Andrew Mulliner (born 3 January 1971) is an English-born

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

former

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

who is the academy lead goalkeeper

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at Manchester City. He spent most of his career in Welsh football, where his 1-game tally in the

Welsh Football League The Welsh Football League (also known as the Nathaniel Car Sales Welsh Football League for sponsorship reasons) was a club football league in Wales. For its final season in 2019–20 season it operated at levels 3 and 4 of the Welsh football leag ...

is a record for a goalkeeper. He also held the record of the most appearances for TNS, with 266 appearances between 1993 and 1999. This followed brief spells in English football with Telford United,

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

, and

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

. His career after leaving TNS saw him keep goal for

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

, Bangor City, Connah's Quay Nomads, Newtown,

Caersws Caersws ( cy, Caersŵs; ) is a village and community on the River Severn, in the Welsh county of Powys (Montgomeryshire) west of Newtown, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. It has a station on the Cambrian Line from Aberystwyth t ...

, Welshpool Town, Ellesmere Rangers, and

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. He has worked as a goalkeeping coach for

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

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 ...

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, Kidderminster Harriers,

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

and

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

. His coaching qualification include holding the UEFA A Licence outfield, the new UEFA GK A Licence, the FA A Licence Goalkeeping coaching qualification, the FA Advanced Youth Award and the FA Youth Award modules, having previously completed his 'B' licence in both outfield play and goalkeeping.

Playing career

Mulliner started his career as a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

player at

, though he never made a first-team appearance for the club or indeed in the Football League. Despite this, in 1988 he won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for the Wales under-18 side in a match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. After leaving Port Vale, he joined Telford United, appearing once on Boxing Day 1989 in a 3–1 victory at Aggborough. At the start of the 1990–91 season he joined Bangor City playing in the Northern Premier League before dropping down a division to join

. The following season, he joined

, before joining Llansantffraid in January 1992, who were playing in the

Cymru Alliance The Cymru Alliance League (known for sponsorship reasons as Huws Gray Alliance) was a football league in north and central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. From the 2019/20 season onwards, it was replaced ...

. He first appeared in the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

with Llansantffraid in the 1993–94 season – the second season of the league's establishment. He played 31 league games for the club that season, as well as one on

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. Staying with Llansantffraid for the following five seasons, he played a further 182 league games for the club and was present when they changed their name to Total Network Solutions. Between 8 August 1995 and 18 October 1997, Mulliner played 117 consecutive competitive matches for the club, including the 1996

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

final, which was the last competitive game to be played at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British ...

. In that final he was blamed for two of Barry Town's three goals, but became the hero by saving two of Town's penalties in the shoot-out. During his time the club were solid mid-table performers. He was not there for their league winning season of 1999–2000, having moved on to

. He represented the League of Wales in a game against the League of Ireland, and was also

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at semi-professional level in a game against England in 1996. He also played European football for LLansantffraid in the UEFA Cup Winner Cup v Ruch Chorwoz in 1996, for Ebbw Vale FC in the first leg of their Inter-toto Cup games v Konsvinger in 1997 and Bangor City in 2001 v Halmstad in the UEFA Cup. He spent the 2000–01 season with Bangor City, making 27 league appearances. He then had brief spells with Connah's Quay Nomads, Bangor City (again),

and Newtown before playing 22 games of Connah's Quay 2001–02 season. In 2002, he settled with

and spent the next seven seasons at the

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, making close to 200 league appearances. During the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons his team reached fifth place, a personal best for Mulliner. He joined Welshpool Town in August 2008 and made seven league and four cup appearances in the 2008–09 season. He moved on to Ellesmere Rangers in July 2009, ending a run of sixteen years of playing in the Welsh league. This ended his 481-game tally in the

, a record for a goalkeeper. He achieved

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with Ellesmere Rangers out of the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

, and also helped them to victory in the Shropshire Challenge Cup, with a 3–1 win over

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

at the

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in Shrewsbury. In July 2010, Mulliner re-signed for former club Bangor City for a short while for their run in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

, playing in Finland and

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. He then returned to Ellesmere Rangers for the start of the league season. He signed for Welsh Premier League side

on August

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

deadline day for the 2011–12 season, making 11 league and two cup appearances before announcing his retirement following their 1–0 defeat to Aberystwyth Town in the Europa League play-offs. His tally of 492 league appearances is the record for a Goalkeeper in the Welsh Premier League.

Coaching career

Mulliner served as assistant

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and player-goalkeeping

at Ellesmere Rangers from 2009 to 2011. He has also worked as a goalkeeper coach at the

academy (2006 to 2012), at Kidderminster Harriers (2006 to 2012),

(2006 to 2008)

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

(2008 to 2012),

Shrewsbury Sixth Form College Shrewsbury Sixth Form College is a post-secondary co-educational sixth-form college located in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The college currently has an enrolment of approximately 1,650 students, generally ranging betwee ...

(2007 to 2014),

(2010 to 2012),

(2011) helping the club achieve promotion to League 1,

(2011) and

(2011 to 2012). He was appointed as the Head of

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

goalkeeping at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

in June 2012, and worked with the Wales under-19 squad for the match against

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in September 2012. In July 2014 he was appointed lead goalkeeping coach at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, leaving Norwich in July 2015 to take up the same role at Manchester City. In December 2015 he was promoted to EDS goalkeeper coach as well as leading the academy department. Internationally, in September 2015 he returned to the Welsh international set up, working with Wales under-21 on a part-time basis for their European Championships qualifying campaign, continuing until the end of that campaign in April 2016.

Honours

;Llansantffraid *Konica League of Wales Cup: 1995 *

: 1996 ;Bangor City *

: 2000 ;Caersws FC *Welsh Premier League Cup: 2006 ;Ellesmere Rangers *Shropshire Challenge Cup: 2010 ;Ellesmere Rangers *

promotion: 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulliner, Andy 1971 births Living people Welsh men's footballers Footballers from Shrewsbury Men's association football goalkeepers Telford United F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Curzon Ashton F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. players Newtown A.F.C. players Caersws F.C. players Welshpool Town F.C. players Ellesmere Rangers F.C. players Airbus UK Broughton F.C. players Cymru Premier players Northern Premier League players Association football coaches Association football goalkeeping coaches Bury F.C. non-playing staff Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff Manchester City F.C. non-playing staff