JOE MURPHY ANSWERS the phone and opens with an apology.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I’m only just back from doing the school run and I had to go into Radio City Liverpool before that for this 20th anniversary thing.”
Murphy is referring to the 2000 Worthington Cup final. The last League Cup decider to be played at the old Wembley Stadium saw Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City run out 2-1 winners against John Aldridge’s Tranmere Rovers.
Joe Murphy made his Tranmere Rovers debut in October 1999. EMPICS Sport
EMPICS Sport
At 35, former Republic of Ireland striker David Kelly was the goalscorer for a Tranmere side who fielded a goalkeeper almost half his age. Joe Murphy, who was blameless for both of Matt Elliott’s goals for Leicester, remembers the day well.
“It’s nice to reminisce about it. Twenty years is a long time,” says a man who can now boast a professional career in English football that has spanned four different decades.
Murphy, who will turn 39 this year, lives in Liverpool with his wife (a Liverpudlian) and kids. Nowadays he plies his trade an hour down the road at Shrewsbury Town, who will host the Champions League holders and runaway Premier League leaders next weekend.
A Liverpool fan for as long as he can remember, Murphy watched their FA Cup win over Everton a fortnight ago from the stands at Anfield. Unbeknown to him at the time was the fact that he was scouting his club’s opponents in the next round.
A home tie against Jurgen Klopp’s side is the League One club’s reward for upsetting Bristol City in last Tuesday’s third-round replay. Murphy played his part by keeping a clean sheet in the 1-0 victory over the Championship outfit at New Meadow, with his spectacular first-half save to deny Josh Brownhill proving crucial.
It was another milestone occasion for a player who kickstarted his career with a run to the final of the adjacent English cup competition.
Murphy was the goalkeeper on the Ireland U16 team that defeated Italy to win the European Championship in 1998. Less than 18 months later, John Aldridge deemed him worthy of a first-team debut for Tranmere.
The young Dubliner made 27 appearances for the First Division (Championship) club during that 1999-2000 season, one of which came in front of 75,000 people at Wembley.
“When I came back from that U16 tournament with Ireland, my name had gotten a bit bigger, and there was the Irish connection at Tranmere as well with John Aldridge as manager and Kevin Sheedy as assistant,” Murphy recalls.
Martin O'Neill and John Aldridge outside Wembley ahead of the 2000 Worthington Cup final. PA Archive / PA Images
PA Archive / PA Images / PA Images
Matt Elliott heads Leicester City into a 1-0 lead. PA Archive / PA Images
PA Archive / PA Images / PA Images
“We didn’t start very well in the 1999-2000 season and then he [Aldridge] gave me my debut in the October. I had only turned 18 in the August so it was a bit of a whirlwind, but you just take it in your stride at that age, I suppose. Because I was so young, I probably didn’t take it all in.
“I was actually injured leading up to the final — I broke my collarbone in the quarter-final [against Middlesbrough] and I missed the two-legged semi-final [against Bolton Wanderers]. I wasn’t really expecting to play. But we played Newcastle in the FA Cup the week before and Aldo put me back in the team, so I kind of knew then that I’d be playing the following week.
“The final was a great experience, even though we didn’t get the right result. To play in a game like that at such a young age, at the old Wembley as well, was something special. As a kid, I ended up getting a lot of the plaudits but I really didn’t do very much.
“Aldo was a tough guy, a tough guy to play for, quite demanding and very vocal, but he seemed to like me. He gave me a big chance at a very young age.
“I look at goalies these days who are 20, 21, 22 and say ‘you’re getting on a bit now’, but they’re really not. That’s still very young for a goalkeeper. I just look at them from the perspective of how it happened for me. I was just very lucky to get those games so early in my career. That was an incredible couple of years, looking back.”
Now in his 21st season, Murphy has experienced all four tiers of league football in England. He was twice signed by Premier League clubs, moving from Tranmere to West Bromwich Albion in 2002, before Mick McCarthy brought him to Sunderland in 2006.
