It’s been a long wait for Dundee United fans but their first summer signing – probably the first of many – has been made. Courier Sport has done a bit of homework on Ray McKinnon’s new recruit. So who is Stewart Murdoch?
He’s a 26-year-old midfielder who was released by Ross County one year into a two-year contract. He is one of many who have come through the ranks at Falkirk in recent times.
It doesn’t look like it worked out for him in the Highlands?
You wouldn’t call it a full-on failure because Murdoch started 14 games for the Staggies and came off the bench 15 times. So he was in and about the first team pretty much all the time he was fit. The fact that Jim McIntyre has let him go a year early would suggest he was going to fall down the pecking order at County in the new season though.
What was his highpoint in the 12 months up north?
Scoring an equaliser at Celtic Park in a 1-1 draw in April would probably take some beating, I dare say.
There seems to be about 10 different types of midfielders these days. What category does Murdoch drop into?
The good news for United fans is that he seems to be one of the old fashioned ones that can do a bit of everything. Ray McKinnon has mentioned his ball-winning ability and when he signed for Fleetwood, Murdoch’s box-to-box runs were highlighted by their manager Graham Alexander. “We’ve seen the power he has and the way he can pass a ball and he ticks all the boxes,” was one of Alexander’s quotes. Seven goals in eighty-odd appearances for Falkirk isn’t the worst return for a midfielder either.
Sounds like a replacement for Paul Paton?
This will be a vastly different United side by the time McKinnon is finished so it’s maybe not fair to call him a replacement for anybody but, yes, he does seem to be in the Paton mould. He’s McKinnon’s first signing and an all-action central midfielder is the type of player you build a team around.
Any particular reason for United fans remembering him?
There is one actually. Murdoch scored the winning penalty for Falkirk in a League Cup quarter-final against United at Tannadice back in 2011.
Is there anything else we should read into this signing as far as the type of player McKinnon will be looking to recruit over the next few weeks?
I think you’ll see a few of the same boxes ticked. Championship experience, desire to prove themselves, mid to late-20s in age and well-schooled technically. United need a team with plenty of course and distance performers and Murdoch won’t be the last of those.
