William Henry Foulkes
Big Member
So far I've read one set of views from the pro-selling camp, that in attempting to retain Murphy his form might suffer and that it would be detrimental to the club and any potential fee they might receive. That's one scenario. Another might be that with a declared opinion from within the club, again by it's manager, that promotion was our priority this season, attempting to persuade Murphy to stay for one more season, and that Murphy will have been regarded as central to that promotion push, would have been another scenario. If, at the end of that season, promotion hadn't been achieved then Murphy would be allowed to leave with the club's blessing. Of course this represents a gamble, but should Murphy have bitten the bullet, got his head down, and contributed to this push for promotion, then perhaps a gamble worth taking. If he was sensible enough to have played well and other teams were interested in his form, form displayed over more than a couple of seasons, then a dutch auction may have arisen and the question of Murphy's value would be an altogether different question.
Fairy nuff.
I'd imagine this was the scenario put before Murphy - it seems one of the best ways of encouraging him to stay. But his stated reason for leaving was international ambition, and to this end there was the higher profile of Division 2 (and, from memory, connections with the Scotland set up at Brighton).
If he had stuck around for a season then that time would have passed.