Ken Murphy was born in 1956 in Dundee.
Murphy played his youth football for Dundee United and made one official appearance for the first team.
He then moved onto to Forfar Athletic, before moving to Australia to play for Melbourne Croatia.
He also played for South Melbourne Hellas and Footscray JUST, in Melbourne, earning a call-up to the Australian national team.
Murphy played 40 times between 1983 and 1986, with 15 of those being 'A' internationals, scoring four goals.
Murphy also managed former club National Soccer League clubs Melbourne Knights from 1991 to 1992, Melbourne Zebras 1994 to 1995, and was assistant coach in 2005 at another former club, South Melbourne.
He managed Altona Magic although he left after just over a year. In July 2006, two weeks after leaving Altona, he took over at Kingston City.