Adam Murray loving his job at Mansfield Town after tough baptism

Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray. Picture by Dan Westwell

Murray took some fearsome flak from some quarters last season after trying to steer the poor quality squad he had inherited to safety and eventually questioned his future in the role.

The relegation fight led to sleepless nights, but that has changed for the better and he smiled: “I am having such good sleeps now.

“I am learning every day. I have said all along that I think some of the situations I went through last season were real tools to me.

“As tough as I found it at times last season I feel like I’ve come through the other end and I am really enjoying it.

“I am with a bunch of players at the minute that I love, a bunch of players that are extremely good – not just football-wise but they work so hard and they want to learn.

“Every day they are pushing me to get something new which, as a coach and manager you can’t ask for anything more. Everything is possible at the minute.

“I look at the fans at the minute and they are positive. The people behind the scenes can’t work any harder at the minute and everything is moving forward, so I am privileged and happy to be working for Mansfield Town at the minute. I do believe it’s a club on the up.”

Murray knows his own thought process was partly the cause of his insomnia last season as he tried to analyse every aspect of games.

“It’s the way I over-think sometimes, I am into the smallest detail you can possibly think of,” he said.

“I make sure my teams know inside and outside of the opponents. We don’t leave a stone unturned. But I am sleeping like a baby at the minute - apart from when I get back from Swansea at 3am.

“It was a big learning curve for me last season.

“I spoke to a lot of top coaches and managers last year, people that have worked for England and at the highest level. Luckily I am privileged to have those kind of contacts and one of the biggest things they said to me was don’t over-complicate it.

“With respect to the level, it can only take on certain bits of information and make it effective so I have had to funnel and channel my information I do give out and I have seen the benefits of that.”