Archived News from October 2015
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DAGENHAM PREVIEWS/MURRAY BIRTHDAY
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The devil is in the detail in Stags’ impressive start
mansfieldtown.net, 30th September 2015 Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray said today that small improvements behind-the-scenes have played a big factor in Stags’ promising start to the season. Following last night’s comprehensive 2-0 victory at Stevenage, Adam Murray’s men sit in a respectable seventh position in Sky Bet League Two and boast the second best defensive record in the division. And Murray, who is building a reputation as an astute pragmatist, is pleased to see that unnoticed preparation is beginning to pay dividends. “The whole football club is improving,” said Murray, who celebrates his 33rd birthday today. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/the-devil-is-in-the-detail-in-stags-impressive-start-2719282.aspx#hICUjMIhS0ktr3q7.99 “It’s the minute things [which are coming good] which people think ‘are they worth it? They do. It’s little things like adding daily vitamins to the lads’ diets which they have to take now. We have a small squad, so we have to look after them. “Paul Broughton (stadium director) has been brilliant to back us and give us that, and it makes a difference. It’s the same this Friday. We’ll travel (to Dagenham) on Friday night. Some people will say ‘it’s only a couple of hours’ (to Dagenham), but it makes a difference. All these things add up to get you results. “It’s no co-incidence where Accrington are where they are (fourth in League Two). They’re training at Bolton Wanderers’ training ground now. It makes a difference, it helps.” During this morning’s news conference, Murray praised the staff at One Call Stadium, who have helped the players in the build-up to games. “Everything you can do to gain that extra percentage, you have to do. “At the minute the football club is buying into this. Even the things that people think go under the radar, such as the cleaners we have, who are top drawer. They make sure that every morning, the building and dressing room is clean, it smells nice, and makes the players feel good. “The groundstaff are working ridiculously hard. We have a new chef who is top drawer, as is the food. It limits a percentage of risk and the more you can do that the more chance you have of being successful." The Stags' chief now wants back-to-back wins for the first time this season, but isn't underestimating Saturday's hosts, Dagenham & Redbridge, by any means. “We want to go on a run now, [but] Dagenham will be another tough one. They got a good result last night (at home to Notts County). We will have our game plan and will go there preparing to win.” Watch the full interview on Stags Player. --------------------- Plenty to celebrate for birthday boy, Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray chad.co.uk, by John Lomas, Wednesday 30 September 2015 Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray woke up this morning to his 34th birthday with plenty to celebrate after last night’s 2-0 win at Stevenage. A long enough journey at that time of night, Stags found the M1 closed en route home which saw everyone get to bed even later than planned. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/plenty-to-celebrate-for-birthday-boy-mansfield-town-manager-adam-murray-1-7489074? But Murray said: “I feel brilliant, though I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. “It’s been a long 34 years. I feel 78, but I’ve learned a lot in those 34 years. “It was a complete performance for an away game last night. We went there with our game plan in place and carried it out to a tee. We showed the organisation and discipline and the attacking threat to go and get the three points and I think we deserved it. “We earned it. It was a little bit like the Crawley game where some people said Crawley were poor that day. We made them poor and it was the same last night. We earned the ease of the victory because we were professional in our approach. The work we’ve done on the training ground, we carried it out and when we got 2-0 up we shut up shop. “It was professional. It is the little things we do that add up. “It’s one of the main sayings I have. I know the result is the be all and end all but for me the result will always take care of itself as long as you get everything in place and the planning and the process is right. Results will follow.” ------------------- Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray challenges side to make it back-to-back wins at Dagenham & Redbridge chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray has challenged his team to make it back-to-back wins as they head south for the second time in five days to face struggling Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday. Murray’s men have basked in the glory of Tuesday’s 2-0 win at Stevenage, but Murray told them to forget that now and said: “We have two or three really tricky games coming up now and my biggest thing now is we want back-to-back wins. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/mansfield-town-news/mansfield-town-manager-adam-murray-challenges-side-to-make-it-back-to-back-wins-at-dagenham-redbridge-1-7489302?