Daryl Murphy has revealed the identity of the man who inspired him most as a youngster and how his nearest and dearest keeps missing his goals.
Murphy, who has scored 19 goals in 28 league games this season, also admitted: "I’ve done a lot better than even I expected to do. There are still a lot of games left — I can do better and I want to do better - but it’s been a really good season so far.”
As he kicked a ball around in his native Waterford the Irishman’s main source of inspiration came via the TV. He explained: "I used to love the fat Ronaldo and I say that so you’ll know which one I’m talking about. I absolutely loved him — his skill, his pace, his finishing, everything.
"I used to try to copy him when I was playing out in the street. After watching him on television I thought he was absolutely brilliant but obviously, as you grow up, you see other different types of strikers.
"Ruud van Nistelrooy was an absolute poacher who was always in the right place at the right time and scored so many goals. And there’s Thierry Henry...you could name loads but the main one for me was the fat Ronaldo.”
Murphy finds it difficult to describe the feeling of scoring a key goal for Town, adding: "It’s just a massive buzz really. When there are a lot of fans there the place goes mental — it could be the last minute of a game and to get a winning goal is a great feeling.
"My wife comes to all the home games but if I score and look for her in the stand where she sits I usually just see the back of her head because she’s turning round talking to other people.
"I gave up on that one a long time ago. I’ll ask her if she saw it and she’ll say ‘No, I just missed it because I was talking to someone’. You could say she’s a bit of a chatterbox.”
Murphy is at his most prolific right now, having scored just 17 league goals in his 90 loan appearances from both Sunderland and Celtic before making the move permanent before the start of last season, when he went on to score 13 times in the Championship.
He added: "Maybe it was because of my size that a lot of managers saw me as a target man and that I could link up the play and all that.
"I was never going to be a little nippy, sharp type of player or anything like that but I think I’ve had a decent enough career and it’s mainly down to hard work on my part.
"I played a lot of games for Ipswich on the left of midfield and while I felt I could do a job for the team I obviously wanted to play as a striker. But I was playing week in, week out, so I didn’t really have any complaints.
"When I first came on loan there were a lot of strikers here and I hadn’t been playing for Celtic. I was just happy to be playing again. I came here to play football and while it wasn’t in my preferred position I was still grateful for the chance.”