Karl Anthony Murray (born 26 August 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Born in the shadow of Arsenals Highbury Stadium, Murray's footballing career began with Shrewsbury Town after becoming one of the first protégés of the Youth Team set up. He was bought in by former "Shrews" man Jake King winning Player of the Year in his second season. He was a regular starter for manager Kevin Ratcliffe and was part of the FA Cup side that saw Shrewsbury play Chelsea at Gay Meadow. Murray was primarily a midfielder in his time but was also able to offer cover at centre back. By 2002 Shrewsbury Town had been relegated and he found himself sent out on loan to Northwich Victoria, the former club of then manager Jimmy Quinn. Murray was released and returned to his native south and signed for Woking FC. Murray was a regular starter for Woking winning both Players Player of the Year and Supporters Player of the Year during his 134 games in which he scored important free kicks and goals. His impressive performances got him a national call up in 2006 for the England C side in a game he started against Italy at Shrewsbury Towns home ground. Murray was signed by

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

from

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

on 18 May 2007 but later moved to Eastleigh signing an 18-month contract. At the start of the 2008–09 season Murray signed for

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

. On 12 November he signed for

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

on a short-term loan deal and was made Club Captain. In January 2009 Murray was signed on loan by Northwich Victoria and made his debut in the 2–1 home league defeat against Histon. He returned to Bromley in February 2009. In late 2009 after a spell with Croydon Athletic Murray was signed by

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

club Carshalton Athletic. In September 2010 he moved to neighbours

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles sout ...

and helped them to win the Isthmian League Premier Division title for the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. Murray left Sutton in December 2011 when Sutton changed to full-time. Murray decided to concentrate on his work and family commitments. On 20 February 2012 it was announced Murray had signed for Isthmian League Division One South club

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

. He made his debut in a 4–2 away win at

Merstham Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 25 miles south of Charing Cross and 2 miles south of the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Mers ...

. Murray left the Stones in the summer of 2012. Following his retirement from football, Karl now works as a decorator.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Karl 1982 births Living people Footballers from Islington (district) English men's footballers English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Woking F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Croydon Athletic F.C. players Carshalton Athletic F.C. players England men's semi-pro international footballers Sutton United F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Men's association football midfielders