Pat Murphy

Ex BBC sports staffer,specialising in football and cricket. Waffler at sports lunches/ dinners. Author. Last book The Official History of Sports Report.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Graceful tribute tonight by @vicderbyshire on @BBCNewsnight to Sir Alex Younger, who has died, just 62. For me he was the best of those talking heads on that sofa, wearing his intellect lightly & with good humour. RIP.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Effervescent & dazzling. And a terrific guy.

[マティヴスワールド @MattyVsTheWorld]

Loved the man and all 5 of these kits are some of my favourite ever ones. People would be losing their minds over the Hummel 'red' one. Bottom left and middle where superb, as was that Henson beauty. #avfc

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Best England left-back I’ve seen. His misplaced header to set up Helmut Haller’s goal in the ‘66 WCup Final was his 1st serious error in the tournament. Fast, mobile, a terrier in the tackle. Very underrated.

[Everton FC Heritage Society @EvertonHeritage]

The great Ray Wilson features in a @SpencerVignes article in the Express, today. He is one of the (relatively few) inarguably World class footballers to represent the Toffees in the post-war era. In 154 appearances, Ray set the benchmark for Everton number threes.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

And Jack Taylor between them.

[FootballRetroPlus @robertmdaws]

Cruyff 🇳🇱 and Beckenbauer 🇩🇪
1974 World Cup Final
2-1 to Germany

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

And Charles Barnett making 98* before lunch as an opener.

[Jamie Magill @JamieMagill5]

The game of Stan McCabe's 232 which Bradman insisted the Australians watch from the balcony such was the quality of the batsmanship on show ❤️
@RealMarkLatham

[David Yelland @davidyelland]

I don't think I have ever seen such an outpouring of love and affection for a public servant as we have seen for Alex Younger tonight on this platform and elsewhere. I hope his family are seeing this too.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

So sorry to hear about the passing of Sir Alex Younger. Always enjoyed his wise & wry contributions on @BBCNewsnight and it seems he was last on just a few weeks ago. Always turned up the volume when he spoke, with so much insight.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

I meant when he sat down & talked eloquently about cricket - not when caught up in his frustrations. It was when he tried to articulate those emotions that he was particularly interesting.

[Daniel @kirkers1975]

@patmurphybbc Thoughtful?

Wasn’t he nicknamed Bloodaxe whilst at Middlesex for his hair trigger temper?

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

One of those seminal moments in modern cricket history….

[G 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @Gerontius1]

@patmurphybbc That’s as maybe, but he didn’t like it when I asked him to move his coat from a chair in the foyer of the Park Plaza Cardiff so I could sit down!

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

From my book The Centurions - published in 1983, updated in 2009.

[David Griffin Photography @dgriffinpix]

‘Cricket Quotes’

"Whenever I saw Wally Hammond batting, I felt sorry for the ball."

Len Hutton

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Indeed. Para 3 sentence beginning ‘I can’t think….’ gets to the heart of the matter.

[John O'Donnell @JohnIntraining]

@patmurphybbc I guess I hope they prove him wrong Pat, but they are very lucky to still be there and he is right to make that point

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

That was a superficial quibble,John, the gist of his criticism was well argued. The nub of it was ….. how did Key & McCullum manage to survive? Unarguable,surely?

[John O'Donnell @JohnIntraining]

@patmurphybbc Pat, I think he makes some very valid points however it does come across as a little bit stuffy. Many teams have failed against Australia and India and they didn’t wear fit-flops!

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Excellent article in today’s @theguardian by Mark Ramprakash. Always a thoughtful cricketer, he makes some valid points here.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Excellent article in today’s Guardian by Mark Ramprakash. Always a thoughtful cricketer, he makes some valid points here.

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

You were one of the sensible, proactive press officers,Jonathan - too many are fans with IPads!

[Jonathan Collett @JonCollett]

@patmurphybbc If I’d told Mickey Arthur he could only do a pooled interview and wasn’t allowed to speak to you he’d have given me v short shrift! And rightly so!

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

And I do believe that’s Basil Dolly at the non-striker’s end?

[Jose Puliampatta (Prof. Bala) @JosePuliampatta]

That Gizel-like movement can come only from Dennis Lillee

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

He was nicknamed The Tank. Electric pace over 2 yards. Still the record appearances for @OUFCOfficial I think?

[The League Magazine @Theleaguemag]

Ron Atkinson of Oxford United

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

You get the measure of a footballer if he’ll do live interviews in the immediate aftermath of a damaging defeat. GM
was one of those. Took his responsibilities seriously. Total respect.

[jamie bunch @jamiebunch]

What an ambassador for THFC he is …

A role model and club legend of the highest order ⬇️👏

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

Lovely man,Arthur. Loved his cricket. Often used to say to me during an interview ‘Oh, you’ve bowled me a googly there, Pat’.

[Footy On This Day @ThreeLionsThen]

#OnThisDay in 1984 Arthur Cox was appointed as @dcfcofficial manager. He won 184 of his 454 games in charge #dcfc @thesefootytimes @brfootball @Footballtweet @derbycounty @totaldcfc @derbycountyblog @DCFCMemories @BBCDerbySport @dcfc_live @Rams_Chat

[Pat Murphy @patmurphybbc]

That is a world-class stat,David. What a moniker!

[David Griffin Photography @dgriffinpix]

On This Day in 1906 the magnificently named John Elicius Benedict Bernard Placid Quirk Carrington Dwyer made his debut for @SussexCCC against @DerbyshireCCC at Hove and took nine for 35 in Derbyshire's second innings…