David James Mulligan (born 24 March 1982) is a New Zealand former football player and head coach. Born in England, he began his career at Barnsley, making his first-team debut in October 2001. He became a first-team regular in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons, before joining

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in February 2004. He helped the club to the Third Division title in the 2003–04 campaign. He was signed to Scunthorpe United in June 2006 and won the

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 ...

title with the club in 2006–07. He was loaned out to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

in November 2007 and took a free transfer 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 ...

in January 2008. He returned to New Zealand six months later to sign with A-League club

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

. He joined New Zealand Football Championship club Auckland City in 2010 and helped the club to two successive

OFC Champions League The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club soccer competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been ...

titles, before he moved to

Waitakere United Waitakere United was a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They were one of the franchises in the ISPS Handa Premiership. They played their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeu and The Trusts Arena. History Waitakere Uni ...

in 2012, and

Hawke's Bay United Hawke's Bay United was a professional Association football club based in Napier, New Zealand. HB United most recently played in the ISPS Handa Premiership – a semi-professional franchise based league, which ran independently of the winte ...

in 2013. He returned to Waitakere United the next year. He earned national representation at under-17, under-20, under-23 and full international level. He was selected for two FIFA Confederations Cup competitions, and was also named in the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

squad. He earned 28 senior caps and scored three goals in World Cup qualification matches with

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. He began his coaching career as head coach at

East Coast Bays East Coast Bays is a string of small suburbs that form the northernmost part of the North Shore, part of the contiguous Auckland metropolitan area in New Zealand. The suburbs line the north-east coast of the city along the shore of the Haurak ...

in October 2016.

Club career

Barnsley

Mulligan was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, England, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was five years old. He returned to England at the age of 16, along with

Rory Fallon Rory Michael Fallon (born 20 March 1982) is a New Zealand former professional footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He previously played for Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, Swindon Town, Swansea City, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, Yeov ...

, to join the youth-team at Barnsley; the move had been arranged by Rory's father

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

, who was an assistant to New Zealand head coach

John Adshead John Adshead (born 27 March 1942) is an English-born former head coach of New Zealand's national football team—the All Whites—whom he led to their first FIFA World Cup appearance in the 1982 tournament. Life and work Adshead is one of the ...

. He made his professional debut for the club under

Glyn Hodges Glyn Peter Hodges (born 30 April 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player who is assistant manager at Bradford City. During his playing career he played for Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Watford, Crystal Palace, Sheffiel ...

's caretaker stewardship in a 3–0 defeat to Manchester City at Oakwell on 31 October 2001. Steve Parkin's "Tykes" were relegated out of the First Division at the end of the 2001–02 season, but Mulligan retained his place in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for the 2002–03 campaign. He scored his first senior goal in a 2–1 defeat at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

on 5 April 2003. However he lost his first team place under

Guðjón Þórðarson Guðjón Þórðarson (; born 14 September 1955) is an Icelandic footballer manager and former player. He has previously been manager of Iceland, Icelandic clubs ÍA, KA, KR, Keflavík, BÍ/Bolungarvík and Grindavík, English clubs Notts Co ...

early in the 2003–04 campaign and was released by Barnsley in October 2003, despite having been offered a new contract just five months earlier.

Doncaster Rovers

Mulligan had an unsuccessful trial at

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 ...

during a four-month spell without a club. He joined Third Division leaders

in February 2004, initially on a match-to-match basis, then on a short-term contract, before he was rewarded with a two-year contract after Doncaster won promotion as champions at the end of the 2003–04 season. He quickly established himself at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that i ...

, but again ran into trouble early into the 2004–05 season, being placed on the transfer list by "Donny" in November 2004. He went nowhere however and on 29 November he provided an assist in a 3–0 victory over

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side Aston Villa 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 ...

. On 4 December, he scored two free-kicks – from 25 and 20 yards – in a 2–1 win over

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He remained a regular starter up until the end of the 2005–06 campaign. The utility player was offered a contract by manager

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer and ...

in the summer of 2006, but the two sides failed to agree terms.

Scunthorpe United

In June 2006, Mulligan signed for

side Scunthorpe United, having met manager

Brian Laws Brian Laws (born 14 October 1961) is an English former professional footballer and manager. Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of ...

at a

M180 motorway The M180 is a motorway in eastern England, starting at junction 5 on the M18 motorway in Hatfield, within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and terminating at Barnetby, Lincolnshire, some from the port of Immingham an ...

service station to discuss the situation at

Glanford Park Glanford Park is a football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the current home of team Scunthorpe United. Opened in 1988 at a construction cost of £2.5 million, it was the first new purpose-built Football League stadi ...

. He made 29 appearances throughout the 2006–07 season as Scunthorpe secured promotion as champions of League One. However he never took to the field in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

due to differences with manager

Nigel Adkins Nigel Howard Adkins (born 11 March 1965) is an English professional football manager and former player and physiotherapist. Adkins played as a goalkeeper for Tranmere Rovers and Wigan Athletic. He finished his playing career and began his man ...