His time in the top-flight brought him just two appearances, but the first of those was particularly significant for a lad who dreamt of playing at Anfield.
While it wasn’t sufficient to prevent a West Brom defeat to Liverpool in September 2002, Murphy came off the bench in the 35th minute and saved a penalty from Michael Owen with his first touch as a Premier League player.
“I got a bit of luck,” he admits. “I went to West Brom and I hadn’t really been involved in many squads. Brian Jensen — who’s now my goalkeeping coach at Shrewsbury — had been the sub keeper, but he happened to be ill that day I ended up being on the bench. Russell Hoult was sent off and I came on to face the penalty.
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Michael Owen reacts after seeing his penalty saved by Joe Murphy. Mike Egerton / EMPICS Sport
Mike Egerton / EMPICS Sport / EMPICS Sport
Murphy clears the ball while under pressure from Owen later in the game. Mike Egerton / EMPICS Sport
Mike Egerton / EMPICS Sport / EMPICS Sport
“It was one of those where you don’t get to think about it. The gloves go on, straight into the game, I tried to guess the right way and luckily enough I did. Being a Liverpool fan, I got a few text messages afterwards saying ‘what the hell are you doing?’” he laughs.
“They went on to win the game but it’s a great highlight. There have been snippets like that one that I can look back on and really be proud of. Obviously I’d love to have had much more of them, but I’m glad of the ones I did have. Gerard Houllier was the Liverpool manager then and he came over to me after the game and said a few words, which was nice.”
And it wasn’t the first conversation he’d ever had with Houllier. Murphy explains: “After I had made about 15 or 20 appearances when I was at Tranmere, there was an approach from Liverpool.
“It was a strange situation because I had been hearing rumblings of it. Then I was nominated for a Young Sports Star of the Year award at home. It was on in the Burlington Hotel and Gerard Houllier was actually the guest speaker at the event.
“I’ll never forget it — my brother, who’s a massive Liverpool fan, dropped me off and I went in with my mam and dad. I was just pulled aside then by two burly gentlemen and there was Houllier all of a sudden. He just kind of shook my hand and said ‘whatever you’re reading is true, I’d like you to come to Liverpool’, and then he asked for my agent’s number.
“It was quite rushed, it was only a chat for a minute or two, but he was asked about it on stage later in the night. When I flew back to Tranmere the next day, John Aldridge wasn’t happy at all. I suppose it was kind of a tapping-up sort of situation.
‘What happened in the end was that Liverpool made an approach and offered some money, but Tranmere declined and nothing came from it.
“I get asked a lot if I have regrets about it because Liverpool is the team I’ve supported since I was a kid, but no, I don’t, not really. If it was meant to be it would have happened.
“I could have ended up spending three or four years at Liverpool and I might not have done anything and faded into the background. I’ve made good and bad decisions in my career, but I never like to have regrets and that’s definitely not one.”
Murphy pictured during his Premier League debut at Anfield. EMPICS Sport
EMPICS Sport
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier. EMPICS Sport
EMPICS Sport
Twelve months removed from his Premier League bow, Murphy was handed his senior international debut by Brian Kerr, who presided over the U16 European Championship triumph in which he was involved.
Murphy was introduced from the bench in a friendly against Turkey at Lansdowne Road that ended 2-2. There was a seven-year wait until Giovanni Trapattoni awarded him his second cap, which came at the RDS towards the end of a 3-0 friendly win over Algeria in 2010. Although he featured in several more squads, a third cap never materialised.
“A few more would have been great but Shay [Given] was one of the best in the world at the time. It was still just a pleasure to be involved in that set-up,” says Murphy, a winner of the FAI’s Player of the Year award at both U18 and U21 level.
“Was I international quality? I don’t know. When I was playing well I felt I deserved to be in the squad, but was I Premier League quality? Probably not.
