to have the group together consistently because we need to get that team bond and that team spirit," he said. "We did do that in a short space of time last season, which was one thing I was really proud of." Implementing an attacking philosophy on the pitch is also among his priorities. And with work already started on the One Call Stadium playing surface, the manager is keen to have his say. "We're changing certain parts of the pitch next year," Murray added. "There's going to be a certain way we're going to play and we want the environment here to be an intense place for people to come. "We want to win the ball back quickly, so certain elements of the pitch will be altered." ------------------- Adam Murray yet to decide if he will register as a Mansfield Town player next season By Sarah Clapson, Nottingham Post, May 27, 2015 Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray has yet to decide if he will register himself as a player next season. Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Adam-Murray-decide-register-Mansfield-Town-player/story-26585041-detail/story.html#ixzz3bcM6xC43 After taking over from Paul Cox last November, initially on a caretaker basis, the former skipper's influence came from the touchline rather than on the pitch. Preferring to focus his efforts on management, Murray made just one appearance after taking on the job - coming on as substitute in the 1-1 draw with Northampton Town in February. He admits his fitness needs to improve if he is to resume his midfield role next term, and the decision could also rest on the squad he is able to build this summer. "I might do," he said, when the question was put to him. "For my own fitness wise, I'd like to be involved in pre-season. I need to get off my backside a little bit now! "It's something I'll decide over the next couple of weeks. "If we get the squad that we're looking at getting and we get the targets that I want to get, then I won't. But we'll see. "You can probably understand that a lot of clubs at our level at the minute are all talking to the same players because we all want the best ones." A keen student, Murray will also use the summer off season as a chance to 'grow'. Discovering any way of getting an edge over the opposition has characterised his reign so far, with the players famously being coached on how to wash their hands as part of a 'marginal gains' approach. It is a tactic he is eager to pursue further in the future. "I've been a little bit angry with myself, to be honest with you, especially over the last couple of months because I haven't been able to take my eye off the ball and grow myself, which has been annoying," said Murray. "I believe you have to keep improving and looking at the different one per cents, two per cents, to get the edge on people. "I'm spending my summer looking at different bits and bobs. "We're looking at bringing a guy in - I spoke about him briefly last year - who deals with marginal gains. "He's someone I want to work with because I feel the little things in this game make a difference. "There will be little things that we do differently and he'll be part of that, hopefully." Murray has already made a start on his squad rebuilding, with Matt Green and Malvind Benning having signed last week. And he wants to get the bulk of the work done as quickly as possible. "I have got a holiday booked for a week, which I wanted to do towards the end of the summer," Murray added. "I didn't want to go away early then come back and get nothing done, then work and then by the time pre-season comes I'm knackered again. "Me and my staff have been in every day and we're continuing to plan, continuing to plan pre-season. "We've had lots and lots of meetings with players and agents - I've dug into them, as you can imagine. "I want to get a lot of my work done before I go away in the early part of June." ----------------- Mansfield Town duo Matty Blair and Luke Jones must hit 'certain targets' to earn deals By Sarah Clapson, Nottingham Post, May 22, 2015 Injured Mansfield Town duo Matty Blair and Luke Jones are making good progress in their recovery. But boss Adam Murray says the pair must hit 'certain targets' in their rehab before they will be offered new deals. Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Mansfield-Town-duo-Matty-Blair-Luke-Jones-hit/story-26555329-detail/story.html#ixzz3bcMMn91u Blair suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury at the end of January, shortly after signing for the club, but could be back in action before the start of the new season. "He's flying," said Murray. "He's ahead of schedule. We're hoping he might be back for the start of the season, maybe just after. "We'll treat him like we did Hearnsy (Liam Hearn); I'm not going to put any pressure on him. "He's at St George's Park in two weeks, which is a major part in the rehab. "But we're over the moon. "With the way Blairy is as a person, he's fit, he's strong, and if we let him play now, he would. But we want to hold him back until everything is right. "We're going to sit down with him in the next couple of weeks because we need to hit certain targets with his rehab. "I won't put the club at risk and we won't do anything that's going to come back and bite us on the backside. "But at this moment in time we are being fair with people." Jones never even made it out on to the pitch for the Stags. One of their marquee signings last summer, he ruptured his Achilles tendon in a sickening training ground injury. "He's coming on really well," Murray continued. "He had a little bit of a setback in his rehab, which put him back. He saw the specialist on Monday and they're over the moon with him. "He might be a little bit longer than Blairy, but I've had positive chats with the chairman about both of them. "We've had chats with those two lads and they are aware that they need to be a little bit patient with us because we need to see that they're hitting certain targets." "Like we did with previous players, we'll stick by them and they will have their opportunity." ---------------- |
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