Brighton & Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray believes that he shares a special and unique relationship with the football club.
The forward netted his 100th Albion goal in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Wolves at the Amex Stadium, and he insisted that both his and the club’s near-symmetrical progression through the divisions have heightened the bond he shares with the Seagulls.
He said, “I spent a little bit of time away from the club, but we’ve never progressed without each other, we started in League One and we’ve managed to get in the Premier League together.
“Ever since my first goal against Crewe Alexandra in 2008, both me and the club have come a really long way - it seems to have almost gone hand in hand.
“I still remember the goal - Nicky Forster flicked it on and I hit it on the volley and caught it sweetly. We did a ring-a-ring-a-roses celebration – I think Guy Butters made us do that, I wasn’t going to say no to him when I was a new guy at the club!
“It’s fantastic but all relevant – me scoring my first goal that day at the Withdean Stadium means just as much because back then the move to the club was a big one for me.
“I hit the ground running and got two on my home debut, so it was massive and just as big as the 100th strike.”
Murray’s landmark goal at the weekend came when he latched onto an effort from Bruno, steering the ball past Rui Patricio and into the net to give Albion a third 1-0 victory in succession.
This season’s leading scorer praised the professionalism and work ethic of his Spanish teammate, citing him as an inspiration.
“I’ve got a very good peer in front of me in him [Bruno] and he’s someone I really look up to.
“I try to emulate him and have watched him since I returned to the club and he’s fantastic, day in day out he does things properly and he trains and plays hard.
“He’s got good quality and gives me hope that I can do what he’s doing and carry on for as long as possible at this level."
Albion have taken maximum points from their last three Premier League matches, moving them up to 11th in the table in the process - Murray believes that the side’s recent success has been courtesy of solid foundations.
“This run was always going to be important and maybe some people questioned the start we made to the season – but we sit down as a group and we looked at the fixtures.
“We knew it was a tough start, but the win over Manchester United took the pressure off us somewhat – we pushed Liverpool hard and I think we did well at the Etihad too because they [Manchester City] didn’t run away with the match.
“We earmarked West Ham at home as being a big one for us, we got three points there and then got another big win against a rival in Newcastle United.
“We’ve gone back to last year’s basics which is keeping clean sheets – that’s what our success was built on. We know that if we can keep the back door closed then we always back ourselves to take chances.”
Fans can watch Glenn Murray's full reflections on Saturday's win over Wolves above on Seagulls TV - and fans can sign up to the service by clicking here.