Peter Murphy (footballer, born 1922)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other footballers of this name, see Peter Murphy.

Peter Murphy
Personal information
Full name Peter Murphy[1]
Date of birth (1922-03-07)7 March 1922[2]
Place of birth West Hartlepool, England
Date of death 7 April 1975(1975-04-07) (aged 53)[1]
Place of death Coventry, England
Position(s)
Inside left
Youth career
Coventry City
Birmingham
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1946–1950 Coventry City 115 (37)
1950–1952 Tottenham Hotspur 38 (14)
1952–1960 Birmingham City 244 (106)
Total 397 (157)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Peter Murphy (7 March 1922 – 7 April 1975), often referred to as Spud Murphy, was an English

inside left. He played professionally for three clubs, Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City. He is possibly best remembered for the incident in the 1956 FA Cup final when Manchester City's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann
broke a bone in his neck when diving at Murphy's feet.

Life and career

Murphy was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham, and moved to Coventry, Warwickshire, with his family when he was four years old.[2] He was with both Coventry City and Birmingham as an amateur footballer before his career was interrupted by the Second World War. He turned professional with Coventry City in May 1946 at the age of 24, making over 100 appearances and scoring at a rate of a goal every three games.

Manager

the Midlands
.

When Tommy Briggs left Birmingham later that year, Murphy took up a more attacking role in the team. He was an energetic player with a powerful left-foot shot who was willing to shoot from any distance, and was Birmingham's leading scorer three times, in the 1952–53, 1954–55 and 1957–58 seasons. He retired from playing in 1959 to coach Birmingham's youth team, but was called out of retirement for the last seven games of the season and scored four goals which contributed to the club avoiding relegation to the Second Division.

Murphy scored five goals in Birmingham's run to the

vertebrae in his neck. The following season Murphy scored another four goals in Birmingham's FA Cup run, which ended this time in semifinal defeat to Manchester United's Busby Babes
.

He was also a pioneer of European competition. He played in Birmingham's first match in the

1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, when they became the first English club side to participate in Europe,[4] and finished that campaign as the competition's joint leading scorer.[5] He also played in the second leg of the 1960 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final, which was the first appearance by an English club side in a European final. Birmingham lost 4–1 to Barcelona.[4]

Over his professional career he scored 158 goals in nearly 400 League appearances. For Birmingham his record was 127 goals in 277 games in all competitions, which ranks him third as of 2024[update], behind Joe Bradford and Trevor Francis, in their all-time scoring charts.

Murphy died in Coventry in 1975 at the age of 53.[1]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Coventry City[6] 1946–47 Second Division 11 2 1 0 — 12 2
1947–48 Second Division 29 7 2 0 — 31 7
1948–49 Second Division 36 13 1 0 — 37 13
1949–50 Second Division 39 15 1 0 — 40 15
Total 115 37 5 0 — 120 37
Tottenham Hotspur[7] 1950–51 First Division 25 9 0 0 — 25 9
1951–52 First Division 13 5 — 1[a] 1 14 6
Total 38 14 0 0 1 1 39 15
Birmingham City[8] 1951–52 Second Division 15 7 1 0 — 16 7
1952–53 Second Division 34 20 4 6 — 38 26
1953–54 Second Division 32 13 2 1 — 34 14
1954–55 Second Division 37 20 4 0 — 41 20
1955–56 First Division 38 11 6 5 2[b] 0 46 16
1956–57 First Division 35 7 6 4 2[b] 1 43 12
1957–58 First Division 36 20 1 0 3[b] 3 40 23
1958–59 First Division 10 4 0 0 1[b] 0 11 4
1959–60 First Division 7 4 0 0 1[b] 0 8 4
Total 244 106 24 16 9 4 277 126
Career total 397 157 29 16 10 5 436 178
  1. FA Charity Shield
  2. ^ a b c d e Appearance(s) in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

  • 1950–51

Birmingham City

References

General

  • Goodwin, Bob (2011). Tottenham Hotspur The Complete Record. Derby: Derby Books.
    ISBN 978-1-85983-846-4
    .
  • Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books.
    ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9
    .
  • Matthews, Tony (2010). Birmingham City: The Complete Record. Derby: Derby Books.
    ISBN 978-1-85983-853-2
    .

Specific

  1. ^ a b c "Peter Murphy". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b Matthews (1995), p. 113.
  3. ^ "Tottenham Football/ Premier League debut scorers".
  4. ^
    Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  5. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    . Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  6. ^ "Player search: Murphy, P (Peter)". English National Football Archive (ENFA). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  7. ^ Goodwin (2011), pp. 412–415.
  8. ^ Matthews (2010), pp. 338–355, 473–474.
  9. ISBN 0354 09018 6
    .
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