Slightly random post but check this out...
http://www.soccerbase.com/managers2.sd?managerid=1452

How does this guy always manage to land a manager/assistant/coaching role ??

He's SHITE !!!

Worst EFFC manager in my time. Even (slightly) worse than Shannon in my opinion.

Totally agree - he was mince.

not old enough to remember the Murray years then????

Of course I remember Murray...
...Murray, Murray

Out, out, out !!

I was mascot when he was manager and he was screaming at the players to "get f**cking in about them" "we can beat these bastards" etc. Scary but at least motivating. Willie Brown came on to the pitch psyched-up like he was going to kill the first opposition player he saw hahah

My first game was in the mid-80's under Clarke but I was a toddler. The Murray years was when I first really fell in love with the club so although we were shite I still have really fond memories of that era (penalty shoot-out at Alloa on a Tuesday night, Dundee Utd home and away etc)

Was he really that bad ? Did we play not play any football at all? (I really can't remember - I'm asking seriously) I know that his era was that start of the big slide into the whipping boys of the lower leagues we all know and love now. I bet his team of Hope, Sludden, Brown etc would take 5 off this team though.

Under Gavin Murray we had the ability to attack like Brazilians and defend like Aberhill Primary. For every John Sludden and silky Dougie Hope, there was a Doug McCracken . When Dave Clark went, it was rumoured that Murray was only given the job because he had broken his leg (the only good thing that he did) and the club didn't want to pay compensation.

I still have not forgiven him for missing an open goal, in the last 10 minutes, against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup. Had he scored, that would have put us through 2-1.

In summary, he was about as much use as a Broon in boardroom

this is painful to try to summarise, but it went a bit like this:

under davie clarke, the club was going places. making solid progress. great squad of players, solid core of a team. clarke era came to a head with the 2-2 draw in the cup against premier division dundee, up at dens. it was really a game we should have won, but we were proud that night - we really looked the part (big support too)

after losing the replay on a dreadful night at bayview, clarke was tempted away to falkirk, then in the premier. at a stroke, his good work was undone by the appointment of murray as manager - a player who was long past his best, and frankly did not have it to cut it at the level east fife were playing at. he had become the weakest link in a team where hunter, blair and mcnaughton were streets ahead of him.

to this day, i cannot remember being much more shocked by football than i was the day i heard murray was the new manager. you would not have asked him to walk your dog. the popular rumour goes that east fife had failed to get him properly insured as a player, and when he broke his leg as a player, they could not pay him - so he was rewarded with the manager's job. i'm sure that's bollocks. it was just a bad decision. having taken a senior pro and turned him under a manager before (clarke), the board thought it could be done again. clarke needed time to make it work, and came good after four or five years. desperately, the board applied the same logic, and gave murray enough time to take us right back to square one

for a few weeks after murray took over, the team was able to tick over on its own, running itself. but when the next season started, and murray ran the show. the decline started. could not keep good players, and worse than that he signed appalling players. tactical awareness was non-existant, which came as a shock after clarke's shrewd approach. the football was awful. but it was far, far better than today

to murray's credit, there was one highlight - the cup tie with dundee united. that was the one occasion when he got the tactics spot on. the saturday after the replay, however, saw normal service resumed

and further to his credit - he tried, and seemed to care. unlike jimmy bone

anyone heard of murray since then?

Wasn't clarke's move to Falkirk fuelled by the fact
that We would't push for promotion to the top flight
as Jim Baxter would lose his seat on the board of the
SFA??

I just missed out on the Murray era, but I never tire of hearing the stories from it.

not true craig. in fact we missed out narrowly on promotion to the premier under baxter and clarke, with a strong late run

clarke's move to falkirk was a move to a bigger club, and a club in the premier division. he felt that he had taken east fife as far as he could - remember we were a part time club and would not have survived ten minutes in the premier. clarke earned more money at falkirk and was full-time

same rumour about baxter went round at the climax of the 83-84 promotion season, but we went up from the second division to the first

I was there during most of the sh#tty times, the end of the Murray era was like things are today, effin awful but have to agree.... Jimmy Bone was the worst ever manager we have had in the past 30 years, he was sh*t and he did not give a f>>k!!

