He is possibly best remembered for the incident in the 1956 FA Cup final when Manchester City's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann broke a bone in his neck when diving at Murphy's feet.
[3] He played as an inside forward, deputising for the injured Les Bennett in the "push and run" side that won the League championship in 1950–51.
The following season Murphy scored another four goals in Birmingham's FA Cup run, which ended this time in semifinal defeat to Manchester United's Busby Babes.
He played in Birmingham's first match in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, when they became the first English club side to participate in Europe,[4] and finished that campaign as the competition's joint leading scorer.
For Birmingham his record was 127 goals in 277 games in all competitions, which ranks him third as of 2024[update], behind Joe Bradford and Trevor Francis, in their all-time scoring charts.