Shayne Murphy: The Corkman who helped guide Scotland to the Euros

Shayne Murphy played for Cork City’s youth team and dreamed of a Premier League career. He got there, but his calling was off the field, guiding with science the growth of stars from Phil Foden to Steph Houghton. Now he’ll bring an Irish presence to the European Championships later this summer

Shayne Murphy supervising training with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez. Murphy recently took a step back from City to form his own consultancy business, SDM Performance, but City remain one of his clients.

The name Shayne Murphy won’t be familiar to you but some of those of the people who rave about his work will.

Jadon Sancho may now be one of the most coveted talents in world football, expected to leave Dortmund sometime this year for over €100m, but he hasn’t forgotten who used to oversee his athletic development back when he was in his early teens at Man City; when Murphy was recently launching his own consultancy, Sancho offered a glowing testimonial, proclaiming the Corkman as a “thorough coach” that he’d “highly recommend”.