Stags boss Murray happy with how squad is shaping up

As he homed in on a new striker and waited on the last four current players to commit, Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray said he was delighted with how his squad was shaping up.
Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray. Picture by Dan WestwellMansfield Town Manager Adam Murray. Picture by Dan Westwell
Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray. Picture by Dan Westwell

Murray, looking to add four or five fresh faces, is now only waiting on Ryan Tafazolli, Matty Blair, Chris Clements and Reggie Lambe to accept new contracts and said: “I am chuffed.

“What we’ve managed to do is nearly secure the core of the team from last year.

“I have said a number of times last season, the 12 months the boys have had together would be worth its weight on gold.

“So to get the majority of them signed back up I feel is a massive bonus. It allows our planning to be a bit more specific and structured now.

“We are looking to add that little bit of extra now to take us to the next level as we want to progress again. Keeping the core of the group together will allow us to get consistency and will allow us to get continuity as a football club. We are not a revolving door. We’re not switching and changing everything.

“We are trying to make it better and you do that by building on the blocks we’ve already put in place.”

The club’s retained list, announced last Friday, took a little longer than usual, but Murray said: “There was no rush. We are dealing with people’s lives. They are no pieces of meat. We wanted to make sure we did it in the right way.

“We wanted to do it the correct way and in a professional manner.

“We have put deals to them that we feel are fair and value for the club and player. It’s up to the players to decide now. Some of them will have offers elsewhere, which is the nature of the beast. That is the game.

“At the same time there are a lot of footballers out of work at the minute. We have a lot of irons in fires and we are looking at areas to freshen things up.”