Paul Mullin fired Wrexham into the Football League with two goals in a promotion-sealing 3-1 win over Boreham Wood.
The Merseyside-born striker scored 47 goals in all competitions this season as the North Wales side ended their non-league exile. Owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Wrexham finished first in the National League and will return to English football's fourth tier for the first time since 2008.
Mullin has been among the club's star men, leading It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor McElhenney to make the bold claim of calling him "one of the greatest football players in the world" during an on-pitch interview at the end of the Boreham Wood game. Here, we look at Mullin's journey from Merseyside to becoming friends with the stars.
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Mullin was born in Litherland in 1994. As a young footballer, he spent time in the Everton and Liverpool academies, playing in the same Reds youth side as Raheem Sterling.
In a recent Times interview, he said: "There was a school report, actually quite funny, the PE teacher put my predicted grade as F and said I should be getting A. How can it be an F? If I just play football and do no theory it should be a C. I was laughing but imagine doing that to a 15-year-old lad?"
He continued: “I have never had something in my head of trying to prove people wrong. I wanted to prove myself right and to become a footballer.
"I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I knew I was right all along. I still believed I could play for Liverpool at the point when I had been released two years earlier.”
After failing to make the grade at Everton or Liverpool, he then joined Huddersfield Town and spent time on loan at Ellesmere Port's Vauxhall Motors.
He was released by Huddersfield in 2014, without having made a first team appearance. He then signed for Morecambe, where he spent three years, scoring 28 goals in 140 games. After an unremarkable season at Swindon Town, Mullin returned to Merseyside and joined Tranmere Rovers in 2018.
He won promotion to League One with Rovers in 2018/19, but then struggled for goals in England's third tier. He scored three times in 20 league games in the 2019/20 season, during which he also spent time on loan at Cambridge United.
The striker joined Cambridge permanently at the end of the 2019/20 season and enjoyed a prolific campaign at the Abbey Stadium. He scored 34 goals in 50 appearances and was named the division's Player of the Year in 2021/21, as Cambridge were promoted from League Two.
However, Mullin rejected a contract offer from Cambridge to join Wrexham in July 2021. He dropped down the divisions to swap League One for the National League and the club's Hollywood owners helped seal the deal.
On signing for Wrexham, he said: “I’m made up, it’s been a long summer for me and now I can look forward to the season ahead, and I’m excited to get going at Wrexham.
“The ambition of the club attracted me here. Rob McElhenney gave me – at that time, I wasn’t too sure about making the move – but once he outlined the plans for the club, and the plans for me in the future, it was something I really wanted to be a part of and something that just excited me that much that I had to come.
“He really sold the club to me. What they have planned for the club is magnificent and something I want to be a part of.”
He hit the ground running and scored 32 goals in 44 games in his first season at the Racecourse Ground. Mullin bagged a number of personal honours but Wrexham missed out on promotion from the play-offs.
The goals did not stop in the 2022/23 season, but Mullin landed himself in hot water with his club in October, when he revealed his new boots. His Nike Mercurial boots featured the message "F**k the Tories" along with pictures of Liverpool landmarks.
However, Wrexham said he would not wear the boots, as "the club has adopted a neutral position on many matters with a political dimension and intends to continue to do so going forward."
It did not stop Mullin scoring. His 38 league goals helped Wrexham top the National League and secure their actor-owners' ambition of returning to the Football League.
Mullin will lead the line at the Racecourse Ground next season. He is also a key figure in the Welcome to Wrexham Disney+ TV series which has followed the club's progress under Reynolds and McElhenney's ownership.
The Scouser harbours ambitions of playing international football and competing in the Premier League. He is eligible for Wales through his grandmother and there has been talk of a call-up, but it has not happened yet.
He told The Times: “I’d love to play for Wales. Looking at the Wales team, their togetherness, that reflects me. The people I have got to know in Wales have treated me well and made me one of them.
"I want to play at the highest level. I will never give up hope of playing in the Premier League until I am retired.”
If he keeps scoring at the rate he has, anything could happen.
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