THERE are few who leave a club with every bit of admiration they have earned still intact.

Far too often players are dazzled by the bright lights of the English leagues as their hunger for self betterment - and perhaps a new Range Rover - takes hold of them.

After all, every young lad dreams of running out against Accrington. Don't they?

These flights of fancy generally lead to the player in question, who has happily taken a decent wage from his club, refusing to sign an extension so any suitors don't have to pay a fee for him and therefore make him more appealing.

The end result? A lot of ill feeling and resentment as a prized-asset disappears for free.

For Motherwell and Jamie Murphy, this could not have been further from the case.

Reared in the club's revered youth academy, the Glasgow boy graduated into the Fir Park first team as a teenager before establishing himself as one of the top talents in the SPL.

It wasn't long before English clubs came sniffing for the skilful forward, with Sheffield United leading the charge.

It could have been easy for Murphy to ponder the move and wait until the summer of 2013 when he became a free agent to assess his options.

Instead, on January 3, the Scotland under-21 internationalist walked on to the Parkhead pitch in what would turn out to be his last match for Motherwell as the Lanarkshire club received a fee for his transfer.

It was a tearful goodbye for the man who had spent 11 years of his career in claret and amber as his team-mates and then-boss Stuart McCall ushered an emotional Murphy away from a pocket of travelling fans chanting his name.

Speaking to SportTimes, the Sheffield United man still has the noise ringing in his ears.

"I remember my last game for Motherwell. I remember we should have won it as well," recalled Murphy of the 1-0 loss he captained Motherwell in.

"It was a difficult moment having to leave. But I knew it was something I had to do. I knew I had to test myself down here.

"I loved my time at Motherwell. Coming through the youth team, getting into the first team was a big thing for me. To go and be a big part of the first team was everything that I wanted when I signed full-time at 15.

"You want to try and progress to the first team to play games and score goals. I was one of the lucky ones that I managed to do that before eventually moving on."

It is an understatement to say the grass is not always greener when someone walks out of Fir Park. Just ask the raft of familiar faces who have returned in recent years.

But Murphy's story at Bramall Lane is one of flourishing success.

Signed by Danny Wilson on a three-and-a-half year contract, the quick-footed forward went on to play 21 times in his first season at the Blades while scoring two goals.

Since then he has become a regular in red and white scoring 19 goals in total primarily from the flanks, a feat which earned him a new deal to keep him in Nigel Cloughs's team until 2017.

"Adjusting to life off the park was definitely harder than finding my feet on it," said Murphy.

"Before moving to Sheffield I had only known one place having lived in Glasgow my whole life. So change wasn't something I was used to.

"It took me a few months but after that I managed to settle in.

"Maybe at first I felt 'this isn't like home' but you get used to it and you find somewhere to stay and places to go.

"The city has been fantastic to me. I can't ask for much more apart from us getting promoted."

That is an ambition which could soon be realised for Murphy as League One club sit in the promotion play-off places.

It could not be further away from the fight his old club currently face.

With 10 games to go Motherwell sit just a point above SPFL Premiership bottom club St Mirren as the threat of relegation hovers ominously above Fir Park.

It is a situation Murphy did not experience during his time in the Well first team as he regularly enjoyed jaunts on the continent to become the club's all-time top European goalscorer with seven strikes.

"Every season is difficult and different," said Murphy.

"Losing Stuart McCall and Kenny Black was a big blow, but I'm sure the manager has put his new ideas in to make the team do well.

"I saw they signed Scott McDonald which I believe is a big thing for them.

"They can definitely turn it round. There is enough quality there and they have players who can score goals. There are also young guys like Lee Erwin who can get them away from the bottom."

While things Murphy goes from strength to strength on the field, the Scot is getting to grips to with an altogether new experience off it - being a dad.

"We had our little girl Sophie back on January 13. It's obviously a bit different but it is great," said the Glasgow boy.

"You can't come home in a bad mood when you have lost a game of football anymore. You need to come home and be 'dad'.

"Thankfully she's not a bad sleeper and she's behaving well."