West Brom appoint Adam Murray as assistant boss
Adam Murray has been confirmed as Albion's new assistant manager after the club paid compensation to land him from Barnsley.
Last week Valerien Ismael was appointed the Baggies new head coach after the club agreed to pay the Tykes £2million in compensation.
And now Barnsley have been raided yet again with Birmingham-born Murray also leaving Oakwell for The Hawthorns as well as sport science coach, Jonny Northeast, and video analyst, Jack Riley.
“I think we built a really strong relationship as human beings, as well as staff, over the past few months,” Ismael said.
“The desire to work together and stay together was really strong. That’s a must-have quality in our staff.
“They are dedicated to the principles of how we want to play. They are young and hungry, and I’m really delighted to have the three guys on board.”
Murray became the youngest manager in the top four divisions of English football when he was appointed Mansfield boss back in 2014.
He joined Barnsley as a coach in 2019 and has had two spells as interim boss of the Tykes.
“In this industry I think it’s really difficult to find people who you are on the same wavelength as; who trust you, and that you trust," he said.
“We hit it off straight away at Barnsley and, as the season went on, our ideas were the same.
"It clicked and as soon as he said there might be a chance to join him – though I’ve had some good years at Barnsley – it was an opportunity that was too good to turn down.
“I think when you meet someone and you know that it’s right, whether that be in your career or your personal life, I think it’s important to be around those people. People who know what you can offer.
“He (Ismael) has got a lot of strengths – he’s got things I can’t do, and I’ve got things that he can’t do, which balances things out and I think it works really well.
“He will give this everything he’s got, and he’ll expect the same from the people around him.
"It was probably our biggest strength at Barnsley that we had a group of people who worked for each other.
"Together, we created a great working environment there and he drives it, which is huge.”