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed “We are picking wins up here and there but we need to go on a run now. The boys have been brought straight back down to earth this morning because we want to be successful this season. “At the minute we’re doing really well. We are pushing boundaries. With the amount of change we’ve had in the summer, it’s kicking in quicker than we all expected. “But the games are coming thick and fast. All away games are tough and Dagenham’s going to be another tough one. They got a good result last night so we are going to have to be on our mettle. “But we will go there with a game plan and, as I keep saying in every game we go into, we will go there to prepare to win. “I spoke after Saturday’s game about the lads having belief and knowing how good they can be. But that only comes with hard work and focus and consistently doing the basics right.” Murray added: “People have commented on how organised we are as a team and that’s through hard work - it doesn’t come out of luck. “It’s the job of the players now that they don’t take their foot off the gas and we don’t get complacent. We are on a good run of form - the challenge now is to keep it going. “Dagenham are always a team that plays good football. They play off instinct. They are very quick and they’ve got a real fluidness to their play. So they are always tough to play against. “It’s not as if they are a rigid team that you can set up and make it easy to be organised against them. The homework has started already. The lads will know what they are going into and it’s one we are looking forward to. We want to build on the performances we are putting in. “This season was always going to be a progressive one. To do that we have to keep building. “We felt the Stevenage game was an opportunity to put a big marker down and we did that. That opportunity has led to another opportunity now and I said after the game that congratulations are just the seeds for complacency.” Murray’s biggest headache will be the return from a one-match ban of Mitch Rose after his replacement, Jamie McGuire, turned in a tremendous display in what Murray said was a perfect away performance at Stevenage. ------------------- The little things are adding up as Mansfield Town begin to shine chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Adam Murray said it was the little things that were happening around the club that were adding up to Mansfield Town’s current good form and place in the play-offs. The Stags boss said every aspect of the club from the cleaners through to the GPS vests the club now have through their partnership with Melton’s Brooksby College were playing their part in the current success. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/the-little-things-are-adding-up-as-mansfield-town-begin-to-shine-1-7489307? “I thought some of the performances at Stevenage were top drawer, and it’s the little bits that are adding up,” said Murray. “I’ve said all along this team will get better and the whole club is improving through the little, minute things that people wonder if they make a difference. “Little things like adding vitamins to the lads’ daily diets. We have a small squad so we’ve got to look after them. Paul Broughton has been brilliant to back us with that. It makes a difference. “It’s the same with Friday. We will travel down to Dagenham Friday night and it’s a little thing that some people may say it’s only a couple of hours, but it makes a big difference. All these things add up to get you results. “It’s no coincidence that Accrington are where they are. They are training at Bolton Wanderers’ training ground now. It helps. Everything you can do to gain that extra percent, you’ve got to do. “At the minute the football club is buying into that. Even the things that people think go under the radar such as the cleaners we’ve got. They are top drawer and every morning when we come in the dressing room is really clean, the building is clean. It smells nice. It makes the place feel good. “The ground staff are working ridiculously hard. We’ve got a new chef in who is top drawer. The food is top drawer. It all limits the percentage of risk. The more you can do that, the more you look at being successful.” Murray now can’t wait to get his players wearing the GPS kit on matchdays but need them to get used to it first. “We’ve only had it in a week and we need to make sure the lads are comfortable wearing it in training before they go and wear it in games as some of them won’t be,” he said. “They’ve got to get used to it then it will be a major part of how we work. It will give us data for planning that we can get more benefits from and we are in debt to Brooksby for helping us out with that. It’s a major thing for us and we are looking forward to getting started with that. “It’s like a vest with a little GPS thing at the back. The data it gives you is unbelievable. It gives you the distance that you’ve run, whereabouts on the pitch you’ve run, your heat map, the intensity of your sprints, what kind of runs you’ve done. Everything you can imagine it gives you. “We can get our players in a condition where the work we do in training will be relevant to games, so we will see as individuals what they do in a game and be able to tailor the training to that. “The top clubs in the world have it for a reason and they get great benefits, so to have it at our level a big step. --------------------------- Motivator McGuire keen to help younger players mansfieldtown.net Mansfield Town midfielder Jamie McGuire has taken on a motivational role after finding his first team opportunities limited in the opening weeks of the season. McGuire made his first start of the season in Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Stevenage but he says his encouraging personality is helping the younger members of the squad behind the scenes. “I haven’t been playing so I make sure I’m behind the scenes motivating everyone. There’s a lot of young lads in the squad and it’s getting them up for games because League Two’s a tough league,” said McGuire. