Fred Murray

Frederick Anthony "Fred" Murray (born 22 May 1982, Clonmel, County Tipperary) is an Irish footballer currently without a club.

Murray played his youth football at Belvedere before going abroad. Murray began his career as a trainee at Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, though he never made a first-team appearance. An initial loan period at Second Division club Cambridge United was turned permanent in March 2002, as the U's signed Murray on a free transfer from Blackburn. Murray's three seasons at the club, in which he made over 100 appearances, saw Cambridge relegated to the Third Division.

He signed a three-year contract for League Two side Northampton Town for an undisclosed fee in July 2004, but his tenure at the club was blighted by serious injuries, including an infected Achilles tendon. In both the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, Murray did not play a single minute of football. He was released in May 2007, but was invited to still train with the club.

After an unsuccessful trial with Leyton Orient, Murray joined Conference Premier side Stafford Rangers on 28 August 2007, making his debut in a 2–1 defeat at Oxford United. He then joined Peter Taylor's Stevenage Borough team on a short-term contract in the January 2008 transfer window, and narrowly missed out on a place in the Conference play-offs. After his release from Stevenage, he trained with League Two side Exeter City before signing for them, once more on a short-term deal. He left Exeter on 8 May 2009, after just 6 appearances for the club.

At the start of the 2009–10 season, Murray signed for Grays Athletic along with eight other players. After a change in management at Grays, Murray left the club less than a week after joining them, signing for Luton Town on a six-month loan deal on 11 August 2009. He made his debut for Luton on the same day, in a 4–1 home victory over Manfield Town. On 13 January 2010, with his loan deal expired, Murray signed an 18-month contract with Luton.

Murray continued to be a regular fixture at left-back for Luton, though he missed parts of the 2010–11 season due to injury, including Luton's penalty shootout loss to AFC Wimbledon in the Conference Premier play-off final.

On 12 July 2011, he signed a new contract with the club. On 10 November 2011, Murray was deregistered as a Luton player to allow him to focus on recovering from a serious knee injury which had seen him take no part in Luton's 2011–12 season. The club signed Darlington defender Greg Taylor as a replacement. In July 2012, Luton manager Paul Buckle confirmed that Murray had left the club.