The annual Linfield Gala Dinner & Awards Night was held at The Europa Hotel on Saturday night with the hugely prestigious Torrans Trophy presented for the 18th time.

Awarded annually, the Torrans Trophy goes to a Linfield personality who is deemed to have earned legendary status at the club – the first winner was Noel Bailie MBE.

And it is fitting that, in 2025, the latest entrant to the ‘Hall of Fame’ is the man who played alongside ‘The Skipper’ for more than 10 seasons, William ‘Winkie’ Murphy.

The facts and figures are that Winkie, who was born in January 1974, signed from Ards in 1997 and went on to pull on the Royal Blue jersey 639 times, scoring 48 goals, and collecting 9 League winners medals, 7 Irish Cups, and 1 all-island trophy win,to name but a few, following in the footsteps of teak-tough predecessors and Torrans recipients like Peter Rafferty and the manager who signed him, David Jeffrey MBE. 

Early in his Linfield career (21 November 1998) Winkie created a moment of history when scoring Linfield’s first goal at Solitude in almost 30 years, and he ended his time at the club in 2013 before signing for Glenavon. Other historical moments include being part of the 2005 Setanta Sports Cup and 2005/06 Clean Sweep sides.

In 2007/08 Winkie had a successful Testimonial Season which culminated in a game against a star-studded Rangers Legends side including Graham Roberts, Mark Hateley and Mark Walters. Guess who scored the final goal in a 5-3 win for The Blues? 

From 2015 to 2024 Winkie was Assistant Manager at Coleraine and is currently enjoying some well-earned free time away from football, although the big man regularly pulls on his boots for the Linfield Legends side in charity games. 

And the final word goes to Winkie. “It’s a huge privilege to be the latest to win The Torrans Trophy, following in the footsteps of some greats of our club. I am so proud of this honour”.