They say good things come to those who wait. And for one Rangers fanatic, he had to wait longer than most to secure his dream transfer to the Scottish Premiership giants.
At one point, the deal looked to have collapsed.
Rangers had agreed to bring Jamie Murphy to his beloved Ibrox from Brighton and Hove Albion at the start of the January transfer window back in 2018. But, for 24 hours at least, that lifelong ambition looked set to be ripped away from him in heartbreaking circumstances.
Murphy, looking back the most nail-biting period of his career, describes the situation he found himself in as nothing short of a ‘fiasco’.
Fortunately, thanks in part to former Rangers director Mark Allen, a compromise would eventually be reached with Brighton and the transfer – belatedly – was completed.
Rangers finally signed Jamie Murphy from Brighton
“There was a bit of a fiasco about the transfer,” Murphy recalls, speaking on The Open Goal podcast. “I had the first part of the medical on Thursday night and the second part was booked for Friday. It was all trying to get it done so I could go out to Florida (with them for a friendly tournament in the USA).
“It gets to five, six, seven o’clock, (the Rangers squad) had all met up. Then, Brighton phoned and they were like; ‘deal’s off’. I had done the medical!
“I’m sitting at Murray Park thinking; ‘what’s going on here?’.
“But Mark Allen has gone; ‘no, leave it with us. We’ll sort it’. So we were just sitting there. I know I’m not going to Florida. So I phoned Paul Barber, the chief executive in Brighton, (and said); ‘there is no chance I’m coming back down’.
“He was like; ‘unfortunately Jamie, it’s just something that happened’. So I got home that night thinking it’s off! The next day, it gets to 6 o’clock and Brighton said it can be a loan, and Rangers had agreed it.
“I was like, ‘aye, just get me in’.”
Rangers had initially tried to sign Murphy on a permanent basis, before being forced to accept a temporary arrangement instead.
The Glasgow-born winger would only have to wait a few more months before becoming a full-time member of The Gers’ squad, at least. The then-Steven Gerrard led side stumped up around £1 million that following July.
And such was Murphy’s desire to pull on that iconic royal blue shirt, he turned down a far higher wage south of the border with Bristol City.
Former Scotland star took pay cut to move to Ibrox
“At the time, Bristol City were in. (They were offering me) much bigger money and stuff like that. Never even a thought (that I would go there),” Murphy adds, thinking back to the conversation he had with former Brighton team-mate Glen Murray.
“I remember speaking with Glen Murray about it. He was like; ‘oh, easy choice, Bristol City’. I was like; ‘nah, you don’t really get it’. Coming back to Glasgow, it’s my team. My dad’s team. I had dreamed of this.
“So I took a pay cut to go up.
“(My dad) was like; ‘Ah, it would be brilliant!’ Even the fact he could come to the games and watch Rangers at the same time, it was brilliant.”
Murphy’s obvious adoration for the club and the manner in which the deal came about makes that ACL injury he suffered just weeks after joining Rangers on a permanent basis even more difficult to stomach.
The former Scotland international would make only 10 more appearances for his boyhood club before joining Hibernian two years later.
Now 35, Murphy is still going strong at Ayr United. He scored seven goals and set up 11 more for the Championship outfit last term, proving that his class is indeed permanent.
