Ian Murray Interview

[ulysses]

Interview with Ian Murray on his time at the club.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14527776.Ian_Murray_on_his_troubled_time_as_St_Mirren_manager___quot_Relegation_sucked_the_life_out_of_the_club_quot_/

Cheers to Stu for originally posting this on P&B.

[gazmc83]

Very interesting reading , obviously the guy has a bit of sour grapes but basically confirming what we all knew that there's a BOD desperate to get out which is only bringing the club down , much needed freshness required behind the scenes

[Bud the Baker]

Never seemed to recover from the double whammy of home defeats by Falkirk & Raith back in September.

***********

On a slightly different note he seems to be suggesting we had that we had the third lowest budget in the division, bigger than only the P/T outfits - surely that couldn't have been the case.

“I think people had a perception of the club’s budget that was way higher than it actually was. We had absolutely no chance of competing with Hibs or Rangers financially. We probably would have been out-budgeted by maybe another five clubs in that division.

[tuurner]

Never seemed to recover from the double whammy of home defeats by Falkirk & Raith back in September.

***********

On a slightly different note he seems to be suggesting we had that we had the third lowest budget in the division, bigger than only the P/T outfits - surely that couldn't have been the case.

If it's coming from Ian Murray himself then there must be some truth to it. Third lowest does seem a bit low given the other teams we were up against.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

Ian Murray should realise that if your major signings are: Alan Gow (2 league starts all season, hooked at half time in the second), Thommo, now aged 36 at the start of the season and after 1 season of injuries (1 league goal all season), Cameron Howieson, Scott Agnew, Paul McMullan etc then you effectively dig your own grave as a manager. Even though the season has just finished I've already forgotten most of Murray's signings because they were sooo bad, even at our modest level... the full back sent off at Morton also signed from Burnley U20's, Carswell, McGraith. And let's not forget that Murray was also left to appoint his own assistant and chose someone he fired by October.

There were as many people released by Murray last summer as by Rae this summer. Murray had a clean slate to begin freshening things up and changing the culture in the dressing room. It seemed pretty obvious that we had lots of young guys from the U20s around who were going to try and make the step up to 1st team football and only Goodwin as a senior pro still in contract when Murray arrived that he was going to need to bring in experienced pros to help the young guys out, but what did Murray do, signed senior pros like Gow (with a decade long track record of being a waster or injury prone) and then signed loads more young guys from other clubs' U20 teams also trying to make the step up: Calum Gallagher, Paul McMullan, Cameron Howieson... Scott Agnew was signed as a senior pro but was making the step up to full time at the age of 28.

Murray also began the season trying to freeze out Jim Goodwin, and was still signing key players in September (Webster, Langfield, Shankland). Anyone could see that Thommo was finished but Murray persisted starting with him, and using him as a lone striker for 90 minutes and dropped Shankland not long after he had signed him... it sounds like Rae would take Shankland back if there was a chance and once he got a run he got a reasonable return of goals for us.

Alex Rae inherited the same club in an even worse position than Murray did... we were 10th in the league and about to fall to 11th after his 2nd game in charge... Murray had largely spent the season budget and Rae had to wait until January to bring in a few players and try and make sure we didn't suffer a 2nd successive relegation. Despite having to deal with the same issues behind the scenes as Murray had, Rae turned things around, we finished 6th rather than 10th or 11th, we won most of our home league games, we became harder to beat and began to show that even if the performances were not great we could grind out results.

The only thing I find credible about Murray's account was the negative atmosphere at the club and directors, players and background staff pulling in different directions.

[Sonny]

Murray assembled the worst and most unbalanced squad I have ever seen. He cannot blame 'young boys not up to the task' as he signed 6 or 7 of them to add to the 4 we already had - and the 4 we had were the ones that got a regular starting place plus Shnkland and to an extent Gallagher. Rae had a worse set of circumstances than Murray and has achieved a whole lot better. We all know that the sale of the club is holding us back but Rae is just getting on with it.

[TopCat]

This is a guy who's making excuses for his abject failure at St Mirren in a desperate attempt to get himself back in the managerial game.

I doubt he's had any offers since the disaster he had with us. The bit about the budget is clearly fiction, we outbid Falkirk for Calum Gallagher last summer.

We improved dramatically under Alex Rae. The problem was him and him alone.

