Murray's tough call

Matt Murray told Goals on Sunday about his difficult decision to retire from football.

The 29-year-old Wolves goalkeeper decided to hang up his boots last month following a series of injury problems that blighted his promising career.

He was told he was not going to recover from a serious knee injury and despite working hard on his rehabilitation he was forced to accept that his playing days were over.

Murray admitted that in some ways the decision came as a relief and he has already come to terms with it, but ultimately it was a hard thing to go through.

"It's been difficult," Murray said.

"When you finally make a decision that you're not going to play again it's always hard. It's never something you want to hear.

"The specialists and all the medical team have been brilliant, but they finally said: 'Matt, you need to call it a day.'

"I put all the graft in at the gym and I was desperate to play again, but it's not happened. Everyone's stood by me and the support I've had has been unbelievable.

"I've already come to terms with it. Everyone will know I've had a lot of injuries in my career and this one has definitely been the most serious.

"When I broke down the last few times I was getting close to that decision, so in one way it was a little bit of a relief. But still, when you finally hear it...

"I've been at Wolves since I was nine years of age, it's all I've known, so to go in and clear out your locker and say goodbye to all the ladies upstairs and your team-mates was emotional and hard."

Operations

Murray described the injury that finally ended his career and admitted it was an innocuous moment while on loan at Hereford.

"I'm only 29 and I've had 17 operations - some big, some small," he continued.

"The final one was a ruptured tendon to my right knee. There's a tendon that runs through your quads and it snapped. The knee-cap comes half-way up your thigh and it's very uncomfortable.

"It was so innocuous. I just got a back-pass when I was on loan at Hereford, third game back after a cruciate injury, and I hit the ball alright for once!

"Next thing I was in a heap on the floor and it was a sharp feeling. Then the pain went and that was it."

Horrible

And while getting injured is difficult, Murray explained that the recovery process can sometimes be soul-destroying.

Murray went through long hours in the gym every day in a bid to recover from injuries - and he said those days can be "dark" and "lonely".

"It's horrible," Murray explained.

"At the Wolves training round you walk out of the dressing room and the lads go straight ahead, get their boots and go out to train.

"I had to go right to go to the gym - and the gym overlooks the training ground. Watching all the lads doing their warm-up, crossing and finishing and all the stuff I loved to do - and stuff I took for granted when I was fit - was hard.

"It can be lonely at times doing CV work and stuff like that. You do have dark times, but quite often there's somebody else going through a serious injury with you.

"I went through it with George Elokobi. We worked really hard together, so to see him back playing is nice.

"The staff there are brilliant, Mick McCarthy was unbelievable and sometimes they'd say: 'Matt, you need a break, go away and come back when you feel ready to go again.'

"There were definitely times when you'd go home and find it hard."