Janice Murray (born 26 October 1966) is an English former international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. She played as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for clubs including Leasowe Pacific,

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

and Liverpool Ladies. Murray won around thirty caps for the senior

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first in ...

Club career

Murray acquired the nickname Psycho. During a match on her native Merseyside, she scored a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

in a manner which a spectator likened to Zico. The comment, made in

scouse Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly dis ...

, was misheard as Psycho and the name remained with Murray throughout her career. In April 1993 football journalist

Henry Winter Henry Winter (born 18 February 1963) is an English sports journalist. He is currently the Chief Football Writer for ''The Times'', and previously a Football Correspondent for ''The Daily Telegraph''. Education Winter was educated at Westmi ...

wrote in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' that Murray was "nicknamed 'Psycho' but the possessor of skills more

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than

Vinnie Vinny or Vinnie is a masculine given name, usually a shortened version of Vincent, Vincenzo, or Vicente, which may refer to: Vincents * Vinnie Anderson (born 1979), New Zealand rugby league footballer * Vinny Appice (born 1957), American rock ...

." She helped Leasowe win the 1989 WFA Cup then won two doubles with Doncaster Belles in 1992 and 1994. Murray returned to Merseyside with newly formed Liverpool Ladies in 1994.

International career

On 23 May 1989, 22-year-old Murray made a debut

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

appearance in a 2–0 home

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

defeat by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The match was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

to mark the 20th anniversary of the

Women's Football Association The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...

(WFA) and was played as a

curtain raiser A curtain raiser is a short performance, stage act, show, actor or performer that opens a show for the main attraction. The term is derived from the act of raising the stage curtain. The first person on stage has "raised the curtain". The fashio ...

to the male national team's

Rous Cup The Rous Cup was a short-lived football competition in the second half of the 1980s, contested between England, Scotland and, in later years, a guest team from South America. Overview The Rous Cup arose from the ashes of the British Home Cha ...

game against

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. When

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

(FA) took over running the national team in 1993, Murray started the first game that September, a 10–0 win over

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

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. Manager

Ted Copeland Ted Copeland is an English former football coach. He managed the England women's side between 1993 and 1998, leading them to a quarter-final appearance in the 1995 World Cup. Copeland spent 12 years working as a lecturer in physical education a ...

selected Murray in the next three 1995 UEFA Women's Championship qualifiers, before she retired from international duty along with club teammate Tracey Davidson. Davidson remarked that: "The management leave a lot to be desired, and if you don't enjoy it, what's the point?" Murray's subsequent absence from England's

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

squad was controversial. Doncaster Belles manager Paul Edmunds described it as a disaster for the team: "It's such a shame she's not going to Sweden. She'd go down the line, she'd pop in the cross, Kaz'd score on the end of it – she'd solve his opeland'sleft-side problem in one go. But he's put her off, hasn't he? Disaster, that."

References

;General references * 1966 births Living people English women's footballers Everton F.C. (women) players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's association football wingers {{England-women-footy-bio-stub