I'm a better boss now because of the journey I've taken

THE BIG INTERVIEW - ADAM MURRAY

- MATT BADCOCK

ADAM MURRAY could be enjoying a much comfier life in the dugout.

Part of former Barnsley, West Brom and Besiktas boss Valerien Ismael’s trusted backroom staff, since leaving Boston United in 2017, he’s been coaching elite players in the Championship and Turkey’s Super Lig.

But the former Mansfield Town boss, who captained the Stags into the Football League as a player, needed to answer some of his own questions.

And when the chance to take the reins at National League North title favourites AFC Fylde came in November, he jumped back into the hot-seat.

“It was a massive risk,” Murray says. “But, for me, it was the opportunity at a good place where I felt I had good tools that fitted my way of doing things.

Opportunity 

“In terms of stepping out on my own, I wanted an opportunity where, in my head, I said, ‘If it doesn’t work, I’ve had the resources. If I can’t do it, I’ve ticked a box that I’m not a head coach’. I needed to have that clarity.”

Aged 41, Murray has a reputation for being one of the game’s brightest young coaches.

“Now he has a title on his CV after the Coasters got over the line on the final day of the season to book their return to Non-League’s top flight.