Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:29 pm
AS centre-halves go, Don Murray goes down as one of Cardiff City’s finest. Born in Elgin, Aberdeenshire, he was given the captain’s armband at the age of 19 and led them to several fairytale European victories, the legacy of which still lives on.
“I was 14 years of age and Cardiff City had a scouting network in Scotland,” explains Don, from his home on the outskirts of Cardiff. “There was a fellow called Jimmy Shanks who lived six miles away from my village who watched me play for my youth team Burghead Thistle. He spoke to my parents and asked whether they would be prepared to let me go for a trial with Cardiff City.
“I was also being looked at by Aberdeen, but my father felt I would have a far better chance of making the grade at Cardiff, who were in the top division at the time, because Aberdeen had the pick of all the kids in the north of Scotland.”
Don made the move and never looked back, totalling 406 league appearances for the club over a 12 year period. He would also go on to face the likes of Porto, Real Madrid and Hamburg in the European Cup Winners Cup.
“When I arrived at Cardiff they were captained by Scottish centre-half Danny Malloy. There was another lad Gordon Fraser, who was transferred from Rothes in the Highland League, and he was in the same digs with me. We were living down Victoria Park at the time and by coincidence our landlady was from Glasgow. So that helped to settle me in,” said Don.
Signed by Bill Jones, Don was given his debut aged 17 by George Swindin, who succeeded Jones after a poor start to the 1962/63 season.
“We were playing Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park,” recalls Don. “When George Swindin told me he was going to give me my debut I was frightened to death. I told him: ‘I’m not good enough, I can’t play, I’m not ready!’ But he said: ‘If you’re good enough, you’re big enough and you’ve got it. Mark my words, you’ll be fine.’
“We got beat 3-2 but it was one of the most exciting things that happened to me in my life. I mean, I was marking the England centre-forward at the time Alan Peacock, and he scored after 12 minutes or so – my chin almost hit my knees. But I was surrounded by class players - Ivor Allchurch put his arm around me and said: ‘Hey, pick your chin up, you’re doing really well, you carry on the way you’re playing.’ They were great to me the senior players.
“I was in the team the next week and I think I played about five or six games that season.”
Despite an encouraging start, Don’s chances of first-team football the following season looked slim due to a signing that would rock the football world -the arrival of Welsh international and former Juventus star John Charles, who was equally adept playing at centre-half as he was centre-forward.
“Sure enough at the start of the following season I went back into the reserves and John started as centre-half in the first team,” said Don. “But after six or seven matches, John got injured and they brought me back in. When John returned from injury they decided to put him in at centre-forward and I kept my place at centre-half.
“Then we went into a couple of European Cup ties and they moved John back into the defence to play alongside myself and I would go on to partner ‘big John’ in several European Cup ties after that.
“I have seen him chest a ball further than some blokes can kick it. His experience was absolutely invaluable to a young side as we were back then. I used to be in awe of some of the things he would do. He would jump to head a ball on the penalty spot when the attacking team knocked a ball into our box and instead of doing what a mere mortal like me would do and head it away as far as possible, John would just coolly head it back to our ‘keeper. That was the confidence of the man, he was something else.”
Despite the arrival of Il Gigante Buono (the Gentle Giant), John Charles, from Roma, George Swindin failed to get City promoted and after finishing 15th in 1963/64 he resigned. He was replaced by Jimmy Scoular – who made Don Murray his captain aged 19.
”There weren’t many opposition captains I came across that were as young as me,” said Don. “Jimmy Scoular thought I was the one, ready at 19 to lead, and lead by example. Bearing in mind we had players like, Ivor Allchurch, and there’s me at 19, and there’s a Welsh international with 70 odd caps, but everyone accepted the appointment. I had the respect of the players.”
Through qualification by winning the Welsh Cup, the Bluebirds flew the flag for Wales in the European Cup Winners Cup during Jimmy Scoular’s reign and Don captained the side during the club’s furthest forays in European competitions.
“My debut was the biggest game I played in,” confirms Don. “But you always dreamt of playing teams like Real Madrid, they were one of the top teams in the world as they are now, and in 1971 it came true for us. We had played some top sides in Europe: Porto, Hamburg, Juventus, Roma, we were fairly used to playing big games at that time. Even though we were in the old second division, our cup runs were quite lengthy on occasions, don’t forget we got to the semi-finals against Hamburg, so we had no fear of playing Real Madrid.
