EXCLUSIVE: ‘Mr Sunderland’ Sir Bob Murray opens up on being a Yorkshire Ripper suspect, a human shield for Mrs Thatcher and the man who built the Stadium of Light

• Sir Bob Murray was Sunderland owner for 20 years before selling in 2006 
• Murray built the Stadium of Light and delivered Wembley Stadium to the FA
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’

You do not live a life like Sir Bob Murray’s without collecting a few nicknames.

To some, he is ‘Mr Sunderland’ after 20 years spent as their owner. To others, he is ‘Bob the Builder’, the man who built the Stadium of Light and Academy of Light as well as delivering Wembley Stadium and St George’s Park for the FA.

This 77-year-old from the County Durham town of Consett has been busy, even entering the cockney rhyming vocabulary of London cabbies who say ‘in a Bob Murray’ to mean ‘in a hurry’.

To West Yorkshire Police in 1979, however, he had another nickname. To the coppers who interviewed him three times, he was ‘the Yorkshire Ripper suspect’. Murray managed to stay schtum on this subject for more than 40 years. Until now.

‘I was already courting with my now-wife Sue but imagine trying to pull girls in Yorkshire if you had a Wearside accent… Jesus Christ,’ Murray tells Mail Sport. ‘At the time, there was fear. The police were useless. They had so many chances to get him. Then this idiot came on from Wearside…’

Sir Bob Murray became known as Mr Sunderland after spending 20 years as the club’s owner

Murray opened up on being interviewed three times by police as a Yorkshire Ripper suspect

As Sunderland owner Murray was the man to build the Stadium of Light and Academy of Light

Your browser does not support iframes.

That ‘idiot’ was John Samuel Humble, the imposter who sent a hoax recording pretending to be the Ripper. Murray continues: ‘I was a 32-year-old male, with the accent, living and working in West Yorkshire, with a hammer in my car boot! My dad gave me the hammer in case I needed to change a tyre.’

That became an ‘item of significant interest’ to investigators as Murray adds: ‘I managed to keep the hammer. It had sentimental value. Even though you’re innocent, you feel it, being accused.

‘I didn’t get put in a cell. But I got three “sessions”. And I knew it was my Aunty Sylvia who shopped me in!’

Murray still suspects it was his dear old aunt who tipped off the police as the last officers who visited were from Sheffield, where she lived. It was ‘intense’ until Peter Sutcliffe was caught in 1981, but this is one of many illuminating stories that this fascinating man of football has accumulated in his time.

Murray is now releasing a long-awaited autobiography called I’d Do It All Again and we meet the day before Newcastle United take on Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park. One repressive state defeating the other 4-1, as our chief writer Oliver Holt coined on social media, and Murray says sportswashing is a stain on the game with clubs selling their souls.

‘They’re a great club but I don’t think they “get it” at the moment,’ he says of Newcastle. ‘Maybe they’ve got an inkling because the (Saudi Arabia) national team played there. I don’t know if they thought they would fill it. There were 4,000 there or something. And yet, Sunderland, we host the Lionesses.

‘There were 41,000 there for that 2-1 win over Scotland. I don’t think the other club’s country likes ladies driving cars or whatever. I’m not an expert on that. But I worry. The change of ownership on that scale is capable of changing the fabric of the game.

‘In the North East, we’ve got three types of owners: Steve Gibson (at Middlesbrough) who is a traditional; a brilliant, local, generous gentleman. We’ve got our owner (Kyril Louis-Dreyfus at Sunderland) who’s modern; knows what he’s doing, cares and is international. And then we’ve got a state. It’s out of control, isn’t it?’

Murray believes sportswashing is a stain on the game, reflecting on teams like Newcastle and PSG being sold to repressive states in pursuit of success on the field

Newcastle hosted Saudi Arabia’s national team in two friendly matches last month

The Stadium of Light welcomed 41,000 fans as England’s women beat Scotland last month

Murray sold Sunderland for a pittance compared to what he put into the club, taking home £5.2million in 2006. Before departing, he set up the Foundation of Light, the club charity which will receive every penny made from his book.

‘Money is important to me, but not that important,’ he says. ‘I sold it for £10m and I got £5.2m because I owned 52 per cent. Clubs like West Brom went for £180m! I can hold my head high because I left it in a better condition than I took it on.’

Our talk turns to St George’s Park and a story involving Prince William and his wife Kate. They attended its unveiling in October 2012 and the heir to the throne asked Murray how he landed on this quintessentially English name for the training base.

‘I said, “Sir, for King and Country”,’ he explains. ‘I was allowed that privilege because of what I’d done. It’s a national name, George Cross. And coincidentally…’ Nine months later, Kate gave birth to their first born. They named him George. Murray smiles: ‘As the diary proves! Some coincidence, that, isn’t it!’

Murray rubbed shoulders with some of football’s biggest names. There is Brian Clough, who he adored, even when he was barking tactical orders at Peter Reid as a guest in the Sunderland directors’ box, and John Motson, whom he gifted a miner’s Davy lamp for his first commentary at the Stadium of Light. Murray used to invite referees up to the boardroom for ham and pease pudding stotties after games until their rivals claimed it was akin to bribery. But Margaret Thatcher takes a kicking in his new book as Murray describes her as ‘cold’, ‘calculating’ and ‘inhumane’. Chuckling, he says: ‘I think that’s understated. I had it cut down by the lawyers. I put much worse in originally!

‘I’m really proud to come from the North East. And I’m proud of my working-class background. I saw her close the mines, close the shipyards, close the ironworks. That was her hat-trick. I saw the crumbs off the table the North East got to compensate.’

And yet, he acted as a human shield when Thatcher visited his Spring Ram kitchen business once upon a time. Murray produces a picture of him and her walking side by side. He is on her left, slightly elevated, explaining that her private security positioned him in case a sniper was hiding in the hills amid the threat from the IRA.

‘Muggins here!’ says Murray. ‘Plus she’s clocked our kitchens and said, “Mr Murray, my daughter, Carol, needs a kitchen and she lives in Fulham” but we are retailers and we buy at trade so can I do a deal?’

Sepp Blatter visited St George’s Park after its grand opening and Murray struggles to hide his disdain for the former FIFA president as well, joking about him also wanting a kitchen: ‘He’d want it for free, wouldn’t he?’

Returning to Sunderland, who are now trying to escape the Championship, Murray says: ‘They’re back on track. They keep it affordable, accessible, they’re 100 per cent behind me at the Beacon (the club charity’s headquarters). They get it. They’ll get there (to the Premier League).

Murray was also responsible for helping to deliver St George’s Park for the Football Association

Murray, who sold Sunderland for £5.2million in 2006, believes the club are back on track

Sir Bob Murray greeted the Countess of Wessex in 2021 at a Gala dinner event to raise money for the Foundation of Light, an organisation he founded before leaving Sunderland

‘I don’t know what somebody is doing with my game in the meantime, that’s the problem. There’s nobody in charge of the zoo.

‘I’ve got no axe to grind with Newcastle. But them playing the national team there is a signal. I love my club at the moment.’

A wonderfully warm man, Murray shows genuine interest in me being a Hartlepool fan, hoping I will accept an invite for a beer at Sunderland sometime soon regardless.

We finish by discussing his addiction to running in his younger years. ‘It was a drug,’ Murray says. ‘If I didn’t run 80 miles a week, I’d feel guilty. I’d run around the streets at night. Not with a hammer though!’

Sir Bob Murray’s book I’d Do It All Again is out, with proceeds going to the Foundation of Light. Go to www.sirbobmurraybook.com

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify

Your browser does not support iframes.

Source: Read Full Article