Controversial Paul Mullin comments a wake-up call for all at Wrexham AFC: View | OneFootball

A former Wrexham manager once joked that the Red Dragons should be renamed as 'Wrexham Expectation Football Club', such was the weight of responsibility he felt from fans to win promotion.

While Gary Mills failed in his bid to take the club out of the National League, current Wrexham talisman Paul Mullin finally helped end their 15-year exile from the EFL by scoring 38 league goals last season.

The striker has enjoyed a special bond with supporters since he arrived at the Racecourse in the summer of 2021, where he is affectionately known as 'Super Paul Mullin'.

However, the 29-year-old shocked and even angered some fans after criticising them following their 2-1 win at Colchester United, a game in which he scored his 100th goal for the club.

It might sound like an odd move from Mullin as Wrexham head into a crucial stage of their quest for automatic promotion but, with unity being important for the final run-in, he might just have a point.

Mullin doesn't want to hear chants again

The subject of Mullin's