When we played them at Ninian Park, and we all know the result, we could have beaten them 4-0 that night, we had the chances to really bury them. Even at the Bernabeu, I thought we played well, unlucky with the couple of the goals we lost, but it was a huge achievement and the effort from the lads was unbelievable.”
As well as the glamour ties against Europe’s elite, Cardiff City’s foreign adventurers during the Jimmy Scoular era also saw them travel to some of European football’s more obscure destinations.
“We had to play Moscowpedo (Torpedo Moscow) in one European Cup tie,” reminisces Don. “We couldn’t play them in Moscow because the weather conditions at the time wouldn’t allow it. So we had to go to the old Soviet Uzbekistan, 300 miles from the Chinese border. It was quite an experience. To get to the training ground we travelled through the outskirts of Tashkent, which had been hit a couple of years previous by an earthquake, there were flattened buildings and open sewer systems everywhere. Soccer was state run back then in Russia, there were 270,000 applications for tickets, such was the interest in the match over there, we played in front of 80,000 at the stadium in Tashkent.”
Despite flying high in Europe, domestically the Bluebirds were unable to realise their aim of promotion to the top tier, and Don admits Dave Jones’ recent tenure drew parallels with Jimmy Scoular’s reign.
“We underachieved if anything, a couple of seasons I really felt we had the quality to go up, but we always fell short. Jimmy said, ‘Don, we just weren’t good enough.’ And he was exactly right. The number of times we fell short right at the final hurdle - the same has happened over the last few seasons. We weren’t good enough, and that is the bottom line.”
Years after his career ended Don found out a number of top clubs had bid for him when he was playing at his peak.
“In hindsight, I think I could have left Cardiff City. No disrespect to the club, but at international level I captain Scotland at youth level but I missed out on a full cap. It was years later I found out that bids were made for me,” explains Don. “The records are open to supporters now and Aston Villa, Birmingham and Everton had come in for me, but Cardiff City didn’t consider them.
“I didn’t know about the offers, I always had it in my mind that we would be promoted, unfortunately it never happened. If I was to realise my full-cap ambitions I would had to have gone. But I have no regrets.”
Towards the end of his spell at Cardiff, Don, despite now being synonymous with the club, joined fierce rivals Swansea on loan.
“John Charles was responsible, Harry Gregg the old Man United goalkeeper was manager at the time and Swansea were struggling a bit,” explains Don. “I was coming to the end of my career and John made an enquiry to the club to let me out on loan to help them out. It put bread on my table. I had no qualms about playing for Swansea at all, there was rivalry between the clubs always has been always will be, but both sets of fans accepted me fine. I had no problem going there as a Cardiff City player at Swansea nor did I have coming back, there was no venom at all. My relationship with the Cardiff City supporters has always been spot on.”
As far as Cardiff City fans are concerned the sentiments are mutual and the tough-tackling lynchpin is still remembered as one of Cardiff City’s most revered stalwarts.
He said: “I’ve always been comfortable in the company of Cardiff City Supporters. Even to this day, out and about people talk to me about days gone by, it’s unbelievable.”
Interviewed by David Towler - MTDB
“I was 14 years of age and Cardiff City had a scouting network in Scotland,” explains Don, from his home on the outskirts of Cardiff. “There was a fellow called Jimmy Shanks who lived six miles away from my village who watched me play for my youth team Burghead Thistle. He spoke to my parents and asked whether they would be prepared to let me go for a trial with Cardiff City.
“I was also being looked at by Aberdeen, but my father felt I would have a far better chance of making the grade at Cardiff, who were in the top division at the time, because Aberdeen had the pick of all the kids in the north of Scotland.”
Don made the move and never looked back, totalling 406 league appearances for the club over a 12 year period. He would also go on to face the likes of Porto, Real Madrid and Hamburg in the European Cup Winners Cup.
“When I arrived at Cardiff they were captained by Scottish centre-half Danny Malloy. There was another lad Gordon Fraser, who was transferred from Rothes in the Highland League, and he was in the same digs with me. We were living down Victoria Park at the time and by coincidence our landlady was from Glasgow. So that helped to settle me in,” said Don.
Signed by Bill Jones, Don was given his debut aged 17 by George Swindin, who succeeded Jones after a poor start to the 1962/63 season.
