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David Murphy Retires From Football

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Birmingham City left-back David Murphy has announced his retirement following a string of injuries that have hampered his career.

Murphy celebrated his 30th birthday this Saturday and as far as the average career goes he would have had some years to go yet.

Signed my Alex McLeish in 2008, Murphy scored for Hibernian against Celtic; before making the January move to Birmingham. His debut wasn`t until February where Blues were held 1-1 at home against Derby.

It wasn`t a great season as Birmingham fought valiantly to stay in the Premier League with wins over Tottenham (4-1) and Manchester City (3-1). Ultimately though, losing 5-1 to Aston Villa and a late 2-0 beating at Fulham meant Blues were to suffer relegation.

His first goal for the club came with a shot from outside the area on the last day of the season to help sink Blackburn 4-1. Contentious scenes followed as the Birmingham fans protested on the pitch at full time against, what was seen to be, an underinvesting and uninterested chairman David Sullivan.

The following season Murphy played 32 times for Birmingham helping them regain their Premier League status.

Back in the big time Murphy began to encounter fitness problems, managing just Carling Cup appearances until featuring against Arsenal in October. He was then forced to miss the majority of November and then again the back end of December.

Murphy featured in the Carling cup quarter final victory over Aston Villa, then again in the semi-final legs which saw Birmingham dramatically beat West Ham (owned by Sullivan and the Golds) 3-1 in order to reach the Carling Cup final!

Sadly Murphy did not play in the final but was instrumental in each round. He managed just 19 appearances that season, being unavailable since mid-march with injury.

The left back did play for Birmingham in their famous Europa League games, a 3-0 win over Nacional, a loss away at Braga and home ties such as the 2-2 with FC Bruges. Murphy remained fit all season reaching 47 appearances as Birmingham lost to Blackpool in the play-offs under Chris Hughton.

Under Lee Clark Murphy has managed just 20 games in two seasons, he scored twice against Milwall in October and his final game was a 1-1 draw away at Derby 26 October.

Murphy was a player hugely liked and present throughout the promising years, where the likes of Forssell, Mcfadden and Zarate excited St Andrews and players like Murphy, Johnson, Dann and Ferguson led them to making St Andrews one of the toughest places to play in England.

From Vital Birmingham, thank you David; you have been a terrific player.

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