I’M HERE TO BUILD A FUTURE
Ambitious Sports look to Murray
ADAM MURRAY sees his new job at Eastbourne Borough as an opportunity to help build a professional football club.
The former Mansfield Town and AFC Fylde boss believes he has joined the National League South Sports at an exciting juncture in their history.
Under the ambitious stewardship of new owner Simon Leslie, Eastbourne are looking to become a football force – on and off the pitch – and made the switch to full-time football in the summer.
But for all the exciting plans, results haven’t followed yet – and the departure of Mark Beard has opened the door for Murray.
“It’s that balance of enthusiasm and passion of wanting to go from A-Z overnight,” Murray tells The NLP. “What they’ve probably found is they’ve recruited very young – which brings positives but also its own challenges. There’s a lot of players in this squad that are not used to playing regularly so they’ve had a lot of injuries.
“The change from part-time to full-time is a big step and that brings its own challenges. It’s exciting, you’ve got to embrace that but expect you’re going to take a few punches on the chin. That’s the journey.
“It’s about settling things down. Putting the key ingredients in place in terms of what the football team looks like, a way of playing that’s effective for players in the building and who will come in the building.
Sticky situation
“Then re-focusing the professionalism and standards of what a full-time football club looks like. Going from part-time to full-time is a big difference.
“I am looking at it that we need to get an instant impact in terms of results – but there’s an opportunity to build a football club.
“I am not going to lie it’s a big, big challenge. But I will get my shinpads on and two-foot it.”
Murray doesn’t need telling his new side need results to get out of the sticky situation he inherits.
His reign began last weekend with a 2-2 draw at promotion-chasing Torquay United but, ahead of yesterday were five points from safety.
The 42-year-old, a Conference title winner as a player with Mansfield Town, left his role as Cheltenham Town assistant manager to jump into the fire on the south coast.
It was a challenge the former West Brom and Besiktas number two couldn’t resist.
“It was a long decision to be honest,” Murray says. “I ummed and ahh-ed, went backwards and forwards.
“There was just a constant feeling in my gut that was pulling me towards it. Even my missus said, ‘Look, you always follow your gut and nine times out of ten it has been right so go with what that’s telling you’. That’s what I did.
“I knew there was obvious risk to it. But when I came from Besiktas and went into AFC Fylde people said, ‘What are you doing?’ I had some of my best times I’ve ever had (at Fylde) and we were successful.
“Those things don’t scare me. I enjoy challenges, I enjoy getting hold of things to make it work and building something. That’s the type of person I am.
“I think I have built a half-decent reputation as a coach and an assistant manager. It’s easy sometimes in football to sit in those roles and coast along.
“But I’m not that kind of guy. I’d rather consistently take on challenges, push myself, meet new people, new environments and get stuck in.”
The National League South will be a new environment for Murray in itself.
Contacts
While he won the National League North title with Fylde last season, this will be a first taste of the other Step 2 division.
“I’ve been around the game a while, and I’ve obviously played, worked, in the National League, National League North and the Football League.
“But I’ve got a lot of contacts down here. I’ve made a lot of phone calls, got a lot of advice.
“The big one for me is I think there is more football played in the South. I found it in the National League this season that the teams who have come from the South are a little bit more football-based. The North is a lot more battles, a bit more firstball, second-ball.
“You look at teams like Wealdstone, who are an absolutely unbelievable football team, the same with Oxford City. So we will see.
“I am looking forward to it. We’re going to give it a right good go.”