00:00Now, Paul Mullen had taken a step back last season, not playing as much of a key role in Wrexham's third successive promotion with championship football on the horizon.
00:14Questions now turn to his role going forward and whether interest from elsewhere could test the club's resolve.
00:21Mullen's value goes beyond goals. He's a leader, a fan favourite and a core part of the team's identity.
00:27While Wrexham will look to strengthen, keeping Mullen at the heart of the journey could be just as important as any summer signing.
00:37We spoke to Wrexham expert Rich Faye to explore the future of Paul Mullen, the club's talisman and symbol of their incredible rise.
00:46So, Rich, looking at Wrexham and specifically Paul Mullen on his Wrexham time, over 25 goals in each of his first three seasons since joining, he was absolutely electric.
00:59So much experience as well before he came to Wrexham.
01:02It seemed like he was just the perfect fit when he did come into this new project.
01:05What do you sort of make as a fan, as seeing him and seeing his progress over the last few seasons, how good he's been and how he's sort of really stood out when, you know,
01:15neutral started to get a hold of this Wrexham story.
01:18It was Paul Mullen really was the centre of, in terms of the playing side of things.
01:22You know, he was sort of what you associated with, with AFC Wrexham.
01:25Yeah, he's still very much the sort of the poster boy of what's happened since the takeover.
01:31I think if you speak to any regular fan, they will say that they know him and, you know, that you become the Paul Mullen team,
01:36almost how Tottenham used to be, the Harry Kane team, that Guadalupe sort of referred to them.
01:41And he's been the catalyst.
01:42He's so often been the talisman, the match winner, the player who's played the best in the big games.
01:46And he's always come good.
01:48And that's kind of the tricky position we're in now, because you can't have sentiment in this game,
01:53and particularly not if you're trying to progress up the divisions.
01:57And for Paul Mullen, he still is capable of the sublime.
02:01He's scored Wrexham's best goal this season by far and away.
02:04He's got five goals, I think, in all competitions.
02:07But he's missed two pre-seasons in a row, and it's really taken its toll.
02:10It was this time last year that he really hit top form again.
02:14He'd missed the previous pre-season due to his burst lung against Manchester United.
02:19He came back into the fray.
02:20There was a penalty against Forest Green, and he started to go on goals for fun.
02:23This season, it's not really happened.
02:24He had his lower back surgery last summer, missed the start of the campaign again.
02:29Jack Marriott started to score on goals.
02:31And it just feels like it's coming to an end, really, which is so sad to say, really,
02:37because Paul Mullen reached the 100-goal mark fairly quickly.
02:40We were sort of looking to see how high he might go.
02:43Could he have the chance of ever becoming Wrexham's best-ever goal scorer?
02:47That was always very unlikely.
02:48Could he potentially have been called up for the Wales squad because of his maternal roots to that?
02:55And that was a genuine debate.
02:57Rob Patriot asked about it a lot.
02:59But it's an absolute mute point now.
03:01No one discusses it whatsoever.
03:03And Wrexham signed two new strikers in January.
03:05Paul Mullen's fallen further down the pecking order.
03:07He's not been involved in any of the last five matches.
03:10You know, Wrexham said that was down to an injury, but there's only so much that you maybe believe.
03:16You know, he's still been at the ground.
03:18He still is eager to play football.
03:20But you just don't really see when he'll be given the opportunity to do so.
03:24The stakes are so high now between now and the end of the season.
03:27I just don't see a situation where Paul Mullen starts playing regular games for Wrexham again.
03:32And then regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season, if he's already not playing games in League One, you know, at best he could have a pre-season and maybe be good enough in League One next season.
03:43But if Wrexham were to get promoted to the championship, you'd have to say that Paul Mullen wouldn't be a part of that project because he's not been the focal point this season in League One.
03:53Maybe it's a draw.
03:55Maybe it's that home draw against Birmingham because everyone was told Birmingham City are the best team in the league by a country mile.
04:01That's obviously turned out to be true.
04:03They're champions already.
04:04They got to a Wembley final, which they lost.
04:07And Birmingham have almost been irrelevant because they've been so far and away the better team.
04:11But Wrexham had them at the race course.
04:13They drew one all.
04:15But for the last half an hour, 40 minutes, they were on top of Birmingham.
04:17They should have won that game.
04:19And it was the fact that, you know, Wrexham had been comfortably beaten when they went to St. Andrews.
04:23But on their home turf, they were more than a match for them.
04:26And that did feel like a monumental point, really.
04:30You know, it felt like a performance that really proved that Wrexham aren't just these plucky underdogs.
04:33They're not that far off.
04:35Still produce those big performances against the better teams in the division.
04:38And for me, that probably was the turning point where you felt, OK, if they can do that against Birmingham at home, they can beat anyone.
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