Portsmouth winger’s pride in Newcastle United brother - and thanks Oxford United owe Premier League outfit

And the in-form Blues man has told the Magpies man and his sibling helped play a motivating role in his former side Oxford United’s play-off success last term.

Murphy and his fellow wideman brother have both made impressive names for themselves with successful careers in the game, after emerging together at Norwich City.

Pompey’s summer arrival moved to the Premier League with Cardiff for £11m in 2018, a year on from his twin moving to St James’ Park for £12m.

The Toon man’s career has soared in the north east, culminating in a special moment last season when he operated in the Champions League for Eddie Howe’s side.

A clip of his reaction as he lined up for his first group game against AC Milan in the San Siro went viral, with his delight at making the grade evident to see.

The Pompey man told how that sentiment was reciprmocated, as he looked on with reflected joy.

Murphy told Sky Sports’ EFL Essentials podcast: ‘We speak every day. We’ve always said we’d try to be closer in our careers, but we’ve ended up being at opposite ends of the country.

‘He’s got a job to do and I’ve got a job to do, but we’re in contact every day.

‘It’s always been a dream of ours to play in the Champions League.

‘From that clip you could see how happy and proud he was to do it.

‘I remember we had a game on Tuesday, so I was doing my pre-match prep for it but had the game on.

‘I had goosebumps myself, but I think it was just the pride and joy. I could see how much it meant to him and it felt like I was there about to play that game. It was brilliant.’

Murphy told how his own success with play-off success with Oxford arrived with his brother’s team adding an extra motivation.

An emotional message was sent to Jacob, with the knowledge there was support from the north east making an impact as Des Buckingham’s men triumphed over Bolton at Wembley - with Murphy grabbing two goals.

He added: ‘It was special and I really enjoyed getting that message. It rubbed off well on the whole team itself.

‘The Newcastle boys were watching the game as well and it felt like there was a massive togetherness.

‘We went into the game as underdogs but we had that backing from the Newcastle squad and the boys knew they were watching.

‘It wasn’t motivation but more added motivation. There was a lot of people wishing us well and that was good.’