my twopenn'orth on the Mully issue is good luck to the guy.
Mully has given us 9 years worth of exemplorary service, having missed only 10 games in the period. He is a player who gets battered every single week yet still gets up, dusts himself down and gets on with the game. He doesn't moan, he doesn't throw his toys out of the pram and he doesn't get himself yellow or red cards. He bleeds the red and white of Stanley and was dearly looking forward to his testimonial year.
It has been said by many that if Paul had more pace he would surely have gone much higher in the game. Therefore I don't begrudge him the chance to play in front of big crowds in a big stadium with nice facilities.
The big contract that Willie Miller describes was no doubt the
two year contract that he was given. It was a bigger contract than the club had wanted to give him and Shrewsbury rightly came in to offer him what we were dragging our feet to do and what Paul was worth. Shrewsbury wouldn't have been a big enough club to have tempted him from Accrington on a similar deal.
The club could and should have refused this deal on the grounds that relegation is not yet a distant threat, but yet we still have to do what we can to balance the books, and a pay as he plays deal plus the lack of his wages will probably free up around £30k - money we need (it will pay the entire wage bill for a fortnight). If relegation was still to materialise then £30k will of course be a drop in the ocean. But if one man is the difference over the nine games that remained then it is a poor state of affairs.
The more realistic problem will be Mullin's as and when he returns (which is more than likely). Will we have learnt to cope better without him? will the free flowing attacking football have returned and improved to a level where he isn't required?
It would be a tragedy to the memory of his career with us if he was to see out his final year as a bit part substitute - but it would have been of his own doing.
My problem with it all is that I want to remember his career for all the good things - and not for him wanting to taste life at a bigger club for a few weeks. Willie Miller mentions players such as Grimmy (who left three times) and I would use Paul Beck (who left twice). A decade and a bit on from those players and we only remember their 300 plus games and the Beck hat trick against Gateshead etc - the good times. Mullin will be remembered for those moments, just the same as the others, regardless of the postulating of some people. The club will of course continue to hide the truth of big stories from us and it will continue to tell the fans only what it wants them to hear. Protests will come and go, fans will come and go but ASFC will live on without them and without Paul Mullin.
Personally I think he only went to give Jimmy Ryan a chance of Player of the Year