Bitter about Murphy

In many transfer situations, one set of fans are made to feel like mugs. The late, late transfer of Danny Murphy to Spurs may be one of those rare occasions where both sets of fans should feel like mugs. For a talented, yet limited player, Murphy doesn't half have some chutzpah.

Although other bloggers have pointed out his hypocrisy, it is worth re-examining in detail, and let's not begin at Charlton but in Liverpool. Upon departing the Scousers who have since clearly missed his contribution, he intelligently pointed out, "...Liverpool have lost some camaraderie with more English players leaving and other players coming in..." "...I wanted to come to a club that was perhaps not so cosmopolitan..."

Yes good point, I did note a distinct lack of cameraderie on that famous night in Istanbul last year. That night when heads dropped at 3-0 down (oh no, sorry that's just your style Danny). And as for cosmopolitan (I assume he was referring to the adjective, and not his wife's reading material), that famous all-English side known as Spurs with that cheeky Eastender Martin Jol in charge should fit his needs a little better now I trust.

It's fair to say that my dislike for Spurs knows few bounds, but if their fans give him the treatment they deserve, their club would go up hugely in my estimations. I suspect they won't forget his comments when he signed for us, nor his baiting of their fans when he scored against them last March. And when they realise that the slowest midfield in the country just got a little slower, and that he only plays for 75 minutes, this move will hopefully mark the beginning of the end of a career of a 'big time Charlie' who never actually hit the big time.

As for Charlton's role in this sorry affair, they come out of it nearly as badly as Murphy. We'll probably never know the reasons for his sudden disappearance from the squad, but we deserve an explanation in light of Curbishley's now ridiculous comments about him. Perhaps if the England job isn't available, Curbs could become Iraq's new 'Comical Ali', the P.R. spokesman without credibility. As Curbs confidently told us all on 21 Jan, "...I'll be glad for Danny's sake when it goes away and it will only go away when the transfer window closes.." "....everyone keeps asking him if he is leaving and I gave him the answer that he's not. It's as simple as that."

The irony of course is that no-one believed Curbs (a bit like Comical Ali infact). Of course a team like Charlton can afford to keep it's best-paid player out of a 16-man squad for vital matches. We've been treated like mugs as much as the Spurs fans and we deserve explanations. At best we've been misled in the club's best interests; at worst we've been lied to.

I fully expect the club's explanation, assuming they bother to give us one, will say that if Charlton had admitted to other clubs that he was unsettled, his transfer value would have fallen. This is a bit like saying that you shouldn't put a 'For Sale' sign outside your house because people will know you're selling it. Moreover, Murphy has been sold for 'up to £2m' (less than we paid 18 months ago) and a few minutes before the deadline, hardly the result of hard-fought behind-the-scenes negotiations during the whole of January. The stench of the whole affair has wafted all the way over here in Palm Beach (where I'm meant to feel relaxed but I'm writing a furious blog).

The Parker situation in 2003 was different in my view. We got a fair price (with hindsight), the player not only gave 100% in every game for us, but he clearly improved us as a team also and he belongs on a bigger stage. His subsequent 'replacement' (my emphasis) often played like he couldn't care, didn't improve the team's fortunes and the club botched a transfer that should have been conducted in full openness. Indeed the signings of Murphy and Jeffers were now clearly terrible errors for a club of limited means. It's a shame that the club isn't forced to open its archives like the government, because decades hence I dare say the scouting file on the pair would be about a page-long and with character references notable by their absence.

So here we are on Feb 1st, with the transfer window closed for the season and let's evaluate our newly reinforced squad. Assuming Deano was sold for £500k, we've raised about £2.5m and we have signed........Marcus Bent. We didn't manage to offload Euell, we're stuck with Lisbie and Jeffers (not hugely surprising that one), and there's no new centre-back or left-back. No disprespect to Bent who may grow into his valuation but this really couldn't be an awful lot worse. Just to put it in perspective, our opponents tonight managed to persuade Norwich to part with £3.5m for equally unsettled Robert Earnshaw (that's a Murphy, a Kiely and a Konchesky to you and me).

Given that Murphy's debut could conceivably be against us, it would be nice to think Curbs could just pin his photo in the dressing room as motivation enough, but I don't think he's capable of it any longer. Regardless of how we finish the season (and pessimism surely now reigns), Curbs remains a legend but it's time for a fresh start.