As Norwich City fans, we remember him coming through our academy with energy, flair, and a smile on his face and it’s fantastic to see him now enjoying success on a big stage.
There’s a special kind of pride in seeing a former academy player succeed, and Murphy’s League Cup triumph brought exactly that for me. From his early days in yellow and green to assisting in a cup final, Jacob’s journey has been an interesting one to follow. He’s always had talent, as we saw with his blistering start to the 2016/17 season, but more than that, he’s had
heart. His time at the Magpies has hardly been smooth sailing, but now he has written himself into football folklore.
The only Englishman to provide more assists than Murphy in the Premier League this season is Bakayo Saka, therefore Murphy may be eyeing up a hopeful car pool with team-mate Dan Burn the next time Thomas Tuchel names an England squad.
Success isn’t always a given for those departing Carrow Road for sizable fees, in fact it rarely is achieved.
Murphy is the first former Norwich City player to lift a major domestic trophy since James Maddison won the FA Cup with Leicester City almost four years ago. Before Maddison’s triumph, you’d have to rewind to 2012 when Craig Bellamy claimed the League Cup with Liverpool.
Unless I’m mistaken, before that, it’s a real dip into the archives. Andy Townsend picked up two League Cup winner’s medals with Aston Villa in 1994 and 1996, while Chris Sutton and Tim Sherwood were crowned Premier League champions with Blackburn in 1995. Mark Robins added a League Cup winners’ medal with Leicester City in 1997.
Go back a little further and you find Andy Linighan, who not only scored the winner in Arsenal’s 1993 FA Cup final but also won the 1993 League Cup with the Gunners. Linighan’s time at Arsenal saw him collect a league title.
Then there's Steve Bruce, who enjoyed a glittering run of success at Manchester United in the early ‘90s, collecting Premier League titles, FA Cups, and a League Cup along the way.
Success is also relative - any professional football player who has made a good living and enjoyed a full career in the game would likely be proud to have lived a life that would be a dream to many of us fans. After all, there are only 21 clubs in the top two divisions that have won a major trophy more recently than we have and a quarter of the current Premier League crop have never won a major trophy (Brentford, Brighton, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth).
Looking at some of the biggest departures in Norwich City’s history, it’s clear that many players who moved on in search of bigger clubs or opportunities didn’t exactly thrive in their new surroundings. Whether it’s Ben Godfrey or Max Aarons struggling to claim starting berths for
clubs fighting relegation, or Andrew Omabamidele and Jamal Lewis who have simply struggled to kick on and find regular first team football.
Maybe this could serve a cautionary tale and a valuable lesson for some of our prized assets this summer, who may have their heads turned away from another season of football in the Championship.
For example, Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz. Both are still young, talented players with immense potential, and both are loved by the Norwich faithful. They could find success at Norwich, under the tutelage of Johannes Hoff Thorup, with a club and head coach that believes in their development and has shown time and time again that it nurtures talent.
There’s a lot to be said for staying at a club where you're central to the plans, rather than chasing a move that could result in a less prominent role.
With the right focus and commitment, Norwich could be the place
where they achieve their career-defining success, however that is determined.