Glenn Murray Makes Move To Brighton

Last updated : 25 January 2008 By Thetashkentterror
Glenn Murray in Rochdale colours
Heads are spinning all round Cumbria this afternoon at the news that Brighton have finally snapped up long term target Glenn Murray for a club record fee of £300,000. United themselves though have a currently undisclosed sell-on clause after selling the 24-year old to Rochdale for a fee believed to be around the £30,000 mark back in January 2007.

Whether the Albion are getting value for money or not on a player who has seemingly seen his valuation go up ten-fold in the space of twelve months is certainly open to question. Murray has scored 26 times though in 56 starts, plus four substitute appearances (including his initial loan spell) at Spotland, although all those games came in League Two and it remains to be seen if the Maryport-born striker can get anywhere near that tally back in League One.

However Brighton are certainly pleased with the capture of Murray with their chairman Dick Knight telling his club's official website :

""We fixed our sights on Glenn a year ago and Barry Lloyd and our scouts have watched him regularly since. After weeks of negotiations, we're delighted to have clinched this deal. Rochdale - in the middle of their most successful season for a long time - were extremely reluctant to sell, but we were persistent and I'm glad that persistence has paid off.

"Along with Steve Thomson, Glenn is of the quality we are determined to bring in and I am delighted he has agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the club. We have secured the services of an exciting young player with tremendous potential. This signing underlines the ambition of the Board for the Albion to get back to the Championship as soon as possible."


Maryport-born Glenn made his move down to Spotland from Cumbria a permanent one in January 2007 after spending two and a half months on loan with the 'Dale, the striker making 12 starts and scoring four goals for the League Two strugglers in that temporary spell. Murray found first-team opportunities limited at Carlisle since joining the club in December 2004 from Barrow, following a successful trial period at Brunton Park.

That becoming the case even more so in the 2005-06 season due to the flying form of Karl Hawley and Michael Bridges upfront. Glenn left United and moved to the 'Dale after only making eleven starts, along with a mammoth 47 as a substitute for the Blues, scoring just six goals along the way.

As a local lad the 24-year old striker started his career at Workington AFC, then moving to Wilmington Hammerheads in the US after regularly hitting the back of the net with the Reds. His stay in the States didn't last long though and he moved back to Cumbria to join Barrow in October 2004, where he scored nine goals in nine games, before then United boss Paul Simpson decided to take him on trial at Brunton Park.

Glenn moved to Stockport County on a temporary basis at the start of August 2006 and made 11 starts for the League Two club, scoring three goals in the process before his two-month loan spell ended. Two of those goals coming in a 2-1 win at home to Bristol Rovers on the 3rd of September 2006, Murray's other goal coming in a 1-1 draw against Accrington Stanley at Edgeley Park four games into the season.