Ian Murray

Ian William Murray (born 20 March 1981) is a Scottish football player and coach, who is the manager of Scottish Championship club Raith Rovers.

During his playing career, Murray represented Hibernian, Alloa Athletic (on loan), Rangers and Norwich City.

Born in Edinburgh, Murray made his debut for Hibernian against Dundee Utd on 22 January 2000 and he scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance, a 4–1 win against Dunfermline.

He also played for Scotland in six full internationals between 2002 and 2006.

His versatility meant that he was deployed in a variety of roles in his career, including centre back, full back and midfielder.

Murray stated that he preferred to play at centre back or central midfield.

He missed most of the 2003–04 season due to a knee injury.

Murray started his career with Hibs, and captained the club during the 2004–05 season.

After returning from injury, he was made captain of Hibs in the 2004–05 season and formed a defensive partnership with Gary Caldwell.

He signed for Rangers under freedom of contract in 2005, but he was troubled with injuries during his time at Ibrox club and was eventually diagnosed with a form of arthritis.

Murray joined Rangers on a Bosman free transfer in the summer of 2005, but injuries troubled him during his time at the club.

It was eventually diagnosed that he was suffering from reactive arthritis.

His return to the team against Motherwell was manager Paul Le Guen's last match in charge.

He was released by Rangers in August 2007 and signed for Norwich City, but fell out of favour there after a managerial change.

Murray signed for Norwich City following his release by Rangers in August 2007.

He made his Norwich debut against Hull City two days later, but he had a difficult start to his Norwich career due to illness.

He was substituted at half-time in a League Cup tie at Rochdale after a dreadful performance, with Norwich manager Peter Grant admitting afterwards that he should not have played Murray as the player was unwell.

His health problems continued as he was ruled out of subsequent matches.

Grant left the club in October 2007, and Murray failed to establish himself in the Norwich first team under new boss Glenn Roeder.

In an interview given after his departure, Murray said of Roeder, "It was the first time in my life I felt like chucking it during a game, a lot of the players felt that way. He's an angry man, not nice to play for."

After leaving Norwich, Murray moved back to his first club, Hibernian, on a contract until the end of the 2007–08 season; he subsequently signed a deal to keep him at the club until 2010.

He returned to Hibs in January 2008, and was made vice captain of the team in July 2009.

He was a candidate for the Hibs captaincy after Rob Jones left for Scunthorpe United in the summer of 2009.

New manager John Hughes decided to give the armband to Chris Hogg, with Murray serving as vice captain.

Midway through the 2009–10 season, Hibs opened contract talks with Murray, whose contract was due to expire in the summer of 2010.

At the same time, he started coaching East of Scotland Football League club Coldstream on a part-time basis.

A two-year contract extension was agreed in February 2010.

Murray spent the majority of his second spell at Hibs as a left back, although manager Colin Calderwood used him as a defensive midfielder to good effect as Hibs won 3–0 against Rangers in November 2010.

The Daily Record newspaper commented that Murray showed leadership qualities which had been previously lacking in a struggling Hibs side.

He was appointed captain, on a temporary basis until the end of the season, when Chris Hogg was released by the club.

Murray was awarded a testimonial by Hibs in the 2011–12 season.

He played regularly in the early part of the season, but appeared infrequently after suffering an injured hip.

Murray left Hibs in May 2012 and was appointed player/manager of Dumbarton later that year.

He left Hibs in May 2012, at the end of his contract.

Over his two spells at the club he made 296 appearances in all competitions, scoring 17 goals.

After leaving Hibs, Murray had a trial spell with American club Tampa Bay Rowdies.

After two and a half years in charge of Dumbarton, he was appointed manager of St Mirren on 22 May 2015.

He resigned from this position in December 2015.

After a spell coaching in Norway, Murray was appointed Airdrieonians manager in October 2018.

Murray held this position until May 2022, when he joined Raith Rovers.