Ex-Red: Danny Murphy

Boyhood Reds fan Danny Murphy was a popular member of the Liverpool side under Gerrard Houllier. He was a player who blew hot and cold at times but could often be relied upon in the big games, especially against Man Utd.

Danny Murphy started his career as a trainee at Crewe Alexandra. He was nurtured into a decent player by the legendary manager Dario Gradi, who over the years has turned many youngsters into great players. Some of these players include, David Platt, Dean Ashton and ex Red Rob Jones. Bruce Grobbelaar was spotted playing for Crewe by Liverpool scouts when he was playing there on loan from the Vancouver Whitecaps.

At the same time as he was impressing with Crewe, Danny was also gaining positive notices for his performances in the England youth team. He played superbly during the 1997 Fifa World Youth Championships (now known as the Under 20 World Cup). Also in the England squad for that tournament were Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen.

After the tournament was over Danny was regarded as one of the most impressive young talents in the game. A number of Premier League clubs began to take notice of him but there was only ever going to be one club he would sign for. In 1997 Roy Evans paid £2 million to bring him to Anfield and make his dreams come true. Unfortunately he had a hard time breaking into the first team at first and near the end of his second season in 1998/99 he was loaned back to Crewe. After playing really well during this loan spell, Liverpool’s new boss Gerard Houllier brought him back and this was when his career for the Reds really took off.

From the following season 1999/2000, Danny began to establish himself a regular place in midfield. He was a talented player who could tackle and pass well, with a big strength being his delivery from dead balls. During this season the fans would often be left totally frustrated with him. When he was on form he would be absolutely amazing and tear opponents apart. However he would also go long periods where his form had gone missing and just when we would be about to give up on him he would do something brilliant and win us back again. This was pretty much the pattern for a lot of Danny’s Liverpool career.

During the 2000/01 season, Danny was often superb and an integral part of the treble winning side. He was injured for the 2001 League Cup Final against Birmingham City but he started and played well in the following two Cup Finals against Arsenal and Deportivo Alaves. It was during this season that Danny started a fantastic run of winning goals against Man Utd at Old Trafford in three 1 ‘“ 0 victories for Liverpool.

The first of his winners at Old Trafford came in December 2000. It was a cracking free kick scored after Darren Fletcher had been sent off for bringing down Michael Owen who was clean through on goal. This game was played on my birthday and was a lunchtime kick-off on TV. On this day I had agreed to go on a Christmas shopping trip to Birkenhead with my parents under the agreement that my dad and I would get to watch the match in a pub. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic at the Mersey Tunnel and ended up missing the game. We listened to it on the radio in the car and then saw the goal on a TV in an electronics shop.

His next winner at Old Trafford came in early 2002 as Liverpool were chasing Man Utd and Arsenal for the league title. The game was a bit of an anti-climax and neither team had many chances. It was looking like it would finish 0 ‘“ 0 when Steven Gerrard made an absolutely incredible pass that opened up the Man Utd defence. Up popped Danny Murphy to delicately lob Barthez and win us the game. It was a midweek evening game and I remember having a feeling that day it would be our night. Under Gerard Houllier Liverpool seemed to have a knack for not losing to Man Utd and I was nearly always confident we could beat them. The only time I was ever in doubt during the later Houllier years was before the 2003 League Cup Final. I stupidly turned down a ticket for that game as we were in terrible form in the weeks before it. I was excited when we won 2 ‘“ 0 but gutted I wasn’t there.

In 2002 Danny was chosen for the World Cup squad in Japan, ironically as a replacement for Steven Gerrard who had pulled out due to injury. In a cruel twist of fate Danny then broke his metatarsel in training and he too was out before the tournament had even started. The following season 2002/03 was Danny’s best individual season for Liverpool as he was voted the fans player of the season. He had a competition with Steven Gerrard that season to see who could score the most goals. This seemed to spur on both players to perform superbly and Danny eventually won the competition with twelve goals to Stevie’s ten.

Amazingly he did it again and scored the winner at Old Trafford in April 2004, this time it came from the penalty spot. At the time Houllier was under immense pressure and this victory calmed down the vultures beginning to circle closer in the media. That season had seen Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen miss a number of penalties and it was a big relief to see Danny Murphy step up to take it. This victory set us on the path to qualification for the Champions League, which we hadn’t been involved in that season. Unfortunately for Houllier it wasn’t enough to keep him his job and he was gone just one month later.

Unfortunately for Danny the winner against Man Utd wasn’t enough for him to stay with the club either as new manager Rafa Benitez decided to sell him. In August 2004 Danny Murphy was sold to Charlton Athletic for £2.5 million. A lot of people at the time considered this a huge mistake and I was one of them. In his autobiography Steven Gerrard talks about his shock at the departure of Danny Murphy. He mentions how during pre-season Rafa was talking Danny up and saying what an intelligent player he was to have in the squad. When Rafa started bringing in unknown Spanish players I was very concerned that we would lose some of the good English players with Danny leaving along with Michael Owen who went to Real Madrid. What made my concern even stronger back then was when Steven Gerrard almost signed for Chelsea, but fortunately he saw sense and stayed. With hindsight one has to wonder if Liverpool would have gone on to win the Champions League the following year had Danny Murphy stayed. Thereason I say this is because it was his replacement Luis Garcia who would score the vital goals to launch us to glory in Europe. Funnily enough Garcia was quite similar to Danny Murphy in that he could also be frustratingly brilliant and awful in consecutive games, whilst also having a knack for scoring in the big games.

Danny had one and a half seasons with Charlton Athletic and he had mixed fortunes. His first season was poor by his previous standards but he improved during his second season which led to his recall to the England squad. In the January transfer window in 2006 he was signed by Tottenham Hotspur for £2 million. He had an unhappy time at Spurs and only played in 22 games over one and a half seasons and on the final day of the transfer window in August 2007 he moved to Fulham for an undisclosed fee.

Danny Murphy will always remain in the hearts of Reds fans everywhere thanks to his commitment and his goals against Man Utd. Even if he had done nothing else in his career but score against Man Utd he would still be fondly remembered, but he added to his legend by also scoring an incredible winner against Everton. He was voted number 62 in the ‘˜100 Players Who Shook the Kop’.