Ian Murray has revealed he was “stunned” to be sacked by Raith Rovers last month.
The Championship club announced the decision on Sunday 4 August in the wake of a 1-0 defeat away to Airdrie on the opening day of the season.
Rovers said Murray had been relieved of his duties due to “results and performances since the turn of the year having fallen short of expectations”.
The former Hibernian and Rangers player led the Kirkcaldy side to a second place finish in the Championship last season, before entering a play-off final against Ross County which saw Rovers miss out on a return to the top flight for the first time in 27 years.
Murray says he felt he could have taken the club a step further this term before his reign was abruptly halted after just over two years at the helm.
Club Statement: Ian Murray
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) August 4, 2024
Raith Rovers Football Club can confirm it has parted company with First Team Manager Ian Murray.
The board expresses its gratitude to Ian for his contributions since joining the club in May 2022.
Full statement: https://t.co/mpHcvqBvB0 pic.twitter.com/iu0sosETMH
In a statement given to the PA news agency, the 43-year-old said: “From the moment I arrived at Stark’s Park in May 2022, I had a good feeling about the club. The staff and supporters welcomed me and made me feel at home.
“From consolidation in the Championship, a cup final and a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers in my first season to beaten finalists in last season’s play-off final with 20 wins from 36 matches, I felt we were making good progress.
“The board were so impressed by the progression, and I was delighted to accept a three-year extension to my contract in December 2023.
“This season I was also pleased to secure the signing of some good players and had other signing targets that I had discussed internally, therefore I was quietly confident that we could go one better than last season’s achievement and secure promotion to the Premiership.
“I was stunned when I received a short telephone call from [chief executive] Andrew Barrowman on the Sunday morning after the Airdrie match telling me my contract was being terminated.
(Image: Paul Devlin - SNS Group)
“I told him I totally disagreed with this decision. But I’ve been in the game long enough to know that despite my record, nothing should surprise you in football.
“We all move on and I thank the staff and the team for their sterling efforts throughout the past two years. The players’ work ethic, honesty and willingness to adapt made my job rewarding.
“The unwavering support from my staff and their individual input helped me greatly and I cannot thank them enough.
“Finally, I would like to thank the supporters who got behind the team through thick and thin.
“They gave me so many memories that I will treasure forever culminating in the emotional standing ovation they gave us in Dingwall after the match.
“After the enforced break I’m ready to start again as I’m missing the day-to-day involvement in football. Thank you.”
Raith Rovers – who have lost two of their three matches since sacking Murray – are still searching for a new permanent manager, with a move to appoint former Northern Ireland international David Healy having fallen through.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel