Matt Murray (soccer player, 1981)

Matt Murray
Personnel
Surname	Matthew John Murray
birthday	May 2, 1981
place of birth	Solihull ,  England
position	goalkeeper
Juniors
Years	station
	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1997-2010	Wolverhampton Wanderers	87 (0)
1999	→  Slough Town  (loan)	0 (0)
2000	→  Kingstonian FC  (loan)	1 (0)
2006	→  Tranmere Rovers  (loan)	2 (0)
2008	→  Hereford United  (loan)	3 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2003-2005	England U-21	5 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Matthew John "Matt" Murray (born May 2, 1981 in Solihull ) is a former English football goalkeeper and was most recently under contract with the English first division club Wolverhampton Wanderers . As a former U-21 national goalkeeper, he was considered one of the most hopeful talents in English football, but had to suffer career setbacks due to constant bad luck with injuries.

Athletic career

Matt Murray was born in Solihull - between Birmingham and Coventry - and was part of the Wolverhampton Wanderers' youth academy as a young football goalkeeper . He was struggling with injuries at a young age; For example, in October 2000 he suffered severe knee damage after just 20 minutes in the first game for the lower-class loaner club Kingstonian .

He celebrated his sporting breakthrough on August 31, 2002, when he represented Michael Oakes against FC Wimbledon for the then second division club and then was the goalkeeper for the remainder of the 2002/03 promotion season. The crowning glory was his good performance in the decisive play-off final for the 3-0 win over Sheffield United , when he saved a penalty and was named “Man of the Match” after the game.

In the Premier League 2003/04 season he only completed the opening game against Blackburn Rovers , which was clearly lost 5-1. A broken foot and further injuries ensured that Murray only played seven competitive games for the "Wolves" in the three years after the promotion success and was thus inhibited in his development. It was not until January 2005 that he was back in a league game against second division West Ham United between the posts before another broken foot threw him back a full year. After playing in the reserve team again from January 2006, the club's management decided in March to loan it to the third division team Tranmere Rovers . The plan was discarded after only a short time because the situation of the available goalkeepers at his home club had worsened. On the last day of the 2005/06 season he celebrated his comeback for the Wolves in a league game against Norwich City after 16 months.

Murray made a fresh start in the 2006/07 season and catapulted himself back into the goalkeeping position with a good start to the season, in which his club won five of the first seven games 1-0. With stable performances he played his way into the “team of the season” at the end of the game round. In December 2006 he was also named “Player of the Month”, received a new 3½-year contract from his club and was voted the best Wolves player of the season. Still, this success ended with a bitter aftertaste when Murray broke his shoulder in the play-off game against West Bromwich Albion . During the recovery phase, the cruciate ligament in his left knee tore in a preparatory game in the summer of 2007, causing him to miss the entire 2007/08 season. Two operations were necessary for stabilization.

Since the inflammation in his knee did not subside, Murray could not keep the targeted time for a comeback for the 2008/09 season. On November 12, 2008 moved to third division Hereford United for a short time on loan . There he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in the game against the Milton Keynes Dons , which forced him to take another long break. After three games for Hereford, he returned to the Wanderers and announced on August 26, 2010 that he was leaving professional football at the age of 29.

National team

When Murray had reached his first sporting zenith in the 2002/03 season, he received his first appointment to the England U-21 national team in August 2002 . There he made his debut against Slovakia and was in goal in a total of five international matches by 2005. Since his (biological) father comes from Nigeria, representatives of the Nigerian Football Association approached him about a possible assignment in the national team concerned . Murray declined the request, however, saying that he sees himself as an Englishman.

Web links

• Matt Murray in the soccerbase.com database
• Profile on Wolverhampton Wanderers , July 5, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Murray planning pre-season return" (BBC Sport)
2. ^ "Murray heads for Hereford on loan" (BBC Sport)
3. ↑ "MK Dons 3-0 Hereford" (BBC Sport)
4. ↑ Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Matt Murray retires . BBC Sports. August 26, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
5. ↑ "Murray flattered by Nigeria link" (BBC Sport)