“We were playing Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park,” recalls Don. “When George Swindin told me he was going to give me my debut I was frightened to death. I told him: ‘I’m not good enough, I can’t play, I’m not ready!’ But he said: ‘If you’re good enough, you’re big enough and you’ve got it. Mark my words, you’ll be fine.’
“We got beat 3-2 but it was one of the most exciting things that happened to me in my life. I mean, I was marking the England centre-forward at the time Alan Peacock, and he scored after 12 minutes or so – my chin almost hit my knees. But I was surrounded by class players - Ivor Allchurch put his arm around me and said: ‘Hey, pick your chin up, you’re doing really well, you carry on the way you’re playing.’ They were great to me the senior players.
“I was in the team the next week and I think I played about five or six games that season.”
Despite an encouraging start, Don’s chances of first-team football the following season looked slim due to a signing that would rock the football world -the arrival of Welsh international and former Juventus star John Charles, who was equally adept playing at centre-half as he was centre-forward.
“Sure enough at the start of the following season I went back into the reserves and John started as centre-half in the first team,” said Don. “But after six or seven matches, John got injured and they brought me back in. When John returned from injury they decided to put him in at centre-forward and I kept my place at centre-half.
“Then we went into a couple of European Cup ties and they moved John back into the defence to play alongside myself and I would go on to partner ‘big John’ in several European Cup ties after that.
“I have seen him chest a ball further than some blokes can kick it. His experience was absolutely invaluable to a young side as we were back then. I used to be in awe of some of the things he would do. He would jump to head a ball on the penalty spot when the attacking team knocked a ball into our box and instead of doing what a mere mortal like me would do and head it away as far as possible, John would just coolly head it back to our ‘keeper. That was the confidence of the man, he was something else.”
Despite the arrival of Il Gigante Buono (the Gentle Giant), John Charles, from Roma, George Swindin failed to get City promoted and after finishing 15th in 1963/64 he resigned. He was replaced by Jimmy Scoular – who made Don Murray his captain aged 19.
”There weren’t many opposition captains I came across that were as young as me,” said Don. “Jimmy Scoular thought I was the one, ready at 19 to lead, and lead by example. Bearing in mind we had players like, Ivor Allchurch, and there’s me at 19, and there’s a Welsh international with 70 odd caps, but everyone accepted the appointment. I had the respect of the players.”
Through qualification by winning the Welsh Cup, the Bluebirds flew the flag for Wales in the European Cup Winners Cup during Jimmy Scoular’s reign and Don captained the side during the club’s furthest forays in European competitions.
“My debut was the biggest game I played in,” confirms Don. “But you always dreamt of playing teams like Real Madrid, they were one of the top teams in the world as they are now, and in 1971 it came true for us. We had played some top sides in Europe: Porto, Hamburg, Juventus, Roma, we were fairly used to playing big games at that time. Even though we were in the old second division, our cup runs were quite lengthy on occasions, don’t forget we got to the semi-finals against Hamburg, so we had no fear of playing Real Madrid.
When we played them at Ninian Park, and we all know the result, we could have beaten them 4-0 that night, we had the chances to really bury them. Even at the Bernabeu, I thought we played well, unlucky with the couple of the goals we lost, but it was a huge achievement and the effort from the lads was unbelievable.”
As well as the glamour ties against Europe’s elite, Cardiff City’s foreign adventurers during the Jimmy Scoular era also saw them travel to some of European football’s more obscure destinations.
“We had to play Moscowpedo (Torpedo Moscow) in one European Cup tie,” reminisces Don. “We couldn’t play them in Moscow because the weather conditions at the time wouldn’t allow it. So we had to go to the old Soviet Uzbekistan, 300 miles from the Chinese border. It was quite an experience. To get to the training ground we travelled through the outskirts of Tashkent, which had been hit a couple of years previous by an earthquake, there were flattened buildings and open sewer systems everywhere. Soccer was state run back then in Russia, there were 270,000 applications for tickets, such was the interest in the match over there, we played in front of 80,000 at the stadium in Tashkent.”
Despite flying high in Europe, domestically the Bluebirds were unable to realise their aim of promotion to the top tier, and Don admits Dave Jones’ recent tenure drew parallels with Jimmy Scoular’s reign.
