That was how long he lasted for Celtic against Wislaw Krakow in Poland on July 6. With the team already 2-0 down he was hauled off, alongside Ross Wallace, with both goals having originated from their side of the pitch. In apparent protest, neither youngster went into the Celtic dressing-room at the half-time interval. For both players it was to prove the beginning of the end. The events of the friendly had seemingly made them an enemy of the Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan.
Last Thursday, Wallace joined Sunderland in a joint deal with Stanislav Varga.
Earlier that same day, Mulgrew was explaining why, a week earlier, he too had departed for Wolves, a mere footnote on the £600,000 arrival of Lee Naylor. It was only the speed of the transfer which meant Mulgrew left quietly. He reckoned too much was left unsaid about his treatment prior to his Celtic exit. Until now, that is. On his first return to Scotland since, with the under-21 squad, Mulgrew, with an anger triggered by the haste in which he was given the bullet, chose to deliver his parting shot.
“A lot of things happened over the summer,” said Mulgrew, who did not feature in Friday night’s 3-1 loss to France at Pittodrie that ended Scotland’s European under-21 championship qualifying hopes. “I’m just happy now to be at a club where I feel I can play and that wasn’t going to happen at Celtic. To be honest it wasn’t really a wrench to leave Celtic, I was delighted when the chance of a move came up. I’ve been at Celtic since I was 12, but the only part that was hard about leaving was that all my pals were there and it meant moving south away from all my family. Leaving Celtic wasn’t a difficult choice. It doesn’t matter what club you’re at, if you’re never going to play football there’s really no point in being there. There’s no point in just hanging about there just because it’s Celtic. I’d still have been there at 25 hoping for my chance.”
It was after events in Poland that he knew it would never come. Even before that there had been doubt; Strachan had never really joined in the praise for Mulgrew at Dundee United, indeed at times he seemed bemused by the positive reaction. Strachan had openly declared an interest in signing Michal Kadlec, the Czech under-21 left-back, and only a failure to agree a price with Sparta Prague prevented a deal which may still take place once the player is out of contract. What happened next, however, was pretty much conclusive. Strachan, citing the players’ performances rather than their discipline, left out Mulgrew and Wallace for the tour of the United States which followed Poland, when both had been expecting to go. Instead they had to train with the reserves for a fortnight which, Mulgrew admits, felt much longer than that. On a daily basis, he and Wallace would discuss their predicament, but neither could explain why they were being punished so openly. When Strachan substituted both players eight minutes before the interval it was clear he wanted to make a public statement.
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Did Mulgrew feel the action was intended to embarrass him? “Maybe if he’d waited until half-time it would have been a wee bit better and easier to take,” he said. “Not many players get substituted before half-time in any game. When that happened I spoke to the manager because I just didn’t understand it. I’m young and I don’t see why I should be taken off at that stage, but the manager made the decision. He’s the manager, it’s his job to make decisions, but I was obviously very disappointed with it, as any player would be. He just said it was his decision to make.”
Strachan’s emergency surgery in Krakow, bringing on Mark Wilson and Aiden McGeady, improved matters on the night in as far as Celtic didn’t concede again, but it was a rather drastic measure in a non-competitive fixture. Given that Celtic were being criticised during pre-season for the demanding nature of their overseas programme, and that was even before the flak intensified as they struggled in most of their matches, does Mulgrew consider he and Wallace were made scapegoats by Strachan? “The whole team weren’t playing well and maybe he took the easy option by blaming me and Ross,” replied Mulgrew. “Maybe that’s what it was, you’d need to ask him because, see when I came off, I didn’t actually think I was playing that badly. A couple of things had happened, but I’d had worse days at Dundee United, a couple of things happened during matches there, but I never thought I’d be taken off. It made it look worse because I thought I was doing okay.”
Mulgrew met Strachan again when the manager returned from America. “What happened to me in Poland was a blow and after that I knew I’d have to go somewhere else to play. He (Strachan never said it in as many words, but when we discussed what my first team chances were it didn’t sound very positive,” said Mulgrew. “There were a lot of players ahead of me and they were looking to sign a left-back so I realised it was time to go. I’m 21 in March and want to be playing first-team football. After working hard to improve my game at Dundee United I thought I’d get a better chance at Celtic, but it didn’t work out like that. People can look at in different ways, but I’ve just got to look ahead now, I don’t want to look back anymore.”
What he has to look forward to is an opportunity to make it in England. There was an offer to return to Tannadice, as well as interest from Partick Thistle and St Mirren, but once Wolves upgraded their initial offer of a six-month loan deal into a three-year contract, the decision was straightforward. Just as well, perhaps, because there wasn’t much time to think about it. “It happened so fast I didn’t even have time to ask Kenny Miller a few things about his former club,” said Mulgrew. “Since going down there, though, Jackie McNamara has been a big help to me. He showed me about the place and it’s a massive club, I didn’t realise how big. I was only a young boy in the door at Celtic when Jackie was there so didn’t really know him, but we’ve just chatted away and it’s been good to see a familiar face. It’s a fresh start for me and I think I can get in the team there. It’ s come at the right time for me.”
Mulgrew and Wallace are due to meet again on November 25 when Wolves host Sunderland, though it is fair to say the emphasis that day will be on another reunion: that of his new manager, Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane. “I’m looking forward to that one. Mick McCarthy seems alright, I’ve only heard good things about him. I’ve not spoken to Roy Keane about him yet, mind you,” joked Mulgrew. And, for the first and only time in this interview, a smile replaced a frown.