; he had been involved in a car accident and been late to training, and also had to miss games due to international commitments. He joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a one-month loan on 30 August 2007. He made his debut for the "Mariners" on 2 September, in a 2–1 defeat at

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 ...

, coming onto the pitch as a 36th-minute substitute only to be taken off after 63 minutes; he said this was typical bizarre management from

Alan Buckley Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside. As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, ...

, who made players come to Blundell Park for sprint training on days after games.

Port Vale

He joined

on a free transfer in January 2008. He made 13 appearances in the 2007–08 season as the "Valiants" were relegated out of League One; he scored a free-kick on the last day of the season in a 1–1 draw at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. His stay at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

was to prove a relatively short one as manager

Lee Sinnott Lee Sinnott (born 12 July 1965) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Gainsborough Trinity. As a player, he was a defender for Walsall, Watford, Bradford City, Crystal Palace, Hudder ...

declined to offer Mulligan a longer contract.

New Zealand

Mulligan signed a two-year contract with the

in July 2008. However he struggled to make an impact and made just three appearances for the club in two seasons before his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2009–10 season. He later commented that "I always had an idea of coming back to New Zealand. It was more of the lifestyle change, rather than football. There’s nothing better than playing football in the sun!" Mulligan soon signed on with New Zealand Football Championship club Auckland City for the 2010–11 season. He made his debut in the opening round match against

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

in which he scored two goals in the second half, to give the "Navy Blues" a 3–2 victory. He played both legs of the 2011 final of the

, as Auckland beat Amicale (

) 6–1 on aggregate. Auckland won the Champions League for a second successive season in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, and this time Mulligan scored one of the goals in a 3–1 aggregate win over

AS Tefana Association Sportive Tefana Football, is a football club from Faaa, Tahiti, French Polynesia. The club plays their home matches at Stade Louis Ganivet. The club became the second French Polynesian team to have reached the final of the OFC Cham ...

( French Polynesia). He switched to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

in July 2012. The club won the Premiership in

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 ...

. He moved on to

in October 2013, and helped the club to a third-place finish in 2013–14. He returned to Waitakere United for the 2014–15 season, who finished the season in fourth place.

International career

Mulligan played for NZ Under-17 at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship and scored two goals in their two pool matches against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Mulligan played for NZ Under-23 at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

qualification tournament for the Oceania Football Confederation, however New Zealand lost out to Australia and did not qualify for the Olympics. He made his debut for "All Whites" in an international friendly against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

on 13 October 2002, which ended in a 3–2 defeat. He was named in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup squad in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

by head coach

Mick Waitt Michael Hugh Waitt (born 25 June 1960) is an English association football player and coach, who managed the New Zealand national football team. Waitt played in the Football League for Notts County and Lincoln City FC. He took charge of the Ne ...

. He was also in the

2004 OFC Nations Cup The 2004 OFC Nations Cup was the edition of the tournament for the OFC Nations Cup and doubled as the qualification tournament to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, except the two-legged final. A separate playoff between Australia and Solomon Islands w ...

squad and played in the 3–0 win over the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. He scored in a 2–1 win at

in a World Cup qualifier on 17 November 2007 and also scored a brace in the return fixture four days later. He featured in all six games of the

2008 OFC Nations Cup The 2008 OFC Nations Cup was the eighth edition of the OFC Nations Cup and the first under a new format. It took place as a series of as a home-and-away round-robin tournament on FIFA match dates in 2007 and 2008. Doubling as the qualification to ...

, which New Zealand won ahead of New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu. He was named as part of the New Zealand squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in June 2009. He made two starting appearances at right-back in defeats to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, as well as a substitute appearance in the 0–0 draw with

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Mulligan was named in New Zealand's final 23-man squad to compete at the

; he had been selected by head coach Ricki Herbert despite Herbert having released him at Wellington Phoenix. However he did not feature in any of the games in the tournament itself.

Style of play

Mulligan was a two-footed player, able to play in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

or at

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He was an accomplished free-kick taker.

Coaching career

Mulligan was appointed as head coach at Northern League club

in October 2016.

Personal life

He married Michelle and the couple had their first child, Eden-Lily, in February 2017.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

International goals

Honours

;New Zealand *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

: 2004 ;Doncaster Rovers *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

: 2003–04 ;Scunthorpe United *

: 2006–07 ;Auckland City *

: 2011,

;Waitakere United * New Zealand Football Championship:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulligan, David 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Bootle New Zealand people of English descent New Zealand association footballers New Zealand international footballers Association football defenders Barnsley F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Wellington Phoenix FC players Auckland City FC players Waitakere United players English Football League players A-League Men players Expatriate footballers in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand Football Championship players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2004 OFC Nations Cup players 2008 OFC Nations Cup players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players New Zealand association football coaches New Zealand youth international footballers New Zealand under-20 international footballers New Zealand under-23 international footballers