[munoz]

Was blatantly out of his depth from day one .

This interview reeks of sour grapes .

[DougJamie]

As demonstrated at clubs that suffer relegation there is usually something wrong at club- Hibs, Utd perfect examples, I don't buy into this as a reason to fail, Murray had no doubt impressed at interview, and I am sure he knew a lot more than he gives out.

Lets be ruthless here, Murray was a car crash.

We played ok against Gers, and a penalty scored and we could have gone on to win that match. IM after match was very annoyed and almost apportioned blame to Thommo.

Losing at Sevco is no big deal, losing to Sons at Home is.

He stands about with his hands in his pockets, no emotion, almost looking like he wanted to be somewhere else

He never connected with fans, he went on back foot and stayed there. It was TC all over again.....

So I certainly don't blame the BOD, relegation hurts, lack of monies hurt, u need to roll up your sleeves and built some character in the squad.

IM for me had no character, he complained rather than looked for an answer. I don't think he is good enough to find one.

Played 16 Won 2, says it all. No question we would be away at Queens Park next season if he had stayed. The fact that AR got us 11 points clear into 6th was nothing short of amazing.

Surprised he could get into the Cub Scouts never mind working for a Premier League club...

[nosferatu]

Never seemed to recover from the double whammy of home defeats by Falkirk & Raith back in September.

***********

On a slightly different note he seems to be suggesting we had that we had the third lowest budget in the division, bigger than only the P/T outfits - surely that couldn't have been the case.

I'm reading that as 5 clubs beyond St. Mirren, including Sevco and Hibs.

I struggle to believe even that though.

Maybe Falkirk at a push but surely no-one else.

I don't believe Murray. I think he's at it.

[nosferatu]

This is a guy who's making excuses for his abject failure at St Mirren in a desperate attempt to get himself back in the managerial game.

I doubt he's had any offers since the disaster he had with us. The bit about the budget is clearly fiction, we outbid Falkirk for Calum Gallagher last summer.

We improved dramatically under Alex Rae. The problem was him and him alone.

The problem was with the BoD who appointed him in the first place.

And let's not forget that his appointment was widely welcomed on this forum and that anyone who disagreed was subjected to the usual abuse from the usual suspects.

[TopCat]

The problem was with the BoD who appointed him in the first place.

And let's not forget that his appointment was widely welcomed on this forum and that anyone who disagreed was subjected to the usual abuse from the usual suspects.

Although not everyone's first pick (certainly not mine), he was a perfectly logical appointment. He was the fans choice.

For whatever reason it never worked out. He was rightly sacked and we have moved on. That's football, every appointment is a gamble.

[Stu]

It's interesting to hear there was a negative attitude around the place as a result of relegation. I actually thought in the build-up to the season things were a bit more positive than they had been for a while. Season ticket sales were good, we had what seemed a decent manager and much of his transfer business (Gow aside) seemed fairly sensible. I wouldn't have said there was a relegation hangover, possibly because we were as good as down by the split and it hadn't been a heartbreaking battle against the drop.

[DougJamie]

The problem was with the BoD who appointed him in the first place.

And let's not forget that his appointment was widely welcomed on this forum and that anyone who disagreed was subjected to the usual abuse from the usual suspects.

What a crock. So he interviews well, delivers a plan and then retreats into a shell and makes crap signings

How is that the BODs fault??? Maybe they know the winning lottery numbers to.!!!

[DougJamie]

The problem was with the BoD who appointed him in the first place.

And let's not forget that his appointment was widely welcomed on this forum and that anyone who disagreed was subjected to the usual abuse from the usual suspects.

What a crock. So he interviews well, delivers a plan and then retreats into a shell and makes crap signings

How is that the BODs fault??? Maybe they know the winning lottery numbers to.!!!

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Not a lot we can do about the budget but clearly we are one of the lowest in the league which seems to be affecting Alex Rae and who he wants to sign. So have we had a few high earners or a big squad. Can't believe we can't compete with most other clubs in the league.

[TopCat]

Not a lot we can do about the budget but clearly we are one of the lowest in the league which seems to be affecting Alex Rae and who he wants to sign. So have we had a few high earners or a big squad. Can't believe we can't compete with most other clubs in the league.

We just signed the QOTS player of the year!

Our budget is very competitive.

