Everton hand coaching role to player who suffered potentially fatal blood clotLifelong Blue Peter Murphy has been forced to retire aged 27Everton have handed a coaching role to Scouse footballer Peter Murphy who is facing up to a life after playing having been forced to hang up his boots prematurely at the age of 27.
While injuries have dealt him a cruel blow, he remains thankful to still be around after suffering a potentially fatal blood clot and hopes that his leg up from the Blues can help lead to a full-time position within the game.
Two years ago, Murphy, who had recently joined Morecambe only to get injured in the opening day of the season against Hartlepool, was rushed into Aintree Hospital when his life was threatened by a pulmonary embolism (a blockage in the pulmonary artery, the vessel that carries blood from the heart to the lungs), that had developed from inactivity in his leg, with clots in his knee moving into his lungs.
He said: “I’d just signed for Morecambe from Wycombe and had been made club captain.
“I was made up to come back home with my family after a year away but I did my medial ligament on the first day of the season, just standing after a block tackle.
“I had to be in a knee brace for six weeks but a fortnight into that I woke up one night with a big pain in my back and thought ‘this isn’t right.’
“I went to A&E and was waiting for ages and the pain sort of faded so I went back home but then woke up again the next morning and the back pain was even worse. I couldn’t stand up, it was like someone was stabbing me in the back.
“I phoned an ambulance and was rushed into the hospital and they told me I had numerous blood clots in my lungs having spread up my body.”
Murphy added: “It was my mum who had insisted that I go and get it checked out. I told her ‘I just think I’ve got a stiff back’ but the pain the next morning was like nothing I’d experienced before – it was ridiculous.
“They put me on the blood thinners straight away and eventually the clots clear but after that I had to stay on them for three months so even when my knee was better, I couldn’t play.
“If you get a knock while you’re on them you can bleed excessively.”
After battling back from his major scare, Murphy, who played eight times in 2015/16, turned out 38 times last season and was expecting his latest trip to the surgeon to be far more straightforward. Instead he was delivered the bombshell that his playing days were actually at an end.
He said: “I did the cruciate ligament in my left knee when I was 18 but I’d had no problems since.
“At the end of the season I had a little knock on it so I went to see surgeons and had scans and they said it might just need a little clean-up inside the knee.
“When the surgeon went inside he found the Chondral defect (focal area of damage to the articular cartilage, that lines the end of the bones) and after I woke up from the procedure he told me that I’d have to retire.
“Everyone I’d spoken to had been positive beforehand, including the surgeon who told me ‘I’ve done tests and can’t see anything wrong with the knee’ and he had reckoned that a month down the line I’d have been on my way again.
“I’m only 27, I thought I’d have a few more years left of playing.
“I’ve had two operations over the past six weeks and it’s been hard. I’ve not really been able to drive or get around.”
Having spent six seasons with Accrington Stanley and the last two at Morecambe after a year down south at Wycombe, a philosophical Murphy, who could operate either in midfield or defence, remains grateful for the nine years in professional football that he did get.
He said: “Even though we didn’t win, my highlight was that I got to play at Wembley in the League Two Play-Off final with Wycombe in 2015 and scored in the penalty shoot-out against Southend United.
“I was at Accrington from 16. I’d been offered an apprenticeship at Blackpool but my parents were told that they might have to contribute towards my digs.
“My dad then spoke to Jimmy Bell, the assistant manager at Accrington, I went up for a trial and they offered me a scholarship for what was their first youth team as they’d just got into the Football League.
“I knew the gaffer (John Coleman) because I’m from the same area as him in Kirkby and got to know all the Scousers who were there and I still see them now. There were loads, including Gary Roberts who’s now playing down at Portsmouth.
“It’s a good club to be at. Everyone looks at it from the outside and thinks, ‘oh, Accrington’ but once you go there and experience it, it’s a brilliant club.
“Morecambe was similar with Jim Bentley and Kenny McKenna. There’s a real family feel to the club and everyone’s in there together because there’s not lots of fans or much money."
Murphy is now looking to start a new chapter of his life within the game and hopes to help bring through the next generation of young players.
He said: “I want to go into coaching. I’m looking at starting at Everton part-time at the end of this month when the academy goes back and trying to get my foot in the door.
“I’ve been coaching at Rochdale for the past two years doing their Under-15s part-time after finishing my own training.
“I’d always been looking to get into that side of the game when I finished but it just came a bit sooner than I was expecting.
“I’m a Blue so I’ve been fortunate enough to be offered this work part-time but obviously I’m looking for full-time roles out there.
“This is a great start for me with Everton, the club that I support, so I just want to get in there, do my best and see what it leads to.”
Liv Echo
