![]() Their manager Chris Coleman made Murtough academy director at Craven Cottage and the pair formed a close bond.Ĭoleman, who led Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals and is now managing Atromitos in the Greek top flight, tells The Athletic: “(Murtough was) easily one of my better signings since I’ve been a manager. Moyes then took over from Smith in 2002 and Murtough stayed a couple of years before a job offer came from Fulham. In the newly released Amazon documentary about his life and career, boyhood Evertonian Wayne Rooney gives recognition to Harvey’s protective influence during his teenage years in Croxteth.Īfter a couple of years, then-manager Walter Smith promoted Murtough to first-team level. Murtough himself learnt from Colin Harvey, a legendary player in Everton’s 1969-70 First Division title, who managed the club’s first team for three years before returning to work as youth-team coach under Howard Kendall in 1997. Colleagues recall how his role involved one-on-one sessions tapping into the players’ minds over selection or mistakes on the pitch, as well as team-bonding and dressing-room talks. Taking a job as an analyst at Everton’s academy, he worked with the likes of Francis Jeffers, Danny Cadamarteri and Richard Dunne. He studied for a degree in sports science at Liverpool John Moores University and added a Master’s in sports psychology. Murtough’s path into the professional game came through academia, however. Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford followed in Manchester United colleague John Murtough’s footsteps as players for Fletcher Moss Rangers (Photo: Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images) The Old Trafford side have not won the Premier League in the eight-plus years since Murtough joined them, even if much of the liability for that spreads across previous managers, coaches, players, Woodward, and the Glazer family, who own the club. Very little is known about a man who shirks the limelight but has an increasingly important role at United. With such a significant summer ahead, United will appoint a deputy football director to work under Murtough. Further into the distance is the challenge of restoring United as title contenders. On the horizon is the appointment of a permanent manager to succeed Ralf Rangnick, an interim choice of Murtough’s making. On BT Sport after United’s 1-1 home draw with Southampton on Saturday, United hero Paul Scholes questioned the overall plan following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking as manager last November. Just two wins from six games in the league so far in 2022 means a place in next season’s Champions League is in jeopardy and there has been a steady trickle of reports of player unrest. United emerged from the January window having trimmed a bloated squad but made no new signings. Nearly 12 months into the role, there remains an awful lot of fixing to do. Then, in March last year, he became United’s first football director. ![]() Woodward would go on to call Murtough United’s “fixer”. He produced clean, legible documents and, in a small way, brought a sense of order. He would speak to the likes of Brian McClair, then the club’s academy manager, to try to get a grip of the United landscape post-Ferguson. Murtough began accompanying Woodward to certain meetings, offering advice, and taking minutes. A football administrator since 1997, he understood how clubs worked and the wider regulations better than Woodward, whose career at United to that point had been devoted to commercial growth. Joining in December of that year from Everton as a hire by new manager David Moyes, who’d made the same move in the summer as Alex Ferguson’s successor, Murtough recognised the need for support at the top of United. ![]() That help came in the shape of John Murtough.
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