“We underachieved if anything, a couple of seasons I really felt we had the quality to go up, but we always fell short. Jimmy said, ‘Don, we just weren’t good enough.’ And he was exactly right. The number of times we fell short right at the final hurdle - the same has happened over the last few seasons. We weren’t good enough, and that is the bottom line.”
Years after his career ended Don found out a number of top clubs had bid for him when he was playing at his peak.
“In hindsight, I think I could have left Cardiff City. No disrespect to the club, but at international level I captain Scotland at youth level but I missed out on a full cap. It was years later I found out that bids were made for me,” explains Don. “The records are open to supporters now and Aston Villa, Birmingham and Everton had come in for me, but Cardiff City didn’t consider them.
“I didn’t know about the offers, I always had it in my mind that we would be promoted, unfortunately it never happened. If I was to realise my full-cap ambitions I would had to have gone. But I have no regrets.”
Towards the end of his spell at Cardiff, Don, despite now being synonymous with the club, joined fierce rivals Swansea on loan.
“John Charles was responsible, Harry Gregg the old Man United goalkeeper was manager at the time and Swansea were struggling a bit,” explains Don. “I was coming to the end of my career and John made an enquiry to the club to let me out on loan to help them out. It put bread on my table. I had no qualms about playing for Swansea at all, there was rivalry between the clubs always has been always will be, but both sets of fans accepted me fine. I had no problem going there as a Cardiff City player at Swansea nor did I have coming back, there was no venom at all. My relationship with the Cardiff City supporters has always been spot on.”
As far as Cardiff City fans are concerned the sentiments are mutual and the tough-tackling lynchpin is still remembered as one of Cardiff City’s most revered stalwarts.
He said: “I’ve always been comfortable in the company of Cardiff City Supporters. Even to this day, out and about people talk to me about days gone by, it’s unbelievable.”
Interviewed by David Towler - MTDB
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:33 pm
Nice one Craig 
...You're on form this week 
...You're on form this week
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:34 pm
An interview provided to me from David which was kept pretty low key, which I thought was an exceptional short read on one of Cardiff's finest - Hope you enjoyed it!
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:35 pm
Marc wrote:Nice one Craig
Always try Marc!
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:36 pm
I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it! 
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:39 pm
Merlin wrote:I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it!
I missed it Craig.
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:01 pm
Enjoyable read and not too dis-similar to a recent meeting with Don at a friends wedding. He was a gentleman and we spoke about city in the past to present. He is a little regretful about not getting a move to a bigger club in the top flight as had he did he would have got a full Scotland cap! Surely one of the best Scottish players never to get a full international cap?
He still gets shouted at down St Mary street "Going for a Don Murray Curry"
He still gets shouted at down St Mary street "Going for a Don Murray Curry"
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:17 pm
Forever Blue wrote:Merlin wrote:I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it!
I missed it Craig.
Don't worry, I saved it to word, I can PM it if you like
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:30 pm
Aramore wrote:Forever Blue wrote:Merlin wrote:I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it!
I missed it Craig.
Don't worry, I saved it to word, I can PM it if you like
I have the un-edited version!
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:33 pm
Merlin wrote:Aramore wrote:Forever Blue wrote:Merlin wrote:I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it!
I missed it Craig.
Don't worry, I saved it to word, I can PM it if you like
I have the un-edited version!
Stop ruining my moment
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:36 pm
Aramore wrote:Merlin wrote:Aramore wrote:Forever Blue wrote:Merlin wrote:I will have my hands on the un-editied Whittingham Interview again tomorrow at some point, when I will be allowed permission to post it!
I missed it Craig.
Don't worry, I saved it to word, I can PM it if you like
I have the un-edited version!
Stop ruining my moment
sorry!
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:50 pm
ace player, excellent read, cheers.
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 9:10 pm
i used to live next to gordon fraser as a kid he used to take us over llandaff fields for a kickabout with his son derek,he was a real tough guy and the power of his shot would knock you over.a tidy fella as well 
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:33 pm
Don will be forever remembered as a city legend , a real tough bloke and a gent too. A long time ago city were playing away midweek at pompey and the players travelled there on the train with the city fans, this often happened in the sixties and early seventies. After the game some city fans were being threatened by a mob of pompey at the station, Don stepped in and sorted out the pompey lads , he was not a bloke to mess with.
, he was not a bloke to mess with.
Re: Don Murray - one of Cardiff's finest speaks up!
Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:56 am
nice 1 good read that