Anger at Danny as the dust settles..

I’ve had a day now to think about the Murphy situation and the more I reflect, the angrier I get with Danny.

I maintain that the two main events that have caused his exit are

> The public criticism after his red card vs. Arsenal
> His omission from the England squad when widely tipped to sneak in

Neither of those reasons are anywhere near good enough to justify the monumental paddy that he has thrown.

Things were fine while he was playing well. The team was climbing the table, and there was talk throughout the national press that he was enjoying a new lease of life at the Valley which could ignite a recall to the England squad. But when that call never came, the first seeds of doubt were obviously sown in the players mind.
Doubt as to whether he had made the right move, and doubt as to whether he would be able to fulfil his ambitions at the club.

His form plummeted after that setback, grew steadily worse until the Arsenal game.

He fully deserved what Curbishley said after the red card. It was a ridiculous thing to do, there wasn't any excuse for doing it, and he did deserve to be sent off.
Danny Murphy is supposed to be a professional footballer, and it doesn’t matter how frustrated you are with a referees decisions, you do not throw the ball down in a petulant and childish fit anywhere on the pitch, let alone 10 yards from the official.

The criticism he received was his own fault. Not Curbishley’s, and certainly not the clubs.

When the suspension was over and he made his last appearance for the club at Goodison he was clearly not interested in the game. Giving the ball away time and time again until he was withdrawn on the hour, never to be seen in a Charlton shirt again.

The last four weeks have just been a jumble of stories from the press linking him mainly to Newcastle. The club itself, after initially denying that Murphy was going to be transferred at all just fell silent upon the whole issue as the stories grew more and more frequent. Never again offering a complete denial.
Curbishley said “all the newspaper reports have been really unsettling for Danny” in the above link, but why should that be the case?

He has been here barely 18 months, after turning down the club he has now gone to sign for. Professionals are in the news all the time, they are used to the scrutiny and used to the exposure, and they are experienced in how to deal with it.
All Danny Murphy has done is use the old “unsettled” chestnut as an excuse in order to jump ship, and I resent that.

A better man would have tried to fight for his place in the side, tried to shrug off the criticism, tried to prove the England set up made a mistake in omitting him from their squad. Not by hiding himself away, not speaking to the fans, and making it so that the club had no option other than to let him walk.

The team may not be better off without him, but the club certainly is. He got roundly booed by the Spurs fans when they played at The Valley this season. Now he is going to get roundly booed by the Addicks when we go to White Hart Lane.

And fully deserved it will be.