“I certainly enjoyed every aspect of being around the Ireland set-up and being capped by my country at every level. Representing your country is an amazing thing to do.
“Nothing came from it in the end but there was an inkling about a coaching role recently. It’s something I’d love at some stage, to be involved with Ireland at any level.”
If there’s one event from his international career that necessitates an inclination to wonder what might have been, it’s the infamous November 2009 night in Paris. Murphy provided back-up to Shay Given as Ireland’s chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup was cruelly snatched away by the hand of Thierry Henry.
“To go to a World Cup would have been incredible,” he says. “I was actually sitting at the very end of the bench that night and there was a guy standing literally next to me with a monitor. Within 10 seconds I was looking at the incident with this guy and just screaming at the screen.
“The lads had done so well, it was there for the taking, and then the disappointment was huge. In the changing room afterwards there were a lot of tears but there was a lot of anger as well. We knew, the French team knew, everyone knew.
Murphy training with Ireland as Shay Given watches on. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Thierry Henry celebrates after the goal that sent France to the World Cup at Ireland's expense. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
“It would have been great to have been part of a tournament like that, the build-up and the kind of regimented nature of a World Cup. It’s something I would have loved but it was a bitter ending unfortunately.”
After his season at Sunderland, Murphy moved to Scunthorpe United, with whom he was twice promoted to the Championship while also being named in the League One Team of the Year at the end of both campaigns.
Stints with Coventry City and Huddersfield Town followed, and in 2016 he moved on to Bury. There, he was a member of a side that defied considerable off-the-field challenges.
With Murphy being included in the League Two Team of the Year, he and his team-mates achieved promotion by finishing second despite not receiving their wages for five months. The financial crisis ultimately led to the demise of the club.
“We had been paid late in the past and it was a bit of a strange club for that type of thing, but we were told this time that we wouldn’t be paid at all,” he says. “We had been on a great run but I think we lost three games on the bounce then and the atmosphere in the club and the changing room just took a massive dip.
“It’s League Two football, lads aren’t on much money anyway, but they’ve got mortgages and families. It just went from such a high to such a low in a very short space of time.
“There was meetings nearly every day, the manager was in tears, players couldn’t get into training because they couldn’t afford petrol… it was just unbelievable. We couldn’t train at the training ground because the hot water had been turned off.
“To keep it together the way we did, we just dug in. There was talk of going on strike because we were playing for nothing, but we somehow managed to just get over the line in terms of the promotion.
“It was bittersweet afterwards in the sense that I felt great for about an hour and then I just felt angry. It’s still so disappointing when I look back now. Memories of being promoted are brilliant, going off on a night-out with the lads or maybe having a trip away in the sun to celebrate, but those things just couldn’t happen. Even when we got our medals the following week it just didn’t seem right.
Murphy gathers the ball at the feet of Seamus Coleman while playing for Scunthorpe United against Everton. EMPICS Sport
EMPICS Sport
Promotion with Bury was a 'bittersweet' feeling. Anthony Devlin
Anthony Devlin
“It’s still ongoing now and we’re trying to get the PFA involved because people are owed a lot of money. It was a great season but it wasn’t worth it for the Bury fans to now be left in a position where they have no club at all. I’d rather have finished mid-table and have someone rescue the club so that those people, who have been Bury fans all their lives, would still have a club.”
The ideal scenario for Murphy would have been a return to League One as a Bury player, but Shrewsbury Town provided that opportunity instead. However, he has mostly had to be content with a supporting role due to the presence at the club of a young goalkeeper who may eventually emulate him by representing Ireland.
Max O’Leary, who received a senior call-up from Mick McCarthy last May, has been Shrewsbury’s first-choice stopper this season. Yet due to a combination of factors, Murphy has played in four of the club’s five fixtures in this FA Cup run.
O’Leary was absent through injury for the two first-round games against Bradford City, while the terms of his loan deal from Bristol City prohibited him from being involved in the 1-1 draw, and subsequent 1-0 win, against his parent club in the third round.
