Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
MURRAY’S WINDOW SHOPPING WARNING
Boss urges players to prove their worth
Airdrie manager Ian Murray wants his players to use the January transfer window as motivation to perform after two consecutive defeats in his first two games in charge.
Forfar Athletic won 1-0 at the Penny Cars stadium on Saturday, meaning Airdrie have yet to score under Murray’s stewardship.
The Diamonds visit Stranraer this weekend and are two points behind the Blues in seventh place.
Murray believes the team’s performance against Forfar was an improvement on the previous week’s against Stenhousemuir.
But results have convinced him changes in January are necessary for the club’s progression.
He said: “All the clubs in the league will want to make changes in January.
“There will be some made here, although I’m not sure how many.
“I’m still assessing the squad but it’s up to them to prove they want to play here.
“I’d like to think the January window will act as a motivator for the players.
“We want boys who treat their job very seriously and if they don’t want to be a part of it here they can go and find another team.
“I want players who are ambitious and want to improve.”
Current league leaders Arbroath are unbeaten and on 30 points after 12 games.
The Lichties reached the play-offs last season before being beaten by Dumbarton, and Murray wants his players to take a leaf out of the Gayfield side’s book.
He continued: “Arbroath are running away with it at the moment.
“They are a team who are up and at them, aggressive and using experience to their advantage.
“They’ve picked themselves up after missing out on promotion via the play- offs and are now looking to win the league.
“That’s what I want our boys to be capable of.
“The play- offs are the target at the moment, but if we don’t achieve promotion this season then the playoffs are the minimum for us going forward.
“We’re not currently at the level where we can play fantastic football for 90 minutes so we need to be realistic.
“We now need to find consistency to put a run together.”
Murray took the Airdrie job after leaving his post at Norwegian second division side Asker.
But when asked if he would return to familiar ground when looking for new players in January, he said: “There are guys in Norway who would do a job for us. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.
“But they’re used to training six days a week and a lot of them are studying.
“There’s a few I’d take if I could but because of development fee rules I don’t think that’s a reality.”