[FTOF]

Not wholly unrelated to this discussion, but Falkirk offered Watson £1000 a week compared to our offer of £600.

[ulysses]

Not wholly unrelated to this discussion, but Falkirk offered Watson £1000 a week compared to our offer of £600.

Crazy money for Falkirk to be paying. Is the average wage in this league not around the £600 mark? For full time teams.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

I also find it impossible to believe that Murray did not ask what the budget was going to be before he accepted the job. Murray was the one talking in the press as the season was about to begin about how we should be aiming to win the automatic promotion play off place and not just aiming for the play offs. He also said he was happy with the squad and now that he had watched our U20s in pre-season he didn't feel the need to sign as many players as he expected when he took the job. Most of the players Rae has released have been Murray's own signings, plus Sean Kelly as a young player inherited from the club.

[Sonny]

and much of his transfer business (Gow aside) seemed fairly sensible.

I would have a problem with that Stu. I found it worrying that he kept signing unknown young guys that he knew little about and had little experience in general and certainly no experience of the Championship. And I found it worrying that he only signed one (part-time) journeyman in his mid 20's and the rest were too young or on the top of the hill if not over it. Right from the start it looked an imbalanced squad to me and although like everyone I wanted it to succeed I had serious doubts about the make-up of the squad.

I know hindsight is wonderful but I was quite excited initially going into the season but my fears quickly became my reality all too soon. And leaving Goodwin out altogether proved to me the guy did not know how to change things until panic set in.

[scottd]

Not a lot we can do about the budget but clearly we are one of the lowest in the league which seems to be affecting Alex Rae and who he wants to sign. So have we had a few high earners or a big squad. Can't believe we can't compete with most other clubs in the league.

I'd find it hard to believe that our budget would be lower than the likes of Morton and QoS.

[Dibbles old paperboy]

And Mallan also spent time out of the starting XI at the start of the season too!

[FTOF]

I'd find it hard to believe that our budget would be lower than the likes of Morton and QoS.

I'd heard that Morton spent heavily last year as a gamble to ensure survival in the championship.

Back to normal this season though.

[div]

Ian Murray should realise that if your major signings are: Alan Gow (2 league starts all season, hooked at half time in the second), Thommo, now aged 36 at the start of the season and after 1 season of injuries (1 league goal all season), Cameron Howieson, Scott Agnew, Paul McMullan etc then you effectively dig your own grave as a manager. Even though the season has just finished I've already forgotten most of Murray's signings because they were sooo bad, even at our modest level... the full back sent off at Morton also signed from Burnley U20's, Carswell, McGraith. And let's not forget that Murray was also left to appoint his own assistant and chose someone he fired by October.

There were as many people released by Murray last summer as by Rae this summer. Murray had a clean slate to begin freshening things up and changing the culture in the dressing room. It seemed pretty obvious that we had lots of young guys from the U20s around who were going to try and make the step up to 1st team football and only Goodwin as a senior pro still in contract when Murray arrived that he was going to need to bring in experienced pros to help the young guys out, but what did Murray do, signed senior pros like Gow (with a decade long track record of being a waster or injury prone) and then signed loads more young guys from other clubs' U20 teams also trying to make the step up: Calum Gallagher, Paul McMullan, Cameron Howieson... Scott Agnew was signed as a senior pro but was making the step up to full time at the age of 28.

Murray also began the season trying to freeze out Jim Goodwin, and was still signing key players in September (Webster, Langfield, Shankland). Anyone could see that Thommo was finished but Murray persisted starting with him, and using him as a lone striker for 90 minutes and dropped Shankland not long after he had signed him... it sounds like Rae would take Shankland back if there was a chance and once he got a run he got a reasonable return of goals for us.

Alex Rae inherited the same club in an even worse position than Murray did... we were 10th in the league and about to fall to 11th after his 2nd game in charge... Murray had largely spent the season budget and Rae had to wait until January to bring in a few players and try and make sure we didn't suffer a 2nd successive relegation. Despite having to deal with the same issues behind the scenes as Murray had, Rae turned things around, we finished 6th rather than 10th or 11th, we won most of our home league games, we became harder to beat and began to show that even if the performances were not great we could grind out results.

The only thing I find credible about Murray's account was the negative atmosphere at the club and directors, players and background staff pulling in different directions.

Cracking post.