Fan favourite, play-off final hero and former Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray takes us through some of the teams which have played a key role in his career – as the opposition to some memorable moments.
Supported as a child | Everton
My step-dad came into my life when I was six, and my dad wasn’t a massive football fan, but my step-dad was Everton through and through and he would play football with me. Then he showed me Neville Southall and that was it because I just loved watching Neville Southall. But joining Wolves when I was nine, Wolves obviously then became my team and they still are my team now, but I would still always look out for Everton’s results. I also support my mates and the clubs they’re at, so it was good when Joleon [Lescott] went to Everton, and this season I've been keeping a close eye on Luton because of Rob [Edwards].
Best Wolves performance | Sheffield United
There are three games which really stick out to me as having my best games for Wolves, one would be Sheffield United in the play-off final and the other two were in the league, against Norwich away when we went down to nine men, and West Brom at home when we won 1-0. In all of those games I felt that I did ok, but I think the play-off final just tips them because it was one of the best days in my career.
Favourite to play against | Norwich City
It was always Norwich. I don’t know what it was about Norwich, but I always seemed to play well against them, especially at Carrow Road. I remember playing them away a minimum of three times, and I won every time. They were always a good side, but I just loved playing at Carrow Road. Their fans were great, it’s a beautiful, big pitch so the crosses would come in you’d have plenty of time to see them, and a couple of times they were night games, which are always special to play under the lights. It was always a nice surface, always a full house, they always played good, attacking stuff, but we would always win at Carrow Road when I played.
Most difficult Wolves game | West Bromwich Albion
There’s a few! West Brom would always be a difficult game for us, and we lost to them a few times, for sure. They were always strong against us and we were a pretty inexperienced team under Mick [McCarthy], and I remember getting some heavy defeats and not playing well either in those games, unfortunately. It would always hurt more than any other team as well, especially as we didn’t play them very often, so you want to play well, but on a few occasions, I didn’t play well.
Bogey team | Brighton & Hove Albion
We would always draw or got beat by Brighton. That was weird because even when they weren’t great, Bobby Zamora would always score, we were relegated under Dean Saunders down there and we couldn’t beat them. I remember we once got beat 4-1 to Brighton and that was the only game we lost after Christmas. We lost one at Portsmouth who were top of the league and lost at Brighton 4-1 when they were rubbish! I don’t know what it was about them, but I just can’t ever remember beating Brighton.
Least favourite to play against | Yeovil Town
I know it’ll sound weird, but Yeovil. I was on loan from Wolves playing at Yeovil and did my cruciate, I played against Yeovil on my first game for Tranmere and had a shocker and I played against Yeovil in a pre-season game for Wolves and ended up getting injured. It’s a horrible little ground, it’s always wet and windy, and I know you never think about Wolves going to Yeovil, but I played for three different teams against them and every single game was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Wanted to play against | Liverpool
I missed out on the chance to play against Everton in the Premier League, but I did play against them quite a few times at junior level. But the one game I would have loved to have played in is Liverpool at Anfield. That would have been amazing. Playing at Goodison Park would have been great, but playing in front of the Kop at Anfield, with the Liverpool fans right there behind you, would have been special.
Fitting into the current team | Wolves
If it was a couple of seasons ago under Nuno, I think I would have been fine because, similar to Rui Patricio, I wasn’t the best in possession. It was more about taking crosses and making saves which was what I was strong at. But now, under Bruno, with how Jose Sa is expected to play with the ball at his feet as a sweeper-keeper – I would love to play in it and be part of that system with the players in front, but I doubt I’d even be good enough in possession to even make the bench!
