Craig Priest’s blog: Adam Murray MUST apply for Mansfield Town job

However with chairman John Radford interviewing for the post this week, Murray faces some majorly tough decisions.

As he sits at the desk vacated by Cox staring at plans for this week’s training on his computer, he must make a choice, no not whether or not he should join those spending a UK average of £7,000 per second or £451,000 a minute on ‘Cyber Monday’ – but the choice to write a letter, or email, of application for the manager’s job.

The much loved caretaker boss has publically stated he could not take on a player managers roll, it’s one or the other – to give up something you’ve grafted hard for to leap into a relatively unknown area is tough, much tougher than words could ever describe.

If he were to be reading this, I’d urge him to stop right now and get that application in. Stepping away from a thing you love is a wrench at the best of times, but I honestly feel that fate is trying to say something here.

The time is right, every factor is right for Murray to become the next Mansfield Town manager.

OK so as supporters we’d love an experienced manager to come in and take us forward, Murray doesn’t have that experience as a manager – and if I were to be totally honest, if it were anyone but Murray we’d be hoping they steered well clear!

Murray though, as I said last time, has been through it all as a player and has this burning passion for the club.

He knows what the fans want, he knows the passion we feel and most importantly and the thing we’d be hard pushed to find in anyone else – he feels it too.

On Saturday we we’re beaten 3-0 by Luton, yet it doesn’t feel like we’ve lost. The general feeling is we played well and all things considered, we put in an acceptable shift.

D-Day looming for Adam Murray over Mansfield Town job Luton Town 3 Mansfield Town 0Fair enough, that feeling won’t last forever after defeat and Murray will know that – but a big part of improving is the fact he understands that in the first place.

With the right team around him I think Murray would be fine in taking that step from central midfield to the touchline, a good leader can lead from anywhere. Another thing he’s referenced in the press is the fact he’d like to bring back club legend Billy Dearden to help him out. His knowledge of the game, of teams and of players would be of great assistance in a scouting or advisory role, whilst the likes of Micky Moore and Richard Cooper could continue on the training ground.

Murray if he wanted too could keep his player registration open for a while, there may come a time where he could leave Moore and Cooper to man things from the sideline and his input, especially in the tough spells, could come in handy on the pitch again.

It’s almost like following the pattern of Notts County, Shaun Derry always held a soft spot for Notts County and took a similar step to the one Murray is facing by taking on the job as manager despite having any experience. He’s kept his player registration open just encase and brought in former Carlise manager Greg Abbott as his number two – an experienced manager at league one and two level.

I’m not saying that if it’s good enough for Notts County it’s good enough for us, I’m saying it’s worth considering, especially when you consider the backing Murray has from the fans – so please Adam, get off of Amazon, put your credit card away and get that application sent in.

What do you think? Email your views to Stephen Thirkill or comment on the story below