Murray’s back to silence the boo-boys

By Chris Dunlavy

BOOED, jeered, accused of treachery, Glenn Murray has spent the last five years as public enemy No.1 in Brighton.

Once the darling of the Withdean, Murray scored 56 goals in 136 games for the Seagulls and played a critical role in promotion to the Championship under Gus Poyet.

But that love swiftly turned to hate when the striker joined bitter rivals Crystal Palace in the summer of 2011.

Subsequent appearances at the Amex were met with vitriol, but, when Chris Hughton offered a chance to rejoin the club he calls home this summer, the 32-year-old didn’t think twice.

“I honestly didn’t worry about it at all,” says the Cumbrian, signed on a season-long loan deal from Premier League Bournemouth.

“Football is like a religion. People are passionate about their club and they’ll do anything to help them win. Giving me stick was part of that and I totally understand. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.

“Was it nice coming back with Palace? Not particularly! But I didn’t take it to heart and I tried to show a bit of respect when I scored. I’d do the same for any of my former clubs.

“I just thought ‘take away the fact I’ve played for Palace and this is a great move’. The way Chris plays, the attacking prowess on Brighton’s wings,  it’s tailor-made for my game.

“And I never actually left the town. I’ve lived here for eight years now.

“I married a Brighton girl, my kids are in school here. I’ve got a lot of friends and family. Brighton is my home and I couldn’t be more pleased to be back.”

Since leaving Brighton, Murray has won a Championship golden boot, promotion to the Premier League with Palace, made a £4m switch to Bournemouth and scored 11 top-flight goals.

That last statistic is particularly sweet for the former Non-League striker, whose Premier League pedigree was dismissed by Neil Warnock and Tony Pulis before the trust of Alan Pardew yielded an impressive seven goals in 12 games for the Eagles during the 2014-15 campaign.

“The problem was I’d done my ACL in the play-offs when we got promoted,” explains Murray, who also scored three goals in ten appearances for the Cherries last term. I was trying to come back from a serious injury, but to succeed in the Premier League you need to be 100 per cent. It was very frustrating.

“I played a bit-part that year, then went out on loan to Reading. I thought that was it for me in terms of the Premier League. It was a case of putting myself in the shop window. So, to come back and score regularly was massive for me. It just showed that, when I was fit and playing my normal game, I was good enough to be at that level. It was something I’d waited a long time to prove.”

So are Brighton getting a better player than the man who left in 2011?

“I’ll let the Brighton fans be the judge of that,” laughs Murray. “But from my point of view, I’d say so, yeah.

“Last time, I’d never played above League One. Since then I’ve scored goals in the Championship and Premier League.

“I’ve played against some of the best defenders in the country, maybe the world. Hopefully that means I’ve improved.

“But it’s the same for me. The Brighton I left was playing at the Withdean in League One. Now they’ve got all these amazing facilities and are challenging for a place in the Premier League.

“Going our separate ways did neither of us any harm. Together, I hope we can finally realise that ambition of playing in the Premier League.”

*This story originally featured in The FLP on 7 August 2016.