Matt Murray

Matthew John "Matt" Murray (born May 2, 1981 in Solihull) is an England Football (soccer) who plays as a goalkeeper for Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. of the Football League Championship. His career has been severely hampered by injury.

Playing career

Murray, a youth trainee, spent several seasons of his early career out of contention through injury. He suffered a cruciate ligament knee injury just twenty minutes into a loan spell at Non-League football Kingstonian F.C. in October 2000.

He was promoted into Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.' first team on 31 August 2002 against Wimbledon F.C., deputising for the injured Michael Oakes, and then keeping his place through that season. The season ended with him producing a man-of-the-match performance in the 2003_Football_League_First_Division_playoff_final in May 2003, where he produced a number of vital saves to help the club win promotion to the Premier League, the pick being a second-half penalty save from Michael Brown (English footballer).

He followed this up by debuting for England national under-21 football team, against Slovakia national under-21 football team, before a foot fracture wrecked his second season. In the three years that followed the success of 2002-03 in English football, he only played seven games for Wolves due to a variety of injuries.

The goalkeeper next played in January 2005 but soon suffered another break to his foot, ruling him out for a further year. By March 2006 he was fit enough to be sent on loan to Tranmere Rovers F.C., but was called back to his parent club within a month because of possible injuries to other goalkeepers Stefan Postma and Michael Oakes.

He started his first game for Wolves in almost sixteen months on the final day of the season at Norwich City F.C., and managed to retain his place at the beginning of the 2006-07 in English football, where he was largely acredited with Wolves' impressive start to the season, due to a catalogue of good performances allowing for five of their first seven games to end 1–0.

Due to Murray's excellent form during the season he was rewarded with a new three-and-a-half year contract in December 2006, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2009/10 season; the same month also saw him received the PFA Championship Player of the Month award. At the end of the season, he was named in the PFA_Team_of_the_Year Championship_2 at the 2006–07 PFA Awards dinner and also voted the PFA_Fans'_Player_of_the_Year 2007 for the division. He was also voted Wolves' Player of the Season as they reached the play-offs.

However, the 2006-07 in English football ended on a sour note as he broke his shoulder on the eve of his club's vital play-off game. After spending the summer recouperating from this injury, he suffered another setback from a cruciate knee injury in pre-season training. He underwent two operations for this, and missed the whole of the 2007-08 in English football while undergoing rehabilitation with the aim of returning for the new season.

International career

Murray has represented England five times at England national under-21 football team. He may also be eligible to play for Nigeria national football team, through his biological father. However, this has not been confirmed by the footballing authorities.