VIVA LAS VEGAS .. HIYA AR OATH
LA is sunshine all the way and I loved glamour of loan in Sin City. So when I play at Gayfield and the wind is howling in my face at 40 mph, it does cross my mind as to how I got here
Los Angeles to Arbroath. Via Las Vegas. As a footballer’s career path it’s as unconventional as they come.
After training in LA, James Murphy would spend the rest of his day chilling out at Paradise Cove or on Malibu Beach.
It’s sunshine all year round when you play for the MLS new boys.
When he went on loan to Las Vegas Lights in the league below, he was mesmerised by the neon glow of Sin City’s famous strip.
Now? When he walks out at Gay field and a gale blowing offthe North Sea cuts him in two, he wonders how the hell he ended up in Angus.
But incredibly, the 22-year-old wouldn’t have it any other way.
Murphy, who hails from New Jersey, is one of Dick Campbell’s key midfielders in the Championship.
He knows people will ask why he swapped Sunset Boulevard for Arbroath smokies.
But for him to develop and prosper as a player, he felt it was a move worth making. And he doesn’t regret it for a second.
The American was a youngster at Sheff ield Wednesday before deciding to return to the US when LAFC came calling.
When he struggled to make inroads to their first-team, he was then sent on loan to USL outfitLas Vegas Lights. And he could easily have stayed in the States when his contract was up. Instead, he jumped on a plane to Scotland for a trial at Dundee before ending up w ith the Red Lichties.
M u r ph y d o e sn ’ t nee d to be told that t h e co n t r as t with back home is stark.
Because the wind that rips through Gayfield on any given Saturday is a regular reminder. He told MailSport: “I grew up on the east coast of America where the winters are actually a lot colder than they are here. “It might be a bit rainier and windier here but in terms of cold? I’ve experienced it much colder in the States.
“In saying that, I did spend the last year of my life living in Los Angeles. And Arbroath definitely isn’t Los Angeles!
“So that was a bit of a shock when I came back to it. I’ve been in Los Angeles and Las Vegas so this is different for sure.
“But I didn’t get the chances I hoped I’d get there as a player.
“I wanted to play and enjoy football again wherever that may be. It has led me to Arbroath and I’m enjoying it so far.
“I loved every minute of living in LA and spending time there. Outside of football, I had a great lifestyle.
“You wake up in the morning and go training under the sun. When you leave, you go and rela x at the beach for a bit.
“That’s just the type of place it is. There’sgood weather all year round so that side of it, I loved. “You couldn’t beat living there. “So when I walk out at Gayfield and the wind is howling in my face at around 40 mph, it does cross my mind as to how I got here.
“I’m aware that it’s known as one of the coldest places in Scotland. And it is pretty windy.
“But I’ve enjoyed it, definitely. There’sa real sense of pride about Arbroath in terms of how they’ve come up to the Championship, winning multiple leagues.
“Thepeople here really get behind the club from the chairman and gaffer to the fans.”
When Murphy’s dream move to the MLS didn’t materialise the way he wanted it to, he was offered the chance to go on loan in Las Vegas.
Although at just 20, he couldn’t enjoy the casinos and nightclubs quite as much as he wou ld have l ik e d .
He said: “LAFC felt like a fresh start for me after Sheff ield Wednesday
The people here really get behind their club
where I’d played a few first-team games. It was an exciting time because they were the new club in the MLS.
“Theproject feltso promising. It was a new club in the league, it was Los Angeles, so I bought into the whole thing, I was intrigued by it.
“But I wasn’t playing as many games as I’d have liked. It was midway through the season and I’d only been on the bench a few times.
“I thought I was doing well enough but it wasn’t happening. “Thestafftold me they’d had an offer for me to go on loan – and it just happened to be in Las Vegas. “I could think of worse places to have a spell out on loan! “Theonly dow nside was that I hadn’t turned 21 yet so I couldn’t have a drink or b e t in Ve g as . S o it wa s l i k e a fo r m of torture!
“It’s some place. It’s just non-stop and you get blown away by it.
“The bright lights and the heat there in the summer are unbelievable. It was an amazing experience, just being around it all and playing football.” As much as he loved the it or not, glitz and glamour of Vegas, believe
Murphy craved a return to British football. before Friends set up a trial at Dens Park Campbell swooped and offered him a deal. with Now he hopes to make such an impact can get the Championship new boys that he another crack at a higher level.
I Murphy said: “I definitely can’t say knew anything about Arbroath – either the place or the club – before I signed.
“I’d been told some stories before coming but I didn’t know much about it. “I’m committed to it and I want to play at the highest level I possibly can, wherever that might be. to “I came to England at just 17 to try how make it to the Premier League, to see far I could go. in “I went back to America and now I’m Scotla nd t r y ing to do as wel l a s I can. who “You see it all the time – football players then are have come from virtually nothing but suddenly playing on the global stage.
I want “I don’t see why I can’t be the next one. could to do well in this league. If I impress there be opportunities.
“Therearebig clubs here in the Premiership So and Championship, with big stadiums. Arbroath are the perfect platform.”