Revealed: How Albion tracked Murray
By Andy Naylor
Comment
Barry Lloyd has revealed how a warm-up at Macclesfield was enough to convince him of the talent of Albion's new goal hope Glenn Murray.
Lloyd, the Seagulls' chief scout and former boss, went to see for himself the young striker he had received encouraging reports about when Rochdale visited Moss Rose at the end of December What he saw, both before and during a 2-2 draw in which Murray grabbed a late equaliser, persuaded him that Albion should swoop for the 24-year-old during the January transfer window.
Lloyd revealed: "I was almost convinced by the end of the warm-up.
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"I like to get to games to see players in the warm-up.
"You can almost tell then whether they have got the enthusiasm and first touch you are looking for, whether everything connects completely.
"Halfway through the warm-up I had a really good feeling that this lad was going to tick a few boxes and he didn't disasppoint.
"I saw him play and I wanted to put him in the car and bring him straight back down with me!
"It was his general play, the way he moved, the way he recognised things very early.
"From that moment on I discussed it with Dean (manager Dean Wilkins) and Dick (chairman Dick Knight) and it was a serious goer."
The origins of Murray's £300,000 move last month - the biggest fee forked out by Albion for 25 years - can be traced back to September and Lloyd's first few weeks in the post which brought him back to the club after a 14-year gap.
His first task was to re-establish a scouting network.
Lloyd made contact with Graham Bishop in Sheffield and Pat Lynch in Blackburn, scouts Albion had used before but who had become neglected in the absence of a proper set-up.
Lloyd asked if there were any players they had compiled reports on which had not been followed up. Bishop sent down copies of reports on half a dozen, including Murray.
That alerted Lloyd. He asked around and discovered that Martin Hinshelwood, his assistant when he was Albion manager and now the club's director of football, watched Murray last season.
"Martin gave him the nod," Lloyd said. "I sent the guys back into Rochdale to watch him, had decent reports back and then I went up there.
"I went back and watched him against Lincoln a couple of weeks later, then I sent Pat Lynch to give an independent view, because he hadn't seen him.
"Pat rang me up straight after the game and said what ever you do, buy him', which was quite nice.
"I sent Graham again as well. He rung me up and said the place was absolutely packed with scouts. They took Glenn off and then all the scouts left!
"It then came down to the valuation and Dick and I talked on more than one occasion, because it was a lot of money to us and we didn't know at that stage that we were going to get money back from fees for Dean Hammond, Alex Revell and Nathan Elder.
"It was a commitment. As far as we were concerned nobody was leaving us and we were going to bring one or two in.
"I was really quite pleased that we managed to get him on board."
Murray was destined for the south coast, even when Rochdale manager Keith Hill suggested in his desperation to hold onto his atttacking spearhead that the Cumbrian-born marksman would be reluctant to move the length of the country.
"It is funny how things work out," Lloyd said. "When I looked into Glenn's history I realised he played out in America for a pal of mine, based in Los Angeles.
"I rang him and he gave an indication of the lad's character. We had to determine whether or not Glenn was prepared to come south.
"When we put the first bid in there was a lot of stuff on the website and in the papers that he was a northern lad and wouldn't want to come.
"Through my pal in the States we touched base. We didn't talk to him, just touched base, and he gave us really positive signs that he would be interested in talking."
7:51pm today
By Andy Naylor
Comment
Barry Lloyd has revealed how a warm-up at Macclesfield was enough to convince him of the talent of Albion's new goal hope Glenn Murray.
Lloyd, the Seagulls' chief scout and former boss, went to see for himself the young striker he had received encouraging reports about when Rochdale visited Moss Rose at the end of December What he saw, both before and during a 2-2 draw in which Murray grabbed a late equaliser, persuaded him that Albion should swoop for the 24-year-old during the January transfer window.
Lloyd revealed: "I was almost convinced by the end of the warm-up.
advertisement
"I like to get to games to see players in the warm-up.
"You can almost tell then whether they have got the enthusiasm and first touch you are looking for, whether everything connects completely.
"Halfway through the warm-up I had a really good feeling that this lad was going to tick a few boxes and he didn't disasppoint.
"I saw him play and I wanted to put him in the car and bring him straight back down with me!
"It was his general play, the way he moved, the way he recognised things very early.
"From that moment on I discussed it with Dean (manager Dean Wilkins) and Dick (chairman Dick Knight) and it was a serious goer."
The origins of Murray's £300,000 move last month - the biggest fee forked out by Albion for 25 years - can be traced back to September and Lloyd's first few weeks in the post which brought him back to the club after a 14-year gap.
His first task was to re-establish a scouting network.
Lloyd made contact with Graham Bishop in Sheffield and Pat Lynch in Blackburn, scouts Albion had used before but who had become neglected in the absence of a proper set-up.
Lloyd asked if there were any players they had compiled reports on which had not been followed up. Bishop sent down copies of reports on half a dozen, including Murray.
That alerted Lloyd. He asked around and discovered that Martin Hinshelwood, his assistant when he was Albion manager and now the club's director of football, watched Murray last season.
"Martin gave him the nod," Lloyd said. "I sent the guys back into Rochdale to watch him, had decent reports back and then I went up there.
"I went back and watched him against Lincoln a couple of weeks later, then I sent Pat Lynch to give an independent view, because he hadn't seen him.
"Pat rang me up straight after the game and said what ever you do, buy him', which was quite nice.
"I sent Graham again as well. He rung me up and said the place was absolutely packed with scouts. They took Glenn off and then all the scouts left!
"It then came down to the valuation and Dick and I talked on more than one occasion, because it was a lot of money to us and we didn't know at that stage that we were going to get money back from fees for Dean Hammond, Alex Revell and Nathan Elder.
"It was a commitment. As far as we were concerned nobody was leaving us and we were going to bring one or two in.
"I was really quite pleased that we managed to get him on board."
Murray was destined for the south coast, even when Rochdale manager Keith Hill suggested in his desperation to hold onto his atttacking spearhead that the Cumbrian-born marksman would be reluctant to move the length of the country.
"It is funny how things work out," Lloyd said. "When I looked into Glenn's history I realised he played out in America for a pal of mine, based in Los Angeles.
"I rang him and he gave an indication of the lad's character. We had to determine whether or not Glenn was prepared to come south.
"When we put the first bid in there was a lot of stuff on the website and in the papers that he was a northern lad and wouldn't want to come.
"Through my pal in the States we touched base. We didn't talk to him, just touched base, and he gave us really positive signs that he would be interested in talking."
7:51pm today
