Archived News from August 2016
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Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray happy with squad balance
by Matt Brooks, chad.co.uk, 4 Aug 2016 Adam Murray declared himself “happy” with his squad ahead of Mansfield Town’s 2016/17 season opener at Newport County. The Stags boss moved quickly to bring in Darius Henderson this week after Adi Yussuf’s exit to Crawley Town on a six-month loan. And, while delighted with that capture, Murray believes he now has the right balance of youth and experience in the ranks. He said: “We’re happy where we are now. You’ll hear that from a lot of managers over the next day or so and the next thing you know they’ve signed six players. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/mansfield-town-boss-adam-murray-happy-with-squad-balance-1-8052404 “But I think we’ve got a tight-knit group, team spirit is very high - which we’re big on, and we’ve got some quality in there. As it stands there’ll be no more coming in.” Experienced front man Henderson joined the club this week and Murray revealed the 34-year-old’s passion for the game still burns brightly. “It’s one heck of a signing for the football club,” said Murray. “He brings a lot of experience and a lot of know-how. It’s a little bit of the jigsaw we’ve felt we’ve missed over the past couple of seasons, so we’re happy it’s been done. “We’ve got to get him up to pace now, which we’re confident we can do quickly. He’s in great nick already so we’re chuffed to bits. With the strikers that we’ve already got in the building, I think he could be the perfect foil for them. “I think we’ve got a lot of pace and a lot of movement. We’ve got Pat (Hoban), who’s a very clever player, Hendo - I spoke to his last three or four managers and one of the comments they all came out with was ‘he can move’. He’s got a tag over the past few seasons that he gets injured a lot but we’ve done our homework. “When speaking to him came out with a comment ‘it’s the nature of the beast, I’m a physical player and I’m bound to get bruises here and there’. When you look at his game time over the past couple of years it’s not been massively high, but if you go through the squads he was an unused sub a lot of the time. “It wasn’t as if he wasn’t in the squad. He’s coming to us fresh. We’ve obviously got to get him up to max tempo but he’s in very good nick at the moment.” Henderson has played in the Premier League with Watford and has been tormenting defences up and down the country for the past 16 years. Summer signing Kevan Hurst is another who knows the divisions well from his time with the likes of Southend United and Scunthorpe. But it’s not all about experience for the Mansfield Town boss. “You only get experience by living and doing things,” he said. “Can a handful of it help? Of course it can. But, at the same time, the only way the group that we’ve got are going to get experience is going through situations. “Like myself, as a manager, I could have gone out and got a 70-year-old assistant but I’d rather learn myself and get energy and drive into the group that wants to move to the next level and succeed. At the minute we’ve got a good balance.” ------------------- Newport County are ‘totally different’ challenge for Mansfield Town by Matt Brooks, chad.co.uk Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray admitted it is hard to predict what type of challenge his side will face at Newport County. The Stags kick off their 2016/17 League Two campaign at Rodney Parade against an Exiles team that narrowly avoided the drop last time around. But a young manager in Warren Feeney and an overhaul of players during the summer makes Saturday’s season opener an intriguing prospect for Murray. He said: “Nobody knows how good anyone is until we kick off. You have an idea, you judge what you can from pre-season games but until you get in to the blood and thunder, to a certain degree, you’re guessing. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/newport-county-are-totally-different-challenge-for-mansfield-town-1-8053133 “They were a totally different outfit when he (Feeney) did take over. They’ve got a lot of different tools that can hurt teams. “He is a lot like myself, he’s a young manager, but we’re up for it, we can’t wait to get going. We’re excited for the big kick off.” Mansfield tasted defeat the last time they were at Rodney Parade in February of this year, a late Scott Boden goal sealing a 1-0 win for the hosts. Though Murray isn’t concerned with the state of the pitch this time around. “Whether you go at the start of the season or the end of the season the thing you need to worry about is Newport because they are a very good team,” he said. “Whether it’s grass or sand we’re in for a challenge. We know what we’re going to come up against. They’ve made a fair few solid signings and I think they’ll be a strong outfit this year. “We’re going to have to be on our guard, it’s a very tricky game for us at the start of the season but we’re aware of it and confident in ourselves. We’ll go there and try to win.” Newport have brought in 14 players over the summer where Murray has opted to make finer tweaks, or “put cream on top of the cake”. “It’s hard to gauge, because we haven’t made wholesale changes, how far we’ve moved,” he said. “We’re prepared for everything. “We’ve got a lot of options in our tool box but no-one really knows what’s going to happen until it all kicks off. The big word is consistency, we’ve got to learn and know from the off how to win. “If that means being direct we’ll do that. If that’s being sexy and open and playing some great football then we’ll do that. The bottom line is winning. “We’re disciplined and we’ve got an organised team, we showed that last year, if we can up our home form and keep our away form we’ll have a half decent season.” Meanwhile Murray was keeping his cards close to his chest over the fitness of Jack Thomas. “We’re not too concerned about his catch up,” he said. “A lot of Jack’s problem at the minute is, because he is growing, his alignment and stuff is holding him back a little bit, but he’s nearly there. “He’s ‘upping his things’ and he is very, very close. Will he be ready for the weekend? We’ll see tomorrow (Friday).” And added: “We’re pleased with how pre-season has gone and at this point we’re exactly where we need to be.” ------------------- |
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