Former Ipswich Town fans’ favourite Marcus Stewart believes current star striker Daryl Murphy would ‘be a fool’ to leave the club this summer.
Hull, QPR, Burnley, Fulham and Cardiff have all been linked with Murphy after the season of his career, the Irish international finishing as the Championship’s top-scorer with 27 goals as the Blues enjoyed their best campaign in a decade.
The 32-year-old effectively has two years left on his deal and it would take a sizeable offer to tempt manager Mick McCarthy to sell and, secondly, a lucrative, longer-term deal to tempt Murphy to depart.
“For me he’s not going to go anywhere. I think he’d be a fool to leave Ipswich – that’s my opinion,” said Stewart, now the assistant manager at Bristol Rovers.
“He’s done really well at Ipswich, the club is progressing under Mick and so unless something a lot better comes up – and I’m talking about the Prem-ier League – then he should stay.”
Stewart, like Murphy, moved to Ipswich in his mid-20s and immediately fell in love with the area.
He helped fire the club to promotion, via the play-offs, in 2000 and then scored 21 goals the following season as George Burley’s side claimed a shock fifth-place finish.
Town were relegated the following season though and Stewart was sold to top-flight Sunderland for £3.25m and went on to work with Mick McCarthy at The Stadium of Light.
“The difference with me is that the manager accepted an offer,” said the 42-year-old, reflecting on his Portman Road exit, aged 29. “I didn’t put in a transfer request and was happy at Ipswich, even after relegation, but I understood that the club needed the money at that time. I like to think I helped them out by raising a bit of cash.
“The only reason Daryl should leave Ipswich is if he is told he can go – and I can’t see that happening with Mick.
“It sounds like his family are settled, he’s scoring goals, he likes working with the manager and Terry Connor and is part of a group that is moving in the right direction.
“He’s a key player at a big club.
“He’s got to stay at Ipswich because they have got a really good chance at getting promoted this season, either automatically or via the play-offs.”
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