Matt Murray

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For the baseball player, see Matt Murray (baseball).
Matt Murray
Personal information
Full name Matthew Murray
Date of birth May 2, 1981 (1981-05-02) (age 27)
Place of birth    Solihull, England
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number 1
Youth clubs
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1997–
2000
2006		 Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Kingstonian (loan)
→ Tranmere Rovers (loan)		 87 (0)
01 (0)
02 (0)   
National team2
2003–2005 England U21 05 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 21:58, 14 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 21:58, 14 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Matthew "Matt" Murray (born May 2, 1981 in Solihull) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Championship. His career has been severely hampered by injury.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Murray, a youth trainee, spent several seasons of his early career out of contention through injury. He suffered a cruciate knee injury just twenty minutes into a loan spell at non-league Kingstonian in October 2000.

He was promoted into Wolves' first team on 31 August 2002 against Wimbledon, deputising for the injured Michael Oakes, and then keeping his place through that season. The season ended with him producing a man-of-the-match performance in the Play-off final in May 2003, where he produced a number of vital saves to help the club win promotion to the Premier League, the pick being a second-half penalty save from Michael Brown.

He followed this up by debuting for England Under-21s, against Slovakia U21, before a foot fracture wrecked his second season. In the three years that followed the success of 2002/03, he only played seven games for Wolves due to a variety of injuries.

The goalkeeper next played in January 2005 but soon suffered another break to his foot, ruling him out for a further year. By March 2006 he was fit enough to be sent on loan to Tranmere Rovers, but was called back to his parent club within a month because of possible injuries to other goalkeepers Stefan Postma and Michael Oakes.

He started his first game for Wolves in almost sixteen months on the final day of the season at Norwich City, and managed to retain his place at the beginning of the 2006/07 season, where he was largely acredited with Wolves' impressive start to the season, due to a catalogue of good performances allowing for five of their first seven games to end 1–0.

Due to Murray's excellent form during the season he was rewarded with a new three-and-a-half year contract in December 2006, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2009/10 season; the same month also saw him received the PFA Championship Player of the Month award. At the end of the season, he was named in the Championship Team of the Year at the 2006–07 PFA Awards dinner and also voted the PFA Fans' Player of the Year for the division. He was also voted Wolves' Player of the Season as they reached the play-offs.

However, the 2006/07 season ended on a sour note as he broke his shoulder on the eve of his club's vital play-off game. After spending the summer recouperating from this injury, he suffered another setback from a cruciate knee injury in pre-season training. He underwent two operations for this, and missed the whole of the 2007/08 campaign while undergoing rehabilitation with the aim of returning for the new season.[1]

[edit] International career

Murray has represented England five times at under 21 level. He may also be eligible to play for Nigeria, through his biological father.[2] However, this has not been confirmed by the footballing authorities.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Murray planning pre-season return. BBC Sport (2008-03-20).
  2. ^ Murray flattered by Nigeria link. BBC Sport (2007-04-12).

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad

1 Murray • 2 D. Ward • 3 N. Collins • 4 Olofinjana • 6 Craddock • 7 Kightly • 8 Henry • 9 Keogh • 10 Bothroyd • 11 S. Ward • 12 R. Edwards • 14 Potter • 15 Little • 16 Davies • 17 Jarvis • 18 Gleeson • 19 Elliott • 20 Mulgrew • 21 Jones • 22 Gobern • 23 Eastwood • 26 D. Edwards • 27 Ebanks-Blake • 30 Ikeme • 31 Hennessey • 32 Foley • 33 Gray • 35 Bennett • 36 L. Collins • 37 Hughes • 38 Salmon • 39 Rósa • 40 Elokobi • 41 Bailey • – Vokes •

Manager: McCarthy


Persondata
NAME Murray, Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murray, Matt
SHORT DESCRIPTION English professional footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1981-05-02
PLACE OF BIRTH Solihull, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH