Talking to The NLP back in January as he drove down to the south-coast, he admitted he'd thought long and hard about whether to leave the comfier surroundings of an assistant manager job in League One to take the risk.
But, despite never playing or managing in the division, there was something in the former AFC Fylde boss' gut telling him it was the right thing to do.
"I won't lie, when I actually got down there, it was a bigger challenge than I thought it was," Murray says. "They were six points from safety and there was a little bit more work than I expected.
"Normally when you go in, you expect a little bit of a (new manager) bounce and we didn't get that even though a lot of work was going in on the training ground and analysis.
"So we didn't get the initial bounce of results you'd like to get but, at the same time, I was fairly confident we'd be alright.
"It's a really young group, we made some signings that helped. As I said to the owner, it was weird but because of the season the group had had, I didn't want to come out of the bottom group too early. They'd got used to being the chasers and trying to pick points up rather than a different pressure of having to win to stay out of the bottom.
"I'm not saying I planned how it worked out. I didn't. But it worked out perfectly in terms of coming out right at the end. A lot of the credit has to go to the boys. We lost one of the last 11. They took the messages on, we stayed up and now we've put ourselves in a really good place to kick on.
"My big thing was, if I can get it over the line, can we then be in a position to fight at the other end? And that is the aim."
Murray's had plenty of success as player and coach. From playing in the Premier League with Derby County to winning promotions at Oxford United and Mansfield Town, who he captained to the Conference title in 2013, before going into management at the Stags aged just 33.
Denne historien er fra June 02, 2024-utgaven av The Non-League Football Paper.
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Denne historien er fra June 02, 2024-utgaven av The Non-League Football Paper.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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CUT ABOVE THE REST!
ALAN JULIAN is fully on board with Hampton & Richmond Borough's serious message Movember even if he can't stop laughing at his players!
JOE IS SPECIAL GUEST STAR!
YATE TOWN 1 Guest EVESHAM UTD 0
GOAL ACE ROSS HAS PLENTY OF SHELF LIFE
It's 300 up for Allen but Green Lion marches on
TOWN ARE READY TO GO AGAIN!
Witham boss Kimble is eyeing a repeat
DAWS SHUTS DOWN TOWN BUT MAGPIES DRAW AGAIN
DORCHESTER TOWN boss Tom Killick called for unity to help the Magpies shake off their mini slump after a fourth league draw on the spin.
ARCHIE ANSWERS CHURCH PRAYERS IN FLOWERS BOW
TEN-man Alvechurch fought their way to a first league victory since mid-September to kick off the Tim Flowers era with a precious three points.
HORNETS HAVE THE BUZZ FOR VICTORY!
THE CLASH between Wingate & Finchley and Horsham was a tight and fiercely contested affair, with Horsham emerging as narrow victors thanks to a second-half strike.
MACCA'S THE HERO IN 'NICK' OF TIME!
SUBSTITUTE Nick McCoootie grabbed a stoppage-time winner as Weston-superMare battled back from 3-2 down with five minutes left to clinch victory in this top-of-the-table thriller at the Woodspring.
SHOTS LAUD HERO HENRY
FRUSTRATED Phil Parkinson bemoaned the rigours of life on the road as Altrincham were blown away by Storm Bert and a resurgent Aldershot Town in a fruitless tenhour round-trip though the wind and rain.
GRAHAM GIVES UNITED BOUNCE
NEW Boston United manager Graham Coughlan ended the Pilgrims’ 11-match winless run with his first attempt, at the expense of fellow survival fighters Braintree Town.
