Danny Murphy closed the book on his ‘Bob the Cat’ story by revealing his beloved pet “went feral”. Murphy has been on co-commentary duty for the BBC throughout the World Cup.
The former Fulham and Liverpool ace was on the microphone during Norway’s narrow round of 32 victory over Ivory Coast. Many will remember it for Murphy’s unexpected tale about a cat who vanished into the back of a Royal Mail van.
While his brief anecdote was met with stunned silence by his broadcast partner in crime Steve Bower, the football world could not stop talking about it. When reunited with Bower for Spain’s victory over Austria, Murphy revealed what happened to Bob the Cat.
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A matter of days after Murphy said: “I used to have a cat called Bob. Yeah, he jumped in the back of a Royal Mail van, and we lost him,” Bower set out to get a final chapter out of this story.
He said: “Just very quickly, because our fans haven’t stopped since our last commentary. When you told the story about your cat, Bob.” Murphy then interrupted: “Surprisingly, Steve, there has been a lot of interest which has surprised us both.
“He didn’t actually die we did get him back six or seven weeks later. Unfortunately he’d gone feral and we couldn’t re-integrate him into the home.
“He ended up living with my friend’s parents in Preston. That was the life he had. He passed away unfortunately many years ago. Thanks for all of your concern, those who have been messaging us.”
His colleague then brought a touching full-stop to the story by saying: “R.I.P Bob. Who passed away. Seemingly this week, a national tragedy.”
The climax of the ‘Bob the Cat’ tale proved to be the catalyst for a burst of aggression from the Spanish. They went on to take the lead through Mikel Oyarzabal around 20 minutes later.
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He got on the scoresheet again in the 89th minute, around half an hour after Pedro Porro made it 2-0 for the European Champions.
While Luis de la Fuente’s side’s clinical and emphatic performance may last in some people’s memories, as we head into the business end of the competition, the final stanza of the Bob the Cat tale may be the most memorable moment of the game.
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