The former Manchester City academy coach has been appointed Cardiff City manager
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Cardiff City's Ken Choo with new manager Brian Barry-Murphy
(Image: Cardiff City FC)
Cardiff City have announced the appointment of Brian Barry-Murphy as their new boss.
After a slight hold-up at the Leicester City end, where the Irishman was contracted as a first-team coach on Ruud van Nistelrooy's staff, the Bluebirds have finally got their man and it is news that has many fans excited.
Because the former Rotherham manager represents a massive shift in what Cardiff have had before. Many at Cardiff believe relegation from the Championship, a disaster which was coming from a mile off, really, at least affords the club the opportunity for a real reset.
Some fans would have preferred a steadier hand at the tiller, or someone with more experience at managing senior teams and of course those fears are valid. However the club, having considered perhaps safer options, decided to be more aggressive in their approach and finally alter the course of the club's future. They believe Barry-Murphy is the man to do that.
But why? Well, without being in the room, the indication is that the 46-year-old was a cut above during his interview with board representatives and his vision for the future was an exciting one.
City fans, though, might not know a huge deal about the former midfielder. But in a wide-ranging chat with the Not The Top 20 podcast, Brian-Murphy laid out his coaching principles, youth policy and the lessons he learned from his time as Manchester City's academy head coach.
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His only experience in senior management was at Rochdale, where he spent a little over two years after being on the coaching staff there. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community
Taking charge of a team with a lower budget than most in the division, he received praise for how he promoted youth and the eye-catching style of football he implemented there. That, ultimately, got him the Man City job.
He did suffer relegation out of League One, however, but has some poignant reflections on his time there.
"The club had always been synonymous with bringing through young talent and giving them a platform to play in League One," he said of his time at Rochdale, speaking back in December. "I was part of that coaching staff that brought the young players through - my job was to bring academy players through to the first team and give them the tools to progress into a first team that was successful.
"But also to create value for the club to help it survive, essentially.
"The players were fully immersed and invested in that and it became an attractive proposition for parents to put them into our academy for that very reason."
Indeed, it is understood his work with young players was a key driver in him leaping to the top of the list for Cardiff's decision-makers, who believe they have a fantastic crop of youngsters and were desperate to get a manager in who could eke the best out of them.
They also wanted a shift in style of play, too, one that would set the standard for how the club play and who they recruit for years to come and Barry-Murphy felt like the right man to take on that remit.
"I definitely made mistakes in terms of having the ball for long periods without being progressive and without attacking quickly enough, because I wanted us to take the ball away from perceived bigger opponents, with bigger budgets and bigger players, because I felt whenever we gave them the ball back they could hurt us more," he added.
"But if you asked me if I made mistakes, I would say 'Definitely'. And really, part of my journey has been, with all due respect, working with a different calibre of player in the final third and needs to be serviced quickly, wants to receive the ball on the last line of the opponents much more efficiently than we did back then.
"You go then to working with a calibre of player in Cole Palmer, Oscar Bobb, Sam Edozie, if the ball doesn't come quickly enough to those players, the opponents will be quickly organised. So it was always about playing to the strengths of those players who can decide games.
"Whereas at Rochdale, we were conscious of playing against teams with far superior budgets and squads, so we wanted a point of difference to give us the best opportunity to win games. Then you become attractive to parent clubs that want to loan you players, because of the style of play and because the players enjoyed it."
It's no secret that there has been a growing disconnect between the club and its fan base. Yes, results are likely to cause division and rifts, but the manner in which the club's style of play has wildly swung from one side of the spectrum to another has been damaging as much as it has been frustrating.
Encouragingly, Barry-Murphy has outlined the role he believes having a style of play that fans can buy into helps the club unify and can be a driving factor for success.
Speaking about the lessons he learned at Rochdale, he added: "I definitely made mistakes at Rochdale in keeping possession for possession's sake. At the point of starving the opponents of the ball because I didn't want them to have it.
"But that come become sterile or boring for supporters because they want to see goal action. If you are looking to progress the game and move it forward, creating goalscoring opportunities, you'll either create a chance or turn the ball over which leads to a press and an exciting feeling in the stadium, which will satisfy any audience.
"In today's society, everything is moving quickly as we know. The new generation of supporters want to see an exciting show or game. It's important to understand why we keep possession and it liberates the game.
"We have to set them free in their own minds, then the game will quicken up and it becomes a natural occurrence of the game. The players then don't need to worry if it's exciting or not - because it just is! And the supporters are then in sync with the players.
"All supporters want to win. But if you win, and the style is really poor, it almost papers over the cracks. If you're playing in a certain way that's exciting all the time it becomes much more an unstoppable feeling of a team."
After two years at Rochdale, Barry-Murphy spent three years in Manchester City's academy, soaking up all the knowledge that comes from working within that elite environment. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
Current Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca and Braga boss Carlos Vicens were all in the building the same time as Barry-Murphy, while current Manchester United director of football Jason Wilcox was his colleague at City, too.
However, it doesn't come much bigger than Pep Guardiola, one of the most successful managers in the world. And there was one Pep interview in particular which stood out to Barry-Murphy, which might give Cardiff fans an insight into the level of detail he might go into in preparing his side for matchday.
"Nobody ever speaks about the amount of times he references the opponents," Barry-Murphy said of Guardiola. "There's a famous interview at Newcastle, a couple of years ago, where (Allan) Saint-Maximin caused havoc against him.
"[The interviewer] said to Pep, 'Is that the most horrible game for you? Where you just can't control it?'
"I would show the players at Man City his response every second week. 'We don't play alone. There is an opponent there who has quality as well and they are working on the same things we are working on.'
"These principles of play are so important because of the impact they have on our identity as a team. A lot of the games can be decided by who implements those principles the best.
"Guardiola has an aura or a way of talking to you that has you mesmerised. The way he talks about the game and the way he makes you think about the game, because he sees it on such a deep level, but such a simple level, really pure, and it takes a lot of work.
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"It's to get to a game day that the players have it so clear in their mind, what they've done during the week is going to occur on a Saturday. The stuff they've practiced gives them solutions on a game day. It's amazing, really."