Gerry Murphy

Gerry Murphy (born July 22, 1943 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland) is the Director of Football Development at Huddersfield Town. He was the Academy Director between 1988 and April 17, 2007, and was caretaker manager of Huddersfield Town from March 6 to April 11, 2007 and again from April 1 to May 3, 2008.

Murphy never played football above amateur level, but has the full complement of coaching qualifications to international level.

Murphy won the Football League's "Contribution to Football" award on 5 March 2006 selected by listeners of BBC Radio Five Live's "Sport on Five". [ [http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10794~797871,00.html "Jagielka Named Championship Player Of The Year"] , Tony Leighton, The Football League, 5 March 2006]

As a measure of his success, in February 2007 Huddersfield's 23-man first-team squad included 15 academy graduates. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=436526&in_page_id=1779&in_a_source= "Graduates have made the grade in League One"] , Daily Mail, 16 February 2007] Murphy said "Every academy has its own way, we like to keep quantity low and quality high." The most notable graduate was Jon Stead who was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £1.25m in February 2004. [ [http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1714868,00.html#article_continue "Academies left in the lurch by sinking funds"] , David Conn, The Guardian, 22 February 2006]

Following Peter Jackson's contract termination on March 6, 2007, Murphy was put in temporary charge of Huddersfield Town's first team affairs,cite news | date=2007-03-06 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/huddersfield_town/6422635.stm | title=Huddersfield sack manager Jackson | publisher=BBC Sport | accessdate=2007-03-06] a role that lasted for six games until 11 April 2007.

Then on 17 April 2007, Murphy was appointed Director of Football Development. In addition to his position as Academy Director he has been handed control of the Club's scouting activities. [ [http://tote.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1811_2070597,00.html "Terriers gamble on new shirt deal"] , TeamTalk, 18 April 2007]

Following Andy Ritchie's contract termination on April 1, 2008, Murphy was put in temporary charge of Huddersfield Town's first team affairs for the second time. His second tenure will end on May 3, when Stan Ternent will take over for the new season.

In Murphy's 2 terms in charge, he has led the team to victories over Town's West Yorkshire rivals, Bradford City (2-0 on March 10, 2007) and Leeds United (1-0 on April 15, 2008).

Managerial statistics

References