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/motivator-mcguire-keen-to-help-younger-players-2721381.aspx#uZ0liyXUpSTLpL8R.99 “I’m bouncing round, I’m a character and getting the lads going, getting the fans going and long may it continue.” The ex-Fleetwood man marshalled the midfield well on Tuesday night and he hopes to keep his place for this Saturday’s fixture against Dagenham & Redbridge. However, McGuire knows that manager Adam Murray will have an approach to take for the trip to Essex, as he does for every game. “He’ll have a plan for Saturday, that’s the way it is and if I’m in that starting XI, I’m in it, if I’m not then that’s just the way it goes but it’s a team game. The whole squad’s focussed on it and if one goes out then one goes in and everyone knows their jobs. “The players we brought in over the summer and seeing what he wants to and taking that from the training ground to matchdays. You can see from all the boys, we’re all sticking together and we’re all learning from what the gaffer wants to do and do it in games.” McGuire believes the whole squad is focussed on the same goal and says the common vision makes for a good atmosphere in the camp. “It’s great coming into the changing room in the mornings because it’s bouncing. We’re looking forward to going out to train, we look forward to what the gaffer’s got planned for training and his plans for when we go and play teams on the Saturday. Everyone’s switched on to it, everyone’s focussed on what he wants to do and hopefully the fans can see that. “Our main focus this year is getting this club to what we want to try and do; get promoted. That’s what I want to do, that’s what the players want to do, that’s what the staff want to do and I’m sure the fans want to see it as well.” The 31-year-old is beginning to come into the twilight of his career but he admits that he has given no thought to what he might do when the time does come to hang up his boots. “I just take every day as it comes. I love training, I love being around the boys and being around the club, that’s the kind of guy I am.” McGuire continued: “I’m not thinking about that (retirement) at the moment because as long as the gaffer’s happy for me to carry on playing, I’m happy. I’m his player, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing on a matchday and in training and we’ll see what happens after that.” After joining the club two years ago from Fleetwood two years ago, McGuire says that he has grown to love Mansfield; both the club and the town. “I love it. I’ve grown each year with the town, with the club, with the people, I’ve met some great people and made some good friends as well so I’m loving every moment.” ------------------ Jamie McGuire enjoying motivational role at Mansfield Town chad.co.uk, by John Lomas Jamie McGuire enjoyed every minute of his first start of the season in Tuesday’s 2-0 win at Stevenage. But, with Mitch Rose available again after suspension, he could find himself out the side again for tomorrow’s game at Dagenham & Redbridge. http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/local-sport/jamie-mcguire-enjoying-motivational-role-at-mansfield-town-1-7489314? The abrasive midfielder knew his games may be limited this season with the influx of new signings, but the 31-year-old knows his motivational role behind-the-scenes with such a young squad is as vital as his performances on the park. And the Birkenhead-born battler said he now feels a part of Mansfield in his third season with the club and loves the town and its people. “It was a rare start and I enjoyed every single minute of it,” he said. “I’ve had to be patient as the lads in midfield have done really well. We’ve had a good start to the season and I’ve just had to bide my time. “That’s why the gaffer put me in. It was a perfect game for me to come in to let the front lads do what they’ve go to do, which they’ve done, and let Chappie (Adam Chapman) get on the ball, which he’s done, and the back four and myself done have done our job with a nice clean sheet. I didn’t even think about any other club. As soon as the gaffer wanted me to stay and said let’s get it sorted, that was all that mattered. “It was probably the perfect away performance to be honest with you. We played some really good stuff in the first half and had a couple of chances. At half-time the gaffer had one or two little things to tweak, which we’ve done, we got the two early goals then it was shut up shop. “It was ‘you come on at us now because we will hit you on the counter attack and try to get another goal’ which Greeny (Matt Green) almost did. “We had a game plan all week and we stuck to it. The lads were nice and solid. Taffers (Ryan Tafazolli) got his goal, which I was made up for, then Jack Thomas scored his goal. You could see the big smile on his face when he was celebrating it with his granddad and I was made up for him as well. “But it was a whole team performance from the staff to the lads on the bench and the lads who started. The all-round package was good.” However, McGuire who won a Conference Championship medal with Fleetwood in 2012, knows his fine display at Stevenage is no guarantee he will start at Dagenham tomorrow. He said: “The gaffer will have a plan for Saturday. That’s the way he is. He knows what he’s got for Saturday. “If I am in that starting XI I am in it. If I’m not then that’s the way it goes. It’s a team game. The whole squad if focused and if one goes in, everyone knows their job. “Hopefully I will play, but we will wait until Saturday and see what happens.” But McGuire’s lack of match action hasn’t diminished his enjoyment of being an experienced and motivational head behind the