Gary Thomas Mulligan (born 23 April 1985) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club Harborough Town. Coming through the

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

academy in 2004, and played on loan at

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

, before he joined

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

the following year. He did not make a first team appearance for the "Blades", and instead was loaned out to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and Gillingham. In 2006, he transferred to Gillingham on a permanent basis, where he remained for three years before joining

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. In 2010, he joined non-league

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

. He signed with Brackley Town in February 2012, and helped the club to the Southern League title in 2011–12. In 2015, he signed for

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

via Dunstable Town, and helped Kettering to win the Southern League Division One Central title in 2014–15 and then successive Hillier Cup titles in 2017 and 2018. He signed with Corby Town in June 2018 and served as joint-caretaker manager the following year. He signed with Harborough Town in March 2022 and helped the club to win the

United Counties League The United Counties League (also known after its sponsor as the ''Uhlsport United Counties League'') is an English football league covering Northamptonshire, Rutland and Bedfordshire and most of Leicestershire as well as parts of Buckinghamshi ...

Premier Division South title at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Mulligan played his youth football at

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa *Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zim ...

before moving on to

, for whom he made only one appearance, as an 82nd minute substitute in the 1–1 draw with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

on 21 August 2004. Wolves sent him on loan to

in October that year. Mulligan made his debut for Diamonds, again as a substitute, in the 1–0 home defeat to Chester City, and made his first start, and scored his first goal, in their next match, a 1–1 draw away to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He scored three goals in twelve games for Rushden & Diamonds, but was released by his parent club at the end of the season.

Sheffield United

Mulligan was signed by

in July 2005. He only made two appearances for them in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

as chances at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

were limited. In the 2005–06 season he went on loan to

for a month, which was extended by four weeks in October, and again in November, scoring once (against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

) in twelve games.

Gillingham

In January, he joined Vale's

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

rivals Gillingham. He spent a month on the sidelines with ligament damage, which at first was feared to be a broken leg. Following his recovery he was back in the Gills' first team and remained so until the end of the season. He scored one goal in thirteen appearances for the "Gills". His hard-working style had impressed Gillingham manager

Ronnie Jepson Ronald Francis Jepson (born 12 May 1963) is an English former football player and manager who is now Neil Warnock's assistant manager at club Huddersfield Town. A striker, he scored 86 goals in 354 league games in an eleven-year profession ...

and on 12 May 2006 he signed for Gillingham on a permanent basis. With 42 games to his credit in 2006–07, he was third in the club's player of the year voting behind Andrew Crofts and

Mark Bentley Mark James Bentley (born 7 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who is now a first-team coach at Southend United. Playing career Born in Hertford, Bentley started his playing career with Aveley before moving on to Enfield i ...

. Following

Mark Stimson Mark Nicholas Stimson (born 27 December 1967) is an English former footballer and is currently manager of Hornchurch. He signed his first professional contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1985, but was unable to gain a regular place in the team. I ...

's appointment in November 2007, Mulligan dropped out of first team plans as the Gills sunk to

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in 2007–08. His five goals fell way short of the target of 15–20 he had set himself. He admitted he considered switching to another club, though eventually he decided to stick with the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

club, agreeing a one-year deal in June 2008. He kicked off the 2008–09 season with a goal against

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, though did not believe this would mean a return in the first 11. Indeed, he scored just two goals in 31 games over the rest of the season, and he was released in the summer.

Northampton Town

He joined

on a one-year deal in July 2009. He was released by the club in May 2010, along with five other players.

Non-league

In August 2010, Mulligan joined

on an initial five-month deal, making his debut against

on 14 August. Mulligan scored his first goal for Gateshead on 21 August, away at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. On 23 December 2010, Gateshead extended Mulligan's contract until the end of the season. It was announced on 20 December 2011 that Mulligan would be released on 1 January 2012, at the end of his contract. In February 2012, Mulligan joined

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

. He made his debut on 21 February as a late substitute in a 2–1 win against

Barwell Barwell is a civil parish and large village in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents, Increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census, the name literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from a boar that ...

. He played 12 games as the "Saints" won promotion was champions of the Southern League title in 2011–12. He helped the club to the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

play-off final at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, where they were beaten 1–0 by

F.C. Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. He made 31 appearances in the 2013–14 campaign. In February 2015 he signed with Southern League club

after moving from Dunstable Town. The "Poppies" won promotion as champions of Division One Central in 2014–15 and finished sixth and then ninth in the Premier Division in 2015–16, with Mulligan scoring three goals from 45 matches in the latter campaign. Kettering again finished sixth in the 2016–17 season as Mulligan featured 47 times, including an appearance in the final of the Hillier Cup where Kettering beat

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

after a penalty shoot-out. He made 49 appearances across the 2017–18 campaign as

Marcus Law Marcus William Law (born 28 September 1975) is an English former professional footballer. He has since managed several non-League clubs, including Kettering Town, Tamworth, Coventry Sphinx, Racing Club Warwick, Quorn and Barwell.http://www.ke ...

led the side to a fourth-place finish and defeat in the play-off semi-finals to

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

. They also retained the Hillier Cup after beating Brackley Town 2–1 in the final. On 28 June 2018, Mulligan signed with Southern League Division One Central side

and was immediately named club captain by manager Steven Kinniburgh, who was a former Kettering teammate. He made 43 appearances over the course of the 2018–19 season, helping the "Steelmen" to a third-place finish and a place in the play-offs. Corby went on to reach the play-off final, but were beaten 4–3 by Bromsgrove Sporting after extra-time. He and Ash Robinson stepped up to the post of joint-caretaker managers following Kinniburgh's resignation in July 2019. They stayed in the role until the appointment of Mark Peters on 28 February, at which point Mulligan remained in a playing capacity. He made 28 appearances in the 2019–20 season, which was abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...

, and again he confirmed he would be staying on at the club in June. He featured eleven times in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, which was also curtailed early due to the ongoing pandemic. On 7 March 2022, Mulligan joined

Premier Division South side Harborough Town. He helped the "Bees" to win the

Premier Division South title at the end of the 2021–22 season. He featured 36 times in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign as the club posted an eighth-place finish in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Division One Midlands.

Career statistics

:A. The "League" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

and

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

. :B. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

League Trophy The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripher ...

, play-offs and Hillier Cup. :B. Statistics for the 2021–22 season not recorded.

Honours

Brackley Town * Southern League: 2011–12 Kettering Town * Southern League Division One Central: 2014–15 * Hillier Cup: 2017 & 2018 Harborough Town *

Premier Division South: 2021–22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulligan, Gary 1985 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Men's association football forwards Belvedere F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Brackley Town F.C. players Dunstable Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players Harborough Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players United Counties League players Northern Premier League players Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Expatriate footballers in England Republic of Ireland association football managers Corby Town F.C. managers Southern Football League managers Republic of Ireland expatriate association football managers