‘I am being realistic’ – Murphy reveals why he left Newcastle, delivers message to fans
By Danny Wright
Nottingham Forest’s new man Daryl Murphy has admitted that he left Newcastle in order to pursue instant first-team football.
The 34-year-old struggled to find himself included in Rafa Benitez’s plans last season as he suffered a serious calf injury and had to deal with the goal scoring form of Dwight Gayle.
Murphy, who only signed for the Magpies last summer, has now suggested that the possibility of playing at all in the Premier League next season might be a bit of a far-cry.
He is clearly looking forward to working alongside Mark Warburton at the City Ground, but has taken some time to pay credit to the Newcastle fans who supported him during his spell on Tyneside.
“It was a difficult decision but, if I am being realistic, I would have had to wait for my chance at Newcastle,” said Murphy, as quoted by the Nottingham Post. “I need to be playing. I want to be playing football and hopefully I can come here and get games.
“It was brilliant there. I thank the manager – I can’t thank the manager and the fans enough. They took to me, I had to bide my time when I first signed, because they were playing well and winning games.
“I just needed to be ready. When my chance came, I did well, I scored a couple of goals and we won the league in the end, which was great.
“But I am definitely very happy to be here, I am just looking forward to getting going now, really.”
Although Murphy struggled to get game time, he had a pretty decent goal scoring record as he found the net six times in 18 appearances across all competitions for the Magpies
He started just 11 matches in the Championship, but still managed to net crucial goals in wins over Brentford, Rotherham and Huddersfield.
The former Ipswich man isn’t the only striker to join Nottingham Forest this summer as Jason Cummings has also been recruited by Warburton following an impressive season with Hibernian in the Scottish Championship.
In other Newcastle news, the Magpies are keen on this Championship midfielder and are plotting a bid.
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