DES Buckingham has credited Josh Murphy for the influential role he played in Oxford United’s promotion last season, but insists the winger’s decision to leave the club is firmly in the past.
U’s head coach Buckingham reignited Murphy’s career when he replaced Liam Manning as boss, with Murphy soon becoming a key player for United.
The 29-year-old was in sensational form from mid-February on last season, with six goals scored in 16 regular league games, before Murphy capped off the campaign with the match-winning brace in the 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the Sky Bet League One play-off final.
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The U’s were keen for Murphy, who was out of contract in the summer, to remain at the club following promotion, with fresh deals offered, but ultimately the wide player opted for pastures new.
Murphy joined Portsmouth as a free agent at the end of June, but an ankle injury suffered during pre-season ruled him out until mid-September.
He has since started Pompey’s last four games, including their 6-1 hammering at the hands of Stoke City on Wednesday night.
Buckingham said: “We’ve all moved on. Josh made a decision to move on, and I said at the time, we can thank him for the memories he gave us last year.
“He helped us achieve what we’d been trying to achieve for 25 years, which puts us now in this league.
“I’m now up against him, and he won’t be the last player that we’ll come up against in the next 12 months that would’ve been here.
“We’re a very different team now than we were at the back end of last year. I think people can see that, and we’ve moved on as he has.
“We thank him, but we go down there now with a different group of players, playing some really good football and enjoying ourselves at the moment.”
Buckingham said further on Murphy: “He’s one of the reasons why we are where we are. It was a rough 18 months for him before I arrived, and he was probably a player that benefited from the managerial change.
“He grew and grew month upon month, but allowed us from the style we started to show at the back end of last year that we brought into this year, to lay the foundations, and to show what it looks like.
“He performed extremely well, noticeably in the Wembley final. It’s allowed us to have a foundation and a base to build from, which we’ve continued to try and do better at this year.
“It’s just about making sure it’s not about focusing on him because they do have several threats across the pitch.”
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