Having watched the elder custodian make a sizeable contribution to a result which secured a dream tie against Liverpool, will Shrewsbury manager Sam Ricketts encounter a dilemma when he selects his starting line-up for tomorrow week’s game? Not according to Murphy, who expects to resume the duties of a deputy.
“Even though I’m 38, I still have that hunger where I just want to play games and I still feel fit enough to play. We’ll see what happens but I doubt I’ll be playing. It was still great to play the other night, just knowing the carrot that was there for ourselves — a chance to play Liverpool live on BBC at 5pm on a Sunday.”
He adds: “For a club like ours to get a chance to play against the champions of the world, this is what the FA Cup is all about. We might not play against all the same players who made them the champions of the world, but they’re the biggest club in the world at the minute and Shrewsbury get to play them. It’ll be a great occasion.”
It’s not uncommon for goalkeepers to continue playing into their late 30s, as Murphy has done. However, he certainly bucked a trend by establishing himself as a starter at Championship level within a couple of months of being old enough to buy a beer to celebrate the achievement.
It’s testament to his longevity that even at this stage he doesn’t feel like he’s on the home straight. The finish line won’t loom into view until the body is no longer willing or the phone stops ringing.
'I still have that hunger where I just want to play games.' PA Archive / PA Images
PA Archive / PA Images / PA Images
“To still be in the game in England after 21 or 22 years is something I feel I can be proud of,” he says. “People often ask me when I’m going to hang the gloves up but I’ve still got massive desire. If someone asked me now could I play in the Premier League, I’d say ‘absolutely’, because you have to have that level of belief. You have to believe that you can play at the highest level.
“They say you should give it up as soon as your body says no, and at the moment I don’t feel like that at all. I played every minute last season and trained every day. You have to look after yourself a little bit more in regards to what you do, but I feel good. I can’t do anything about my age, but if a chance comes, even for me to get out on loan over the next couple of weeks, I’ll try and take it because the hunger is still there to play games.
“If nothing comes up in the summer then I’ll look at a bit of coaching, but I would love to keep playing. I still feel like I can do a job but it won’t be my opinion that matters in that regard, it’ll be the opinions of others.
“Whatever happens, I’m delighted with the career I’ve had. There’ve been ups and downs but I’ve had a lot of luck, which you need. I did okay with injuries early on in my career and I was helped by having managers who liked me.
“I just wanted to eke out a career for myself in football and I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to do that for so long — and hopefully a bit longer.”
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From saving a Michael Owen penalty to setting up another Liverpool clash 18 years later
JOE MURPHY ANSWERS the phone and opens with an apology.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I’m only just back from doing the school run and I had to go into Radio City Liverpool before that for this 20th anniversary thing.”
Murphy is referring to the 2000 Worthington Cup final. The last League Cup decider to be played at the old Wembley Stadium saw Martin O’Neill’s Leicester City run out 2-1 winners against John Aldridge’s Tranmere Rovers.
At 35, former Republic of Ireland striker David Kelly was the goalscorer for a Tranmere side who fielded a goalkeeper almost half his age. Joe Murphy, who was blameless for both of Matt Elliott’s goals for Leicester, remembers the day well.
“It’s nice to reminisce about it. Twenty years is a long time,” says a man who can now boast a professional career in English football that has spanned four different decades.
Murphy, who will turn 39 this year, lives in Liverpool with his wife (a Liverpudlian) and kids. Nowadays he plies his trade an hour down the road at Shrewsbury Town, who will host the Champions League holders and runaway Premier League leaders next weekend.
A Liverpool fan for as long as he can remember, Murphy watched their FA Cup win over Everton a fortnight ago from the stands at Anfield. Unbeknown to him at the time was the fact that he was scouting his club’s opponents in the next round.
A home tie against Jurgen Klopp’s side is the League One club’s reward for upsetting Bristol City in last Tuesday’s third-round replay. Murphy played his part by keeping a clean sheet in the 1-0 victory over the Championship outfit at New Meadow, with his spectacular first-half save to deny Josh Brownhill proving crucial.
It was another milestone occasion for a player who kickstarted his career with a run to the final of the adjacent English cup competition.
Murphy was the goalkeeper on the Ireland U16 team that defeated Italy to win the European Championship in 1998. Less than 18 months later, John Aldridge deemed him worthy of a first-team debut for Tranmere.
The young Dubliner made 27 appearances for the First Division (Championship) club during that 1999-2000 season, one of which came in front of 75,000 people at Wembley.
“When I came back from that U16 tournament with Ireland, my name had gotten a bit bigger, and there was the Irish connection at Tranmere as well with John Aldridge as manager and Kevin Sheedy as assistant,” Murphy recalls.
“We didn’t start very well in the 1999-2000 season and then he [Aldridge] gave me my debut in the October. I had only turned 18 in the August so it was a bit of a whirlwind, but you just take it in your stride at that age, I suppose. Because I was so young, I probably didn’t take it all in.
“I was actually injured leading up to the final — I broke my collarbone in the quarter-final [against Middlesbrough] and I missed the two-legged semi-final [against Bolton Wanderers]. I wasn’t really expecting to play. But we played Newcastle in the FA Cup the week before and Aldo put me back in the team, so I kind of knew then that I’d be playing the following week.
“The final was a great experience, even though we didn’t get the right result. To play in a game like that at such a young age, at the old Wembley as well, was something special. As a kid, I ended up getting a lot of the plaudits but I really didn’t do very much.
“Aldo was a tough guy, a tough guy to play for, quite demanding and very vocal, but he seemed to like me. He gave me a big chance at a very young age.
“I look at goalies these days who are 20, 21, 22 and say ‘you’re getting on a bit now’, but they’re really not. That’s still very young for a goalkeeper. I just look at them from the perspective of how it happened for me. I was just very lucky to get those games so early in my career. That was an incredible couple of years, looking back.”
Now in his 21st season, Murphy has experienced all four tiers of league football in England. He was twice signed by Premier League clubs, moving from Tranmere to West Bromwich Albion in 2002, before Mick McCarthy brought him to Sunderland in 2006.
His time in the top-flight brought him just two appearances, but the first of those was particularly significant for a lad who dreamt of playing at Anfield.
While it wasn’t sufficient to prevent a West Brom defeat to Liverpool in September 2002, Murphy came off the bench in the 35th minute and saved a penalty from Michael Owen with his first touch as a Premier League player.
“I got a bit of luck,” he admits. “I went to West Brom and I hadn’t really been involved in many squads. Brian Jensen — who’s now my goalkeeping coach at Shrewsbury — had been the sub keeper, but he happened to be ill that day I ended up being on the bench. Russell Hoult was sent off and I came on to face the penalty.
“It was one of those where you don’t get to think about it. The gloves go on, straight into the game, I tried to guess the right way and luckily enough I did. Being a Liverpool fan, I got a few text messages afterwards saying ‘what the hell are you doing?’” he laughs.
“They went on to win the game but it’s a great highlight. There have been snippets like that one that I can look back on and really be proud of. Obviously I’d love to have had much more of them, but I’m glad of the ones I did have. Gerard Houllier was the Liverpool manager then and he came over to me after the game and said a few words, which was nice.”
And it wasn’t the first conversation he’d ever had with Houllier. Murphy explains: “After I had made about 15 or 20 appearances when I was at Tranmere, there was an approach from Liverpool.
“It was a strange situation because I had been hearing rumblings of it. Then I was nominated for a Young Sports Star of the Year award at home. It was on in the Burlington Hotel and Gerard Houllier was actually the guest speaker at the event.
