Cardiff City 'let down' £11m star who divided opinion - Vincent Tan thinks he was 'conned' | OneFootball

Football League World's resident Cardiff City fan pundit reflected on Josh Murphy's polarising career in the Welsh capital

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

In years gone by, very few players have divided opinion among Cardiff City supporters to a more profound degree than Josh Murphy.

Expectations were high after the Bluebirds, on Neil Warnock's request, shelled out a significant £11 million sum to acquire Murphy from Norwich City in the summer of 2018 following promotion to the Premier League.

Murphy arrived in the Welsh capital with a mixed reputation from his time at Carrow Road, but initially burned brightly and established himself as one of Cardiff's star performers in the top-flight by finding the back of the net against the likes of Burnley and Fulham and running his opposition number ragged on a number of occasions.

However, the winger would struggle for consistency and that eventually proved to define his Bluebirds career. Despite finding himself in and out of the side throughout the second-half of his debut campaign as Cardiff suffered relegation, Murphy was anticipated to play a leading role back in the Championship. It didn't quite follow the script, though, and Warnock's successor — Neil Harris — rarely gave the former England youth international a consistent run of games amid competition from the likes of Albert Adomah, Junior Hoilett, and Gavin Whyte.

He still posted a respectable return of eight goals and three assists from 33 matches across all competitions, but fell some way short of matching that level of output in a mixed following season under Harris and Mick McCarthy, the latter of whom would send him on loan to Preston North End going into the final year of his Bluebirds contract.

Murphy, having failed to impress in a disappointing loan stint which saw him seldom get on the pitch due to injury and fitness issues, was promptly released four years on from his arrival and dropped down to League One with Oxford United, guiding the U's back to the Championship with a stunning brace in the 2022 third-tier play-off final before joining Portsmouth that summer.

Now aged 30, Murphy's glittering tenure at Fratton Park has posed a number of questions. He was one of the most productive wide players in the Championship last season, while Cardiff went down to League One.

For some, Murphy remains one of the Bluebirds' most pronounced transfer flops in recent history — owner Vincent Tan has said on record that he was "conned" with the signing — but others believe that the tricky wide-man was set up to fail amid much managerial churn, operating in a variety of systems which didn't suit his game, rarely received a consistent run of starts in the side and lacked the 'arm around the shoulder' approach that was evidently needed, and his most ardent backers will tell you that his exploits for Portsmouth should only further amplify lingering regret on Cardiff's behalf.

Cardiff City 'let down' £11m winger Josh Murphy in divisive Bluebirds stint

Football League World asked our resident Cardiff fan pundit, Matt Hall, to describe how he reflects on the signing of Murphy and explain whether the Bluebirds failed to get the best out of the talented forward, or if he simply flattered to deceive.

Matt echoed the aforementioned school of thought, to which a fair number of supporters subscribe, and, in his view, Murphy's Cardiff career would have played out much differently had Warnock departed following relegation from the Premier League.

Interestingly, Murphy was also linked with a shock switch to Chelsea at the end of the season before the West London outfit found themselves struck with a two-window transfer ban.

"The curious case of Josh Murphy is always one that I would put the blame down to the club on," Matt explained to FLW.

"I think it was a case of right player, wrong time. Probably the wrong era of Cardiff, as well.

"Obviously we signed him in the Premier League, I think it's fair to say he did alright. You look at the front three that we ended the last game of the Premier League season on, which was [Nathaniel] Mendez-Laing, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Murphy. That's what we finished on and, in theory, that would've been our front three to go to the Championship, which, on paper, should've stormed the Championship.

"At that point as well, it could've looked like Neil Warnock would be leaving and I think there was a crossroads point where, if we had not kept Warnock on and had gone for the more progressive option, we would've had a completely different Murphy in his Cardiff career.

"For what it's worth, he did good in his first season back down in the Championship. He was frustrating, he always was, but he was a positive player.

"I always enjoyed having him play and thought he was the sort of player who would get you off your seat, even if it wouldn't always end in something positive.

"But we just didn't have the sort of team that suited a player like that. Decordova-Reid ended up leaving because Warnock stayed on, Murphy was almost dropped out of favour for more hard-working wingers — Gavin Whyte got a lot of chances at that time and Albert Adomah came in for his work-rate as well.

"So, there was a lot of reliance on hard work more than talent, and that's not to say Murphy doesn't work hard now. Obviously, it was a spiral effect then, every manager that would come seemed to play a style of football that was even less reliant on flair players.

"Fair play to him, he's rebuilt his career. I was there when he scored the brace for Oxford against Bolton, he was unreal that day and John Mousinho is an unbelievable manager that has done really well to get the best out of him.

"I'm glad his career has ended up going well, I just think he's the sort of player we let down by not playing a style of football that suited the players that we signed. But it is what it is."

Josh Murphy has excelled after leaving Cardiff City - Bluebirds may regret exit decision

It didn't look like Cardiff were going to live to regret the decision during Murphy's first campaign after leaving Cardiff, in which he failed to score from 24 League One appearances.

However, the ex-Bluebirds starlet took strides towards reigniting his career in 2023/24, which saw him reach double digits for goals across all competitions for the first time since his final season at Norwich and, of course, single-handedly win the play-off final for Oxford.

He has only gone from strength to strength since, scoring seven and assisting a further 14 back in the Championship with Portsmouth last term to remind the masses that he is indeed, at his best, one of the most dangerous and talented wide players at this level.

Cardiff themselves, albeit owing to other issues, have regressed quite monumentally since Murphy's exit — though they are now in better hands with a talented young squad competing for a Championship return under popular head coach Brian Barry-Murphy — and he's perhaps emerged as the real winner.