Marc Graeme McNulty (born 14 September 1992) is a Scottish professional

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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games at ...

in the USL Championship. He began his career with

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

, moving to England aged 21 to play for Sheffield United. Following loan spells at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, in 2017 he moved to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. After a season in which he helped Coventry win promotion via the playoffs, McNulty was sold to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. While at Reading, McNulty was loaned out to Hibernian (twice),

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and Dundee United. During his first loan with Hibernian, he earned selection for the

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

, winning two caps.

Club career

Livingston

McNulty was in the youth team that won the SFL under-19 League and Cup double in 2008–09, and further league titles in 2009–10 and

2010–11 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 ...

. McNulty attended

Portobello High School , established = , opened = , type = , district = City of Edinburgh , principal = Ruth McKay , enrolment = 1297 , colours = ...

and played for the youth teams of

Hutchison Vale Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city. History ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

and Hibernian. After being released by Hibernian, he felt he "wasn't going to make it in football" and "it was over". He signed for second-tier

aged 16, but the club were immediately demoted to the bottom level of Scottish league football for financial reasons, albeit this drop to a lower level gave him opportunities in senior football earlier than would otherwise have been expected. He made a goalscoring debut at on 31 October 2009 after coming on as a late substitute in a 3–0 away win over Montrose, and made nine appearances in his debut season in the first team (Livingston were promoted as champions), while a prolific goalscoring record at under-19 level earned him a new three-year contract in February 2010. The following season 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 ...

, he made only five league appearances in an campaign interrupted by injury, although the club were promoted again. 2011–12 saw McNulty emerge as Livingston's top goalscorer as they returned to the First Division, netting 16 goals in all competitions. His form saw him attract the attention of clubs south of the border such as Sheffield United and Derby County. He extended his stay with Livingston on 25 July 2013 by signing a new two-year contract. His final campaign with the ''Lions'' was his most productive, with 17 league goals from 35 appearances.

Sheffield United

On 19 May 2014, McNulty joined Sheffield United on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee which would become effective on 1 July 2014. The transfer fee was believed to be between £95,000 and £125,000. McNulty scored his first competitive goal for the ''Blades'' in a 2–1 League Cup first round win over

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on 13 August 2014. In November 2014, he was ruled out after sustaining a facial injury after an altercation in a night club in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, with United manager

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough wa ...

claiming that McNulty was the "innocent party". On 16 December 2014, McNulty scored the only goal in a 1–0 home victory over

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

to send United to the semi-finals of the League Cup. On 6 November 2015, McNulty joined

on a short-term loan deal. On 7 November he made his debut in the first round FA Cup game against

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...

, with Portsmouth winning 2–1. On 24 November 2015, he scored a hat-trick in a 6–0 win against

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. On 4 January 2016, his loan at Portsmouth was extended until the end of the season after scoring six goals in 11 appearances. On 31 August 2016, McNulty joined

on a season-long loan deal. He was recalled by Sheffield United on 2 January 2017.

Coventry City

On 18 May 2017, McNulty agreed to join League Two side

on a two-year deal. He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance in a 2–0 win against

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 ...

. On 12 May 2018, in the home leg of the

promotion play-off Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

semi-finals against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

, McNulty scored his 100th career goal – a controversial penalty – to make the scoreline 1–1 going into the away leg at

Meadow Lane Meadow Lane Stadium is a football stadium in Nottingham, England. It is the home ground of Notts County, who have played there since it opened in 1910. The stadium was also home to Notts County Ladies F.C. from 2014 until 2017. It currently ...

, where he scored again in Coventry's 4–1 win, sending them to the final on 28 May. McNulty was named man-of-the-match in the final, a 3–1 win over

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

which saw the ''Sky Blues'' promoted to back to League One.

Reading

On 6 July 2018,

announced the signing of McNulty to a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made only six starts for the ''Royals'' during the first half of the 2018–19 season, and was loaned to Hibernian on 31 January 2019, returning to the club a decade after being released by them as a teenager. He scored his first goal for Hibs on 9 February, in a 3–1 win against

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

. McNulty moved on loan to

for the 2019–20 season. He scored his first goal for Sunderland in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

tie against

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 histor ...

on 13 August 2019. His loan with Sunderland was cut short on 31 January 2020, and McNulty was then sent on loan to Hibernian for a second time. Following the formal conclusion of the truncated 2019–20 season, McNulty returned to his parent club in May 2020. On 5 October 2020, McNulty joined Dundee United on a season-long loan deal. McNulty scored five goals in thirty games for Dundee United 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 ...

season. On 13 August 2021, McNulty re-signed for Dundee United on a season-long loan.

Orange County SC

On 19 January 2023, McNulty signed with

in the American second division, the USL Championship.

International career

McNulty received his first call-up to the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

squad in March 2019. He made his debut for Scotland coming on as a substitute for James Forrest in a 3–0 defeat to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

in a Euro 2020 qualifier.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Livingston Youth * SFL U-19 League: 2008–09, 2009–10 2010–11 * SFL U-19 League Cup: 2008–09 Coventry City *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engl ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

PFA Fans' Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Fans' Player of the Year (often called the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, or simply the Fans' Player of the Year) award is given to footballers in the top four flights of Football in England, English footb ...

: 2017–18 League Two *

EFL League Two Player of the Month The EFL League Two Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football. Originally named the Football League Two Pla ...

: January 2018

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McNulty, Marc 1992 births Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Footballers from Livingston, West Lothian People educated at Portobello High School Men's association football forwards Scottish men's footballers Celtic F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Reading F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Orange County SC players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States