“I’ll never forget it — my brother, who’s a massive Liverpool fan, dropped me off and I went in with my mam and dad. I was just pulled aside then by two burly gentlemen and there was Houllier all of a sudden. He just kind of shook my hand and said ‘whatever you’re reading is true, I’d like you to come to Liverpool’, and then he asked for my agent’s number.
“It was quite rushed, it was only a chat for a minute or two, but he was asked about it on stage later in the night. When I flew back to Tranmere the next day, John Aldridge wasn’t happy at all. I suppose it was kind of a tapping-up sort of situation.
‘What happened in the end was that Liverpool made an approach and offered some money, but Tranmere declined and nothing came from it.
“I get asked a lot if I have regrets about it because Liverpool is the team I’ve supported since I was a kid, but no, I don’t, not really. If it was meant to be it would have happened.
“I could have ended up spending three or four years at Liverpool and I might not have done anything and faded into the background. I’ve made good and bad decisions in my career, but I never like to have regrets and that’s definitely not one.”
Twelve months removed from his Premier League bow, Murphy was handed his senior international debut by Brian Kerr, who presided over the U16 European Championship triumph in which he was involved.
Murphy was introduced from the bench in a friendly against Turkey at Lansdowne Road that ended 2-2. There was a seven-year wait until Giovanni Trapattoni awarded him his second cap, which came at the RDS towards the end of a 3-0 friendly win over Algeria in 2010. Although he featured in several more squads, a third cap never materialised.
“A few more would have been great but Shay [Given] was one of the best in the world at the time. It was still just a pleasure to be involved in that set-up,” says Murphy, a winner of the FAI’s Player of the Year award at both U18 and U21 level.
“Was I international quality? I don’t know. When I was playing well I felt I deserved to be in the squad, but was I Premier League quality? Probably not.
“I certainly enjoyed every aspect of being around the Ireland set-up and being capped by my country at every level. Representing your country is an amazing thing to do.
“Nothing came from it in the end but there was an inkling about a coaching role recently. It’s something I’d love at some stage, to be involved with Ireland at any level.”
If there’s one event from his international career that necessitates an inclination to wonder what might have been, it’s the infamous November 2009 night in Paris. Murphy provided back-up to Shay Given as Ireland’s chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup was cruelly snatched away by the hand of Thierry Henry.
“To go to a World Cup would have been incredible,” he says. “I was actually sitting at the very end of the bench that night and there was a guy standing literally next to me with a monitor. Within 10 seconds I was looking at the incident with this guy and just screaming at the screen.
“The lads had done so well, it was there for the taking, and then the disappointment was huge. In the changing room afterwards there were a lot of tears but there was a lot of anger as well. We knew, the French team knew, everyone knew.
“It would have been great to have been part of a tournament like that, the build-up and the kind of regimented nature of a World Cup. It’s something I would have loved but it was a bitter ending unfortunately.”
After his season at Sunderland, Murphy moved to Scunthorpe United, with whom he was twice promoted to the Championship while also being named in the League One Team of the Year at the end of both campaigns.
Stints with Coventry City and Huddersfield Town followed, and in 2016 he moved on to Bury. There, he was a member of a side that defied considerable off-the-field challenges.
With Murphy being included in the League Two Team of the Year, he and his team-mates achieved promotion by finishing second despite not receiving their wages for five months. The financial crisis ultimately led to the demise of the club.
“We had been paid late in the past and it was a bit of a strange club for that type of thing, but we were told this time that we wouldn’t be paid at all,” he says. “We had been on a great run but I think we lost three games on the bounce then and the atmosphere in the club and the changing room just took a massive dip.
“It’s League Two football, lads aren’t on much money anyway, but they’ve got mortgages and families. It just went from such a high to such a low in a very short space of time.
“There was meetings nearly every day, the manager was in tears, players couldn’t get into training because they couldn’t afford petrol… it was just unbelievable. We couldn’t train at the training ground because the hot water had been turned off.
