Glenn Murray interview: All change at Brighton but the spirit is special
Thursday 2 February 2017 08:03, UK
Glenn Murray's return to Brighton has been a resounding success. Adam Bate caught up with him to discover the secrets of their team spirit and why the striker knew his move would work out...
There are some signings that you just cannot fathom. How will he fit into that team? Why is he making that move? It is fair to say that Glenn Murray's return to Brighton was not one of those. Instead, this was a player who had learned the lessons of the past.
"I am not one of those players who is going to dribble around three players and bend one into the top corner," Murray tells Sky Sports. "I know what I am. I know I need service to score goals and I could see service in abundance here."
The target man left Crystal Palace - the team with the most crosses in last season's Premier League - to join Bournemouth in September 2015. While Murray "would appreciate another chance" in the top flight, their more patient approach did not suit him. He was not going to repeat the mistake.
"That move didn't work for me," admits the 33-year-old, although he still ranks among the top dozen players for minutes per Premier League goal over the past three seasons. "Rather than just sit there, I would prefer to get out and play football. Brighton have let me do that.
"I had a few options but as soon as I knew Brighton were interested, having watched them a few times last year I knew the quality of the wingers that they had. Top of the pile, it's fair to say, is Anthony Knockaert and I knew that I would get chances."
It has certainly worked out that way. Murray has scored 15 goals already this season, while Knockaert has confirmed himself as one of the Championship's biggest stars. But it was a tale of personal loss for the Frenchman that really revealed the spirit on the south coast.
Knockaert lost his father Patrick in November and the squad rallied. There were emotional scenes as Steve Sidwell held his team-mate's shirt aloft after his wonder strike against Bristol City before Knockaert himself celebrated with a photo of his late father on his return.
But it was the decision of the squad to travel to France for Patrick's funeral that was truly out of the ordinary. "When I say it was the best moment for me in my life," said Knockaert in an emotional interview with The Times, "I hope you know what I mean."
Our captain Bruno put it out to the boys, 'Do you want to go out to France to support Anthony at his dad's funeral?' The resounding answer was yes.
Murray adds: "Credit to the gaffer for giving us an extra day off to go out to France. But it came from the dressing room. Our captain Bruno put it out to the boys, 'Do you want to go out to France to support Anthony at his dad's funeral?' The resounding answer was yes.
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to make the trip because I had to have an injection that day in my knee. If that hadn't been the case I'd have 100 per cent been there with the lads. But it just goes to show the togetherness we have got at the club. It's plain to see on the pitch."
Murray, of course, is in his second spell at Brighton having scored 56 goals for the club between 2008 and 2011. "They say don't go back don't they but it has gone well so far," he jokes. Perhaps that's because this is a very different club from the one he left.
"It's totally different," says Murray and memories of the old Brighton come flooding back. "It is light years ahead of the one I left. We were getting changed in a college changing room. They were no more than six foot in width so we were practically on top of each other.
"Sometimes we would get food. Then we would turn up at the Withdean with the running track around it. To walk into a club with multi-million pound training complex and obviously the Amex Stadium, it was almost as though I was signing for a new club."
This new club is Premier League ready. "It is 100 per cent geared for it," he adds. "It's only a matter of time. The lads went so close last year missing out on goal difference but there's great depth now having strengthened in the summer. All that's left is to achieve it."
Next up is Thursday's trip to Huddersfield, one sure to test Chris Hughton's team. "The Championship is a really tough league with a huge prize at the end of it," says Murray, "and it seems like week in and week out there are promotion-chasing teams playing each other.
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"Huddersfield is going to be a really stiff test as they are up there and one of the surprise packages this year. But we'll do our homework." No surprises there then. After all, it is doing his homework on Brighton that has been the key to Glenn Murray's success this season.