scenes. “I love it,” he said. “I haven’t been playing, but behind the scenes I make sure the lads are up for games. There are a lot of young lads in the team as you know. “So it’s getting them up for games. League Two is a tough league. I am bolting round. I am a character and I like to gets the lads going and get the fans going. Long may it continue. “You can see on matchdays - we are all together and we want to learn what the gaffer wants us to do. “The players need to believe in themselves. You saw on Saturday that it was just - come on boys, let yourselves loose because we can win this game, but we settled for the draw. “But at Stevenage the lads let themselves go. “It comes from the experienced boys. We’ve got to help them out. They can be our match winners at the end of the day. It’s a massive thing.” McGuire has certainly enjoyed the Murray revolution as he looks to stamp his mark on the club in his first full season as manager. He said: “He is a legend here isn’t he? It’s good to come into the changing room in the mornings as it’s bouncing. We look forward going out to train. We look forward to what the gaffer has got for us. “Everyone is focused on what he wants and hopefully you can see that on a Saturday. “I just take every day as it comes. That’s me. I love training and I love being around the boys and around the club. That’s the kind of guy I am. “The main thing is coming to matchday on a Saturday or on a Tuesday. You can’t beat it. “Our main focus this year is to get promoted. That’s what we all want to do.” There was speculation McGuire may move on during the summer. But he said all he ever wanted was to stay with the Stags. He said: “I didn’t even think about any other club. As soon as the gaffer wanted me to stay and said let’s get it sorted, that was all that mattered. “I’d spoken to him briefly about what was going on anyway, so I just said let’s get a contract sorted. I wanted to stay here. That’s all that mattered to me. McGuire would love to stay in football once he hangs his boots up, but for now he is enjoying his job and his time in Mansfield. He said: “Who doesn’t want to stay in the game? “Coaching is a big thing. But I like a bit of scouting and a bit of analysing as well. That’s a major thing I like to look at - I like to look at the opposition. “But I am not thinking about that at the moment. At the end of the day if the gaffer is happy for me to keep on playing I am happy. I am his player. I am involved with Mansfield Town Football Club. “I love it. You can’t beat it. It’s grown each year with the town, the club, the people. I have met some great people and some good friends so I am loving every moment and long may it continue.” He added: “I think we have big prospects. We are all focused. We need to keep training hard and taking into games. “We have a big game Saturday at Dagenham now and it’s important we don’t look beyond it. We’ll get to Dagenham, concentrate on that and hopefully get three points.” Boss Adam Murray said: “Over the last seven or eight months I’ve been in charge I’ve seen a change in Jamie. “He has added a lot of discipline to his game. He’s taken responsibility of the group and he is a leader. That shows. To put him in on Tuesday, we knew what he’d give us. We knew what he’d do. I think he complemented Chappie really well. “He allowed the attacking boys to get on with their roles. There was a good fluidity about us at Stevenage. We flowed at times and did the ugly stuff when we had to. It was a really good performance.” McGuire is a player few opponents relish going up against and many have ended the day nursing cuts and bruises. “That’s the way he plays,” said Murray. “He plays on the edge. If you take that away from him, you lose Jamie. “Sometimes he looks like he’s not in control and people sit on the edge of their seats. But he’s always in control with what he does. He’s not stupid. It was an excellent performance from him at Stevenage and I think he summed up the game.” He added: “It’s those kind of roles that sometimes go unnoticed. “The kind of performance Jack Thomas, Craig Westcarr and Reggie Lambe put in at Stevenage was superb. And that was all down to Jamie McGuire doing his bit first. “When you’ve got that base right it allows people like Chappie to express themselves a little bit more instead of worrying about discipline and it worked well.” -------------------- New Dagenham signing Justin Hoyte won't play against Mansfield DAG & RED, LATEST NEWS UPDATE: New Dagenham signing Justin Hoyte will not feature in their Sky Bet League Two clash at home to Mansfield. The former England Under-21 international full-back has joined the Daggers on a non-contract basis having been without a club since leaving Millwall in the summer. A lack of fitness means the 30-year-old will not be in contention for the visit of the Stags. Midfielder Jodi Jones is likely to retain his place having scored in the last two games for Wayne Burnett's side - who remain without a win since September 5. For Mansfield, Chris Clements will miss the trip to Essex as he remains sidelined with a groin injury. It was feared the midfielder would be sidelined for two months after he limped off against Luton on September 19, but he could return to action within a fortnight. Elsewhere, midfielder Mitchell Rose is in contention for Saturday's match after returning from a one-match suspension. The Stags are seventh in League Two after their 2-0 victory at Stevenage on Tuesday night. - See more at: https:// Read more at: https://www.clubcall.com/dagenham-redbridge/new-dagenham-signing-justin-hoyte-wont-play-against-mansfiel-1783822.html? --------------------- |
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