Former Town striker Daryl Murphy says it was “tough to leave” Portman Road last August but says the move to Newcastle United was one he just couldn’t turn down. The 34-year-old went on to help the Magpies to the Championship title and promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Murphy, who left the Blues for a fee of £3 million a few days prior to the closure of the summer transfer window, says in some ways it was an easy decision but in others less so.
"I think I recently said that it was no-brainer of a decision to go, it was but it wasn’t a case that it was easy to leave Ipswich,” Murphy said in an interview with WLRFM, the local radio station in his home town Waterford, which you can hear in full here (from 14mins 09secs).
"I had some great, fond memories there. The manager Mick McCarthy brought me over from England when I first came over with Sunderland, he signed me again at Ipswich and he really looked after me.
"I had a good bond with the fans and everything there, so in that sense it was tough to leave. But if Newcastle come in for you at my age and at that stage of my career there was only one choice I could make.”
Murphy's departure has been cited as a pivotal moment in Town's disappointing season with boss having McCarthy admitted it was a blow.
"I think he was [upset] because most of our play went through me, that’s not sounding big-headed or anything, that was just the way we played and we got great joy from it over the years," the Republic of Ireland international added.
"I think he was more upset at the timing of it. It didn’t really leave any time to get a replacement in. I think that was probably frustrating for him and the club.
"As I said, he’s been brilliant through my career, I can’t speak highly enough of him, but I just think it was time to move on and challenge myself again because I probably would never have got that chance again. Tough to leave, but I couldn’t turn it down.”
Regarding not celebrating his goal in the Blues’ 3-1 victory over Newcastle last month, he added: "It just didn’t feel right, I enjoyed my time there, I had a good bond with the fans and I just don’t think it would have been right to celebrate after scoring.
"I knew going into the game that if I did score that I wasn’t going to celebrate. Unfortunately we lost.”
McCarthy first signed Murphy when he was Sunderland boss but the striker says his Wearside history never caused him a problem at Newcastle for whom he scored six goals in nine starts and nine sub appearances.
"I didn’t know what kind of reception I’d get really when I first signed,” he admitted. "But it couldn’t have gone any better for me. From the first day I went to the training ground with the fans outside and all that, I don’t think they ever mentioned Sunderland to me.
"They just knew I was proven in the Championship, they wanted to get out of the Championship and they knew I was going there to try to do a job for them and I think they appreciated that.”
Murphy was delighted that his first season at St James’ Park ended with a Championship winners’ medal, despite the campaign proving tougher for Rafa Benitez’s men than many had predicted.
"I think everyone looked at us at the start of the season and thought with the squad and the players that we had that we should have walked it,” he reflected. "But as everyone knows that’s never the case.
"It’s a tough league, I don’t think people realise how hard it is, it’s constantly games, week in, week out, two games a week most times, and it’s just a very demanding and physical league to try and get out of.”