Ah the Murray years .......How Murray had the brass neck to stay in the job after the verbal abuse he used to suffer week after week, I will never know.

I remember a fan lying over the top of the concrete dug out (at old Bayview) looking in and shouting 'Get to **** murray' whilst Gav was sitting there frightened to come out.

Also the shouts of 'Taxi for Murray'

I also remember a time when Dougie McCracken made a clumbsy challenge and when the referee went to book him, we (the Fife fans) were shouting for him to be sent off.

These were the days .....

Was Bone fired or did he quit? I remember being glad to see the back of him and I thought Kirkie was going to be the new Archibald

Ah, Gavin Murray and Doug McCracken...those were the days. Remember us giving Murray so much abuse at Brechin when we were 4-1 down that he shed a tear (felt shame for that) and then coming but to draw 4-4!. Also, I remember when we took a bus to Stranraer complete with straw and carrots for waving at McCracken. We also wore home made donkey ears in his honor!....what a laugh!

Under Dave Clarke, we went to Brockville on the last day of the season with a highly unlikely mathematical possibility of promotion to the Premier league - needing to win 8-0 or something we drew 2-2.

I was told of Murrays appointment by the sons of then Raith Manager Bobby Wilson who lived across the road from us.

They told me "Murrays your new manager" my honest reply was "Murray who?"

We had to win that game at Brockville 6-0 to go up. It was an amazing match. Every East Fife was singing long after the final whistle.

the other problem with murray getting the manager's job, as well as him being useless, was that none of the senior players had an ounce of respect for him. some of them felt insulted that he was to tell THEM to play. this was obviously something the board had not considered. there was utter silence in the dressing room when the announcement of his appointment was made

surprise surprise, east fife were then relegated at the first time of asking

i still have the fanzine. a picture of John McCarthy on the cover with the words: "Out before Murray - who'd have believed it?"

jIMMY BONE fat useless c*nt and his assistant pat mcauley looked like the toon drunk purged some good players and replaced with junior laddies oot there depth

Murray was, in all probability, out of his depth as a manager and the rumours of the reason for his appointment were not without foundation.
Why the board continued to support his position adds weight to the theory. They also threw unprecedented sums of money into the kitty. John Sludden was signed for £70,000 from Kilmarnock, Joe McBride was given a £20k signing on fee. We had the likes of Charles, Beaton and Willie Brown in the team that season and still failed to win promotion! Alex Totten stated when he took over from Gavin Murray that it was common knowledge that we were simply not fit last ninety minutes.
Jimmy Bone, on the other hand, inherited a side in utter chaos after Archibald's departure. It was quite obvious that Danskin had written off the season by September and was forced to work with youth team players and the remnants of the promotion winning squad from the previous season (Scott, Dwarika, Donaghy, Beaton etc) who couldn't get away fast enough...

i mwouldn't say that "in all probability" murray was out of his depth as a manager. he was in charge for six years and achived zero - concrete proof that he was not a manager. add to that the fact that he has never worked in football since then. it's not probability, it is hard fact

disagree about bone inheriting a squad in chaos. the week he took over, east fife beat a very strong falkirk side 3-1. and it wasn't just the nature of relegation that hurt, it was the sheer capitulation. he did not have a clue. another manager who has never been trusted with a hot seat since then. now makes a living from bumping from club to club as an assistant

Murray was given resources few East Fife managers had had before or since. There were some really good players at the club the season Angus mentions (91-92?) and what with Scotty up front with Sludden they got about 45 goals between them. Any half decent manager would have had that team promoted by the end of March. Unfortunately we did not have a half decent manager.

To be fair though, Bone was a fine player in his day.