Jacob Murphy ready to take his chance at his beloved Newcastle United
The England U21 forward grew up as a Newcastle fan and moved to the club from Norwich ahead of the new Premier League season
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It was the quarter-final of the Uefa Cup and Jacob Murphy was a wide-eyed nine-year-old from Norwich the first time he walked into St James’ Park. It was a game he would never forget.
Newcastle United were his parents’ club and therefore his. Geography matters to those from the north-east. Home was Norfolk, but the family’s heart had always been back in that stadium.
Murphy was still a baby when he was pictured, alongside his twin brother Josh, in a blue denim strip that was the first away one worn by Alan Shearer following his world record transfer to the club in 1996. It is a delightful picture and it surfaced when conversation first started of a move, 300 miles north, to where most of the Murphy family still live.
Unbeknown to Jacob Murphy - his brother Josh is also at Norwich - Rafa Benitez had been watching him for months. Benitez wanted a young wide player with pace who could score goals and Murphy, an England Under-21 international, fitted the bill.
It still carried an air of romance that a Newcastle supporter from so far down south could be getting the nod to sign for his team. There was something old fashioned in that.
“It is nice to wear these colours, looking down on your chest and seeing the badge,” he says, pitch side now at St James’, with around 10,000 young supporters watching an open training day.
“My parents are from here. My mum is from Birtley and my dad is from Ashington. The rest of my relatives are here too. I was a fan from the beginning. My first game was in 2004, a UEFA Cup game against PSV Eindhoven, a 2-1 win. It captured my imagination from that moment. It was a good era for Newcastle, always in Europe.
“I used to wear a Newcastle shirt down in Norwich. There are a lot of pictures of me from this high to this high and now I have a real one!”
His parents, John and Maxine, have recently opened a second Arbuckles restaurant in Downham Market. Making the long trek to their home has not been regular. Since completing the £12 million transfer, Newcastle’s biggest of the summer, he has been shown around by his family.
“As a kid we didn’t come back often so I have been getting to know the area,” he adds. “Firstly I wanted to see the relatives and I’ve met them and they’ve taken me around the city. It is everything I’d hoped. It is a fantastic move for me. There was a lot of pride for the family. I have loads of relatives and cousins. So it is really nice for them to see me here too.
“It has been easy settling and the boys have been nice to me and it is a good group.”
Murphy was an unused substitute for Newcastle’s opening day defeat to Tottenham. He will most likely start on the bench again when they face Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday. It already feels a big game.
The home debut at the ground he first went to 13 years ago as a fan is likely to come against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, in the Carabao Cup.
“I am biding my time at the moment,” he adds. “I will get my chance and be ready for it. The manager wants hard work and has been working with me tactically too. The main message is to work hard. He is brilliant, especially his knowledge and I have learned so much already.
“He will develop me in my career. He wants my directness. My approach to the game is to go full on. I am a quick player and I have to use my pace and work hard.
“Game time is massive. That will come. There are good wingers already here and I have to bide my time.
“Our main focus is to stay in the league. That is the objective and then it is a building process over a few years to get stronger.”
Something Murphy, back ‘home’, intends to do.
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