Colin Murphy RIP
Phil Brennan pays tribute to County’s former manager who sadly passed away at the weekend
Monday 18 September 2023
NEXT HOME GAME: Wrexham – Saturday 23 September, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Accrington – Saturday 30 September, 3pm
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and anyone else joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Monday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
Following the sad news over the weekend that Colin Murphy has passed away, today we pay tribute to the former County manager with this lovely piece from Phil Brennan.
Today’s edition is sponsored by The Mortgage Mill. My thanks to James (who’s also a County fan). If you’re looking for any advice on mortgage issues, text “County” to 80800.
Des Junior
I first became aware of Colin Murphy after Edgeley Park legend Eric Webster had been relieved of his role as Stockport County manager.
Webster had been sacked at the end of the previous season with the club looking to replace him during the summer of 1985. However, with the new campaign almost upon them it was rumoured that Webster would still be in charge of the team come the big kick-off.
With just a matter of days remaining the new manager arrived; his name was Colin Murphy.
This was to be the first of three spells with the Hatters for the former Derby County and Lincoln City manager, and though his first spell was all to brief it was certainly eventful.
Due to safety concerns raised by the Bradford City fire on the final day of the previous season, Edgeley Park was still awaiting a safety certificate, leading to County playing their first seven league and cup fixtures away from home.
Having won three of his five league games away from home – at Burnley, Crewe and Preston – Murphy would oversee just four home matches before being lured away by a lucrative deal in Saudi Arabia.
Just as we were getting used to his strange pre-match and post-match interviews, we had lost another manager, although it was a strange feeling as a County fan back in those days, seeing the manager of our club not only leaving of his own accord but also moving on to what appeared to be a much better role.
Senior player Les Chapman was promoted to player-manager for the remainder of the season in the wake of Murphy’s departure.
Chapman appeared to have taken to management, his side going on a tremendous charge up the Fourth Division table only to run out of steam with a first ever appearance in the play-offs in touching distance.
Once again, the club made the decision to bring in a more experienced manager for the upcoming campaign and Chapman was relieved of his duties during the close season.
On the face of it, the ‘high profile’ appointment of Jimmy Melia as County’s new manager did not appear to be a bad bet as just three seasons previously the former England international had taken unfashionable Brighton & Hove Albion to within a whisker of lifting the FA Cup.
Unfortunately for County the Liverpudlian’s four months in charge saw him register just one win whilst drawing three and losing ten of his fourteen league games. The club were also hammered by Sheffield Wednesday 10-0 on aggregate in the first round of the League Cup.
In desperation the board of directors turned once again to Colin Murphy, still working in the Middle East, to save a near impossible situation. Taking into consideration the team’s league position, this being the first season whereby the team finishing bottom of the Football League would be relegated to the Vauxhall Conference, and the fact that County had suffered a demoralising first round FA Cup defeat at the hands of non-league Caernarfon Town, Murphy’s task seemed insurmountable.
Aided by several inspired signings he somehow managed to instil a commitment and confidence in his players that had been sadly lacking. With the team suffering only two defeats in his first fourteen games in charge, morale both on and off the pitch received a tremendous boost.
And whilst a run of four successive defeats saw County drop back into the danger zone, their newfound spirit gave them the heart and determination to fight back once more, winning six of the last nine games to finish well clear of the drop.
The feeling amongst County supporters was that having returned to the club, Murphy had shown us a glimpse of what he was going to achieve with the Hatters.
Football, as they say, is a funny old game, but I can assure you that I wasn’t laughing at the news that, having saved County from the drop and writing himself into Edgeley Park folklore in the process, Murphy stunned the club, not only by handing in his resignation, but by his decision to take over the club that had been relegated, Lincoln City.
In fairness to Murphy, he had a much stronger link to the Imps having enjoyed a successful seven-year spell with them prior to his first short spell at Edgeley Park, not that I thought anything resembling fairness back then.
Murphy’s third and final spell at Edgeley Park came during the 2001-02 season and whilst County were by now playing in the First Division, once again it was a time of turmoil in SK3.
Previous manager Andy Kilner, who had won just two of his 17 league and cup games, had been dismissed, with chairman Brendan Elwood shocking everyone with the appointment of former England international Carlton Palmer as the new first team boss. It was Palmer’s first job in management and represented a huge gamble by Elwood.
Arriving at Edgeley Park as player-manager, Palmer brought in Kevin Richardson as his assistant with Murphy joining in a senior role to provide knowledge and support to the two younger inexperienced men.
Having made an impact as the manager in both of his previous terms with the club, Murphy did well to stay in the background during his third spell as Palmer went on to oversee a quite dreadful spell in the hot seat which would end in relegation that season.
I met Colin Murphy several times over the years, and on one occasion when we were both at Sincil Bank covering a game I asked him if he ever regretted leaving his role as County manager. His response surprised me to some degree.
On his first spell he said that the offer to work abroad was just too good to turn down, however he did regret the fact that he hadn’t finished what he had started which was the main reason that he came back the second time.
On that second term he said that it had been a really special part of his career in turning the club’s fortunes around. He added that he felt County would have made a push for promotion the following season and had it been any other club than Lincoln City asking him to take the manager’s role he would have turned it down.
It’s a well-known fact that during his long and successful time as a manager Murphy became famous for his matchday programme notes and quotes, a fact that he referenced in response to my question as to whether he regretted coming back to Edgeley Park that third time.
Looking me straight in the eye Murphy took a breath, winked, and said: “If only I was in charge of writing the programme notes in those days.”
God bless you Murph, you were one of the good guys.
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“If anyone wants to ask any questions, there is a free contact page on our website, or you can text “County” to 80800.”
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As a referee I met Colin Murphy a number of times as Lincoln City manager he was a football man through and through and held the respect of his players who would run through brick walls for him always quick to comment on my performance but always fair a true football man sadly we won't see the likes of again RIP Colin your time at EP will never be forgotten Peter Tyldesley ex EFL Referee.