Alex Murphy

Left Back - Newcastle United
23 Sep 2029
Sunday
Process

Marked for Alex Murphy

163 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Joe Willock runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Newcastle United — 7.52

1 for Tino Livramento, marked 7.52, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Market

Tino Livramento raises the bar for Newcastle United

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Newcastle United heard it as anything else.

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Newcastle United and West Ham United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match

Newcastle United come up short against West Ham United

West Ham United left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Saba Kharebashvili signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saba Kharebashvili and Newcastle United agree another 5 years.

Squad

No hiding place for Lewis Miley

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lewis Miley, and the manager let it.

In brief

Back issues
155 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Real improvement from Erik Kojzek at Newcastle United

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Erik Kojzek is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

140 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Joe Willock signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joe Willock commits to Newcastle United for another 3 years.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Sven Botman

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom

Newcastle United beat the market to Ryan Ledson from Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ryan Ledson has pre-agreed a move to Newcastle United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Joe Willock

Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The terraces

The spotlight tightens on Nick Woltemade

Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.

Market

Alex Murphy told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alex Murphy has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Newcastle United.

Match

Honours even between Newcastle United and Chelsea

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

101 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

3 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Oviedo come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Newcastle United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Real improvement from Saba Kharebashvili at Newcastle United

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saba Kharebashvili is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Market

Anthony Elanga wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

William Osula stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” William Osula and Newcastle United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

99 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

19 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Newcastle United sign Mateo Joseph for $21.1M

The paperwork is done: Mateo Joseph joins from Leeds United in a deal worth $21.1M. Now comes the harder part.

Squad

Josh Nichols gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Josh Nichols has just signed for Newcastle United, and for once the answer mattered.

Market

Alex Murphy asks to leave Newcastle United

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Nick Woltemade wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

94 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

15 May 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Newcastle United

Nick Woltemade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Newcastle United training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Guimarães is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Alex Murphy signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Murphy and Newcastle United agree another 4 years.

Market

The Jacob Ramsey question follows Newcastle United around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jacob Ramsey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Nikola Krstović has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Newcastle United that is a harder question to answer.

Loan watch

Trevan Sanusi keeps scoring at Latina

16 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

In brief

74 Edition

The Newcastle United Post

27 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Newcastle United

A 1‑4 beating by Arsenal was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Alex Murphy: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Newcastle United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Nick Woltemade signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nick Woltemade commits to Newcastle United for another 5 years.

Squad

Nick Woltemade in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Newcastle United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Guimarães falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Jacob Ramsey

Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Newcastle United

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bruno Guimarães

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

The Sven Botman question follows Newcastle United around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sven Botman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief