The right man in the right place for Newcastle United | OneFootball

Unsung heroes, like wicked deflections, educated left feet and mazy dribblers, play an important role in the Encyclopaedia of Football Cliches.

Such phrases have been around longer than I care to recall. Part-nonsense, part-truism, they capture in two or three words different aspects of the beautiful game.

Every top team should have an unsung hero. Sometimes he’s the guy who does the dirty work, covering for his mates, allowing the stars to shine and collect the plaudits.

One of my favourites in the Seventies was John McGovern, who accompanied the great Brian Clough and Peter Taylor from Hartlepool to Derby, where they won the League Championship in 1971-72.

The Rams reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1973, being eliminated by Juventus in what a cautious lawyer might describe as controversial circumstances. Essentially, it was floodlight robbery.

Clough, Tayor and McGovern, a Scot who was brought up in Hartlepool, righted that wrong six years later when Nottingham Forest won the European Cup. They retained it 12 months on. McGovern was their captain, as he had been at Derby.

A two-footed central midfielder who could control the game with his passing and vision, McGovern was rarely given the praise his exploits deserved. More often than not, he was derided by football fans who failed to understand what he brought to the team. He didn’t collect many plaudits; just plenty of cups and medals.

Today’s Newcastle United have an obvious equivalent in Sean Longstaff. While not as gifted as McGovern, he shares some traits: a great engine, tactical awareness and a selfless attitude. Both also attracted an unreasonable amount of undue criticism.

Longstaff, however, is not my top nomination for the Magpies’ Unsung Hero award. That goes to a player who in recent weeks has done as much as any teammate to propel United towards the Champions League berth we all crave.

Jacob Murphy will turn 30 next month. His career has by no means been plain sailing.

Having made his first-team debut for Norwich 11 years ago this week in the FA Cup, he was promptly sent on loan to Swindon (third tier) and Southend (fourth tier), for whom he netted his first senior goal, against Rochdale at Spotland. Norwich lost their Premier League status at the end of that 2013-14 season. Reading between the lines, the teenager was considered not good enough to save the floundering Canaries.

New season, new chance? Up to a point, Lord Copper. Murphy again played only once for his hometown club in 2014-15, in a League Cup win. By November he was on loan at fellow-Championship club Blackpool. New year, new chance? Well, yes, at third-tier Scunthorpe in January 2015, followed by three months at Colchester. A season of 24 appearances, four clubs and six goals. Not exactly living the dream, though young Jacob’s secondary career as a human sat nav was developing nicely.

The 2015-16 season would be Murphy’s breakthrough campaign, though not at Carrow Road. He played 42 times for third-tier Coventry City, scoring 10 goals as they finished five points shy of the play-offs. The personal highlight was a first-half hat-trick against Gillingham.

Aged 21, he finally became a fixture for second-tier Norwich in 2016-17. A total of 12 goals from 45 appearances, including four caps for England Under-21s.

So many factors influence a footballer’s career.

If you read Left Foot Forward by Garry Nelson, the importance of luck and timing quickly become clear. There are an awful lot of Sliding Doors moments. Most important of all, a manager has to believe in you. For whatever reason, Jacob Murphy took time to prove his worth to his parent club.

His first successful season with Norwich attracted bigger fish, including United. Rafa Benitez, having gained promotion at the first attempt, achieved the even more remarkable feat of persuading Mike Ashley to spend £12m on a player who made his Premier League debut on Sunday, August 20, 2017, more than three years and seven months after his senior bow in the FA Cup.

Murphy played 28 times and scored once, in a 3-1 defeat at the Etihad, during his first season with United. His next, which would turn out to be the last before Steve Bruce replaced Benitez, started with the Mags but ended with five months on loan at West Brom, for whom he scored twice. The agony of defeat in the play-off semi-final was not what he would have wanted.

Would he have wanted Bruce to be his new manager? Only Murphy can say, though I suspect the answer is “no”. He spent the 2019-20 season on loan again, this time with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship. His 44 appearances yielded nine goals and at the end of that campaign he seemed no nearer establishing himself as a Premier League player.

Back at United, he played 34 times in Bruce’s second season “in charge”. The tactics were almost non-existent and the ambition equally limited. Football for United’s fans became all but unwatchable. The odds were stacked against an attacking wide player who thrived on a front-foot approach.

Aged 26 at the start of the 2021-22 campaign, his career seemed to be at yet another crossroads. Bruce departed in October, Graeme Jones took charge for three weeks, then Eddie Howe arrived. He gave Jacob Murphy 24 appearances, initially as a starter who was subbed, then as a substitute. For the final nine games of the season, Murphy was an automatic choice.

United lost only two of those, to Arsenal and Man City, as the great escape was achieved with something to spare. His totals for that remarkable campaign were 31 appearances and three goals but, notwithstanding the underwhelming strike rate, he was clearly appreciated by the main man for what he brought to the team. While primarily a creative forward, he has on occasion been a perfectly capable right-back.

The season we qualified for the Champions League he was overshadowed by Miguel Almiron on the right wing, whose purple patch proved pivotal to United’s success. Overshadowed, yes, though the provider of two favourite moments in this fan’s memory bank. First, the hilarious farewell wave towards Duje Caleta-Car when the Southampton defender was red-carded at St Mary’s in the League Cup semi-final. That alone was worth the admission price.

Second, his piledriver in the 6-1 romp against Spurs, when we hit five in the first 21 minutes. The strike was superb, the celebration sheer class, standing stock still, eyes as wide as saucers while St James’ Park went bonkers all around him. A total of four goals from 43 appearances in 2022-23 included a brief run-out at Wembley in the League Cup final.

Jacob Murphy didn’t escape the injury curse that wrecked United last season. He damaged a shoulder in the home match against Dortmund only five minutes after replacing Longstaff and had to go off. On his return to the team 10 days later as a sub, the injury was aggravated and he missed nearly three months while recovering. At least his 28-match season ended on a high, scoring at Brentford in a 4-2 win.

This season he has already made 17 Premier League appearances and hit three goals, including a screamer at Portman Road. That must have been sweet for a long-time Canary.

Jacob Murphy is peaking at just the right time for himself and for United. He’s a right-footed right winger, something of a rarity in this age of inverted wide players. He has the pace and skill to beat defenders on the outside, as he did to lay on two great chances for Alexander Isak at the Naming Rights Here stadium on Saturday. The first pass was steered narrowly wide of the far post by our ace marksman, the second found the net to secure all three points.

Because the low cross was diverted marginally by a Spurs defender, forcing Isak to instantly adjust his feet before scoring, Murphy received no credit as the creator. He has an assist every 172 minutes this season despite that anomaly.

Overall, Murphy ranks seventh for assists among United players in the Premier League era, with 22 so far. The six above him are Toon legends: Solano, Shearer, Lee, Robert, Dyer and Beardsley. They all played many more minutes for United than he has. Below him are Ameobi, Guimaraes, Saint-Maximin, Trippier and Cole, among others.

Whatever the statistics say, nobody can doubt Murphy’s strength of character. Shipped out to six clubs on loan before making his league debut for Norwich aged 21, then to another two during his first three seasons at St James’ Park, his perseverance is admirable. Only the strongest of personalities would have survived so many setbacks.