“To keep it together the way we did, we just dug in. There was talk of going on strike because we were playing for nothing, but we somehow managed to just get over the line in terms of the promotion.
“It was bittersweet afterwards in the sense that I felt great for about an hour and then I just felt angry. It’s still so disappointing when I look back now. Memories of being promoted are brilliant, going off on a night-out with the lads or maybe having a trip away in the sun to celebrate, but those things just couldn’t happen. Even when we got our medals the following week it just didn’t seem right.
“It’s still ongoing now and we’re trying to get the PFA involved because people are owed a lot of money. It was a great season but it wasn’t worth it for the Bury fans to now be left in a position where they have no club at all. I’d rather have finished mid-table and have someone rescue the club so that those people, who have been Bury fans all their lives, would still have a club.”
The ideal scenario for Murphy would have been a return to League One as a Bury player, but Shrewsbury Town provided that opportunity instead. However, he has mostly had to be content with a supporting role due to the presence at the club of a young goalkeeper who may eventually emulate him by representing Ireland.
Max O’Leary, who received a senior call-up from Mick McCarthy last May, has been Shrewsbury’s first-choice stopper this season. Yet due to a combination of factors, Murphy has played in four of the club’s five fixtures in this FA Cup run.
O’Leary was absent through injury for the two first-round games against Bradford City, while the terms of his loan deal from Bristol City prohibited him from being involved in the 1-1 draw, and subsequent 1-0 win, against his parent club in the third round.
Having watched the elder custodian make a sizeable contribution to a result which secured a dream tie against Liverpool, will Shrewsbury manager Sam Ricketts encounter a dilemma when he selects his starting line-up for tomorrow week’s game? Not according to Murphy, who expects to resume the duties of a deputy.
“Even though I’m 38, I still have that hunger where I just want to play games and I still feel fit enough to play. We’ll see what happens but I doubt I’ll be playing. It was still great to play the other night, just knowing the carrot that was there for ourselves — a chance to play Liverpool live on BBC at 5pm on a Sunday.”
He adds: “For a club like ours to get a chance to play against the champions of the world, this is what the FA Cup is all about. We might not play against all the same players who made them the champions of the world, but they’re the biggest club in the world at the minute and Shrewsbury get to play them. It’ll be a great occasion.”
It’s not uncommon for goalkeepers to continue playing into their late 30s, as Murphy has done. However, he certainly bucked a trend by establishing himself as a starter at Championship level within a couple of months of being old enough to buy a beer to celebrate the achievement.
It’s testament to his longevity that even at this stage he doesn’t feel like he’s on the home straight. The finish line won’t loom into view until the body is no longer willing or the phone stops ringing.
“To still be in the game in England after 21 or 22 years is something I feel I can be proud of,” he says. “People often ask me when I’m going to hang the gloves up but I’ve still got massive desire. If someone asked me now could I play in the Premier League, I’d say ‘absolutely’, because you have to have that level of belief. You have to believe that you can play at the highest level.
“They say you should give it up as soon as your body says no, and at the moment I don’t feel like that at all. I played every minute last season and trained every day. You have to look after yourself a little bit more in regards to what you do, but I feel good. I can’t do anything about my age, but if a chance comes, even for me to get out on loan over the next couple of weeks, I’ll try and take it because the hunger is still there to play games.
“If nothing comes up in the summer then I’ll look at a bit of coaching, but I would love to keep playing. I still feel like I can do a job but it won’t be my opinion that matters in that regard, it’ll be the opinions of others.
“Whatever happens, I’m delighted with the career I’ve had. There’ve been ups and downs but I’ve had a lot of luck, which you need. I did okay with injuries early on in my career and I was helped by having managers who liked me.
“I just wanted to eke out a career for myself in football and I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to do that for so long — and hopefully a bit longer.”
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Above average Joe FA Cup COYBIG Joe Murphy Liverpool Shrewsbury Town