Wimbledon announce new boss

By Paul Holmes
June 25 2002

Wimbledon have announced their new boss as former goal-keeping coach Stuart Murdoch who took charge of the club at the end of last season in a caretaker role.

The appointment comes after the sacking of former boss Terry Burton and the shocking move of the club to Milton Keynes, which has angered thousands of fans who have formed AFC Wimbledon.

Murdoch was succesful in his caretaker role last season winning 4 out of 6 games but told the clubs official site he was shocked to recieve the job.

"I'm thrilled to be given this opportunity, it's something that I wasn't expecting.

"From the end of the season and the time that Terry Burton left I've met with the chairman regularly and discussed the position.

"At one stage the chairman said he was looking for someone with experience.

"I joked that my six games should be enough, but he didn't really comment at that stage and I'm really thankful to him for giving me this chance."

"We won four out of six when I did the job last season, but one was a 6-2 hammering at Grimsby, so I learned a lot in that time and I really enjoyed it.

"I've worked with the likes of Peter Taylor, Peter Shreeves, Glenn Roeder, Steve Harrison and then Terry Burton, and hopefully I've picked up a little bit from them all."

"But we've got a good squad here with a lot of talented youngsters.

"We proved how good we are by the way we played towards the end of last season.

"The players are back on 1 July and I'm really looking forward to the pre-season." Dons chairman Charles Koppel also spoke to the clubs offical site.

"Originally we were looking for a manager with a proven track record, and we had a lot of interest from managers at all levels of the game.

"The club is going through a period of change and we felt it was important for the players and staff to have continuity.

"Stuart has proven that he can step up to the mark as a manager."

"We believe Stuart can do a good job, he's made it clear from day one that he would relish the opportunity to manage the club and he's worked hard to put himself in contention."