Paul Murray (born 31 August 1976) is an English football coach and former professional player who was most recently the youth academy manager at Oldham Athletic before leaving that position in July 2021.

Playing career

Murray was born on 31 August 1976, in Carlisle,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, England. He started his career at Carlisle United and made his Football League debut for them on 27 December 1993, coming on as a substitute against Darlington.Rothmans Football Yearbook 1994–95 In May 1996 he joined

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on loan, making his debut at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. After the Hoops'

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

that season, he joined the team permanently for a transfer fee of £300,000. Whilst at QPR he was called up four times for the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

squad, and in February 1998 he made his solitary appearance for England B as a substitute against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He enjoyed a successful time at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

, playing 140 league games before he joined Premiership club

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in July 2001, though he played only one game for the south coast side. In December 2001 Murray joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

, where he spent three and a half years, before he joined Portuguese club Beira-Mar. He re-joined Carlisle United in the close-season of 2006 after their promotion to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, and scored against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in the opening game of the 2006–07 season. This was the first match for new manager Neil McDonald. He was released by the club in May 2007. Murray joined newly promoted Scottish Premier League outfit Gretna in June 2007 on a one-year contract. With his contract expired at Gretna, Murray turned down a number of clubs to move south of the border and join

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in May 2008, alongside former teammate Stephen Hindmarch. After two years at the club he was released on 14 May 2010. He joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

on trial in the summer of 2010 and signed a short-term deal with the club in August 2010. Murray extended his contract with Hartlepool and won their player of the year trophy in the 2011–12 season. Murray was released by Hartlepool midway through the 2012–13 season, and re-signed by Oldham Athletic on a contract until the end of the season, returning to the club after almost nine years.

Management career

Murray completed his coaching badges alongside former Manchester United and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

defender

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teamma ...

. After a successful spell as a coach at Oldham Athletic, Murray joined

club

as manager on 23 October 2014, with

Willie Donachie William Donachie (born 5 October 1951) is a Scottish former professional association football, footballer. Donachie had a long playing career, the majority of which was with Manchester City F.C., Manchester City. He also played for Norwich City F ...

assisting him. Murray was sacked by Hartlepool following defeat by

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

club

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

just six weeks after taking the reins at the League Two club. In the summer of 2015, Murray was appointed as a coach at Barrow, but departed the club on 4 September, after seven games of the season. Murray joined

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

as the head coach of their development squad in November 2016. On 13 June 2018, Murray left Fleetwood Town to become first-team coach at Carlisle United.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Individual *Hartlepool United Player of the Year: 2012

References

External links

Paul Murray profile
a
Vital Hartlepool
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Paul 1976 births Living people Footballers from Carlisle, Cumbria English footballers English people of Scottish descent Association football midfielders England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Primeira Liga players Carlisle United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players S.C. Beira-Mar players Gretna F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. managers English Football League managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Fleetwood Town F.C. non-playing staff Carlisle United F.C. non-playing staff Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff English football managers