The Curious Case of Glenn Murray

Article by Christian Frank

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Glenn Murray is a Crystal Palace fan favourite. Glenn Murray is a former Championship top-scorer. Glenn Murray is a loanee at Reading FC. So now the 30-year-old Englishman, who turns 31 at the end of September, has a point to prove. Reading fans waited with baited breath for the unveiling of a marquee signing on transfer deadline day after the hard-fought 1-0 away win at Middlesbrough the previous Saturday, and frustration grew as the deadline came and went without any announcement from the club and rumours spreading about deals going awry or being out of the club’s hands.

The deal was announced after the deadline, and did appear out of the club’s hands as it only appears to have come about as a result of former Royal’s star Kevin Doyle completed a loan move, for the same time period, to Palace. Murray is a combative striker with an eye for goal, and his success with the club in their promotion season has earned him a place in the hearts of most Eagles fans, his departure being met with much grinding of teeth in South East London.

Still, on the face of it, this is not the marquee signing that some fans wanted, or that manager Nigel Adkins was misinterpreted to be hinting at with his promises of late night struggles and pizza on deadline day, but Murray is a welcome option upfront to provide an alternative to the big Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak. The only danger for the burly frontman is a level of expectation that will greet a player who scored 30 in his last season at Championship level, catapulting Crystal Palace to the play-off final, which he missed due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the semi-final win against his old club Brighton. That acl injury was a serious and troublesome one; Murray missed 9 months of football as a result of his injury and since then has played 16 games, only scoring 1 goal.

Fans should not risk underestimating the impact of an Achilles injury; club captain Jem Karacan suffered similar damage (although to both his anterior and medial ligaments) last season, and everyone at Reading football club is aware of his long struggle in rehabilitation as a result of the injury. Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has made it clear in interview that he views this as a loan to give Murray game time, implying that Reading will be helping him get match fit during his time at the club, and that Palace would prefer to have him return to their squad in January when the deal expires. The nature of Doyle’s loan to the Eagles makes this appear all the more likely, and it is a situation fairly unfamiliar for the Royals to take a player on loan when the possibility of a future deal seems unlikely. On signing Murray was quick to say the loan is a move which has a view on a permanent deal, but his popularity at Palace leaves his situation a tricky one. Obviously Reading fans will hope that if Murray pleases in the blue and white hoops the chance to sign him in January will arise, or an extension of the loan will become possible, but it could be dangerous to hope for too much – if Murray goes above pleasing the crowds and steps into dazzling mode Palace will be much keener to hold on to the man. While it would be foolish to go so far as to hope for mediocrity from the frontman, I suggest that Royals fan should hope that he saves the best performances for post-January, after signing permanently for the club.

If Murray finds himself a place in Royals’ hearts as quickly as he did in the hearts of Palace fans then we have to hope that it is because he provides the focal point at the front of Nigel Adkins’ favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, much as the prolific Rickie Lambert did in his time at Southampton. However, if he proves another Billy Sharp – failing to impress during his loan – then at least the club did not take the £1million-plus gamble which many less frugal clubs would have risked. If we are to take the approach of sitting and waiting for our injured players to return before assessing the squad fully, at least this deal suits that decision by making no long-term commitments.

And no matter how much people felt let down by the failure to deliver on Adkin’s promise of an ‘active’ deadline day, at least Royston Drenthe has left the club, if only on loan until January!

So deadline day did not provide fireworks, but it did give Reading fans a new striker to discuss rather than the enigmatic Pogrebnyak, who will hopefully fire plenty of goals for the Royals as he finds his feet again in the second tier.

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