- Mullin has been absent from eight of the last nine Wrexham League One squads
- The 30-year-old has been a crucial part of Red Dragons’ rise up football pyramid
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Wrexham striker Paul Mullin has rubbished claims of a rife between himself and head coach Phil Parkinson amid his greatly reduced playing time.
The 30-year-old has missed eight of the Red Dragons’ last nine League One matches including the crucial weekend win over promotion rivals Wycombe.
Mullin’s absence from the squad on Saturday raised several eyebrows from supporters, with some floating the idea that his recent omissions are a result of a falling out with his manager.
However, the striker was quick to silence the suggestion of one fan who, not only claimed that he and Parkinson had fallen out, but that Mullin had called Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to complain.
‘Nonsense,’ Mullin replied to the post on X, formerly Twitter, this week.
Rumours of a bust up between Mullin and Parkinson first emerged last week when it was highlighted by ex-Wales and Norwich forward Iwan Roberts on the BBC’s Feast of Football podcast. ‘You get the feeling, and you hear little rumours that there’s been a falling out,’ Roberts said.
Wrexham striker Paul Mullin has rubbished claims of a rife between himself and head coach Phil Parkinson
Parkinson has omitted the 30-year-old from eight of his last nine League One match days
Mullin addressed a supporter who inquired about the validity of claims that he had complained to owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds
‘I just get the feeling that something must have happened for him not to be included in the match day squad. Whether there’s been a falling out or disagreement, we don’t know. It’s a sad situation.’
Since signing in July 2021, Mullin has become a key figure for the Red Dragons, netting an impressive 110 goals and winning back-to-back promotions from the National League and League Two.
However, since the January signings of Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez, Mullin has been increasingly marginalised.
When asked about keeping fringe players content before the Wycombe clash, Parkinson stressed the importance of playing behaving well even if not selected for match day squads.
‘Whether you play for two minutes, 92 minutes or don’t make the squad – everybody’s got a part to play in terms of the way they train every day and the way they conduct themselves around the training ground,’ he told BBC Sport Wales.
‘That’s really important to us because unfortunately we can only pick eleven players to start and then another seven on the bench and there’s nothing we can do about it. A couple of years ago I remember closing in on the National League title and Luke Young found himself out of the team – a stalwart of the team.
‘I remember the game we left him out and everybody felt ‘Youngy’s out of the team’ and at the time I felt he needed a bit of a breather. Youngy’s a great example because as much as he found himself suddenly out of the team he conducted himself brilliantly and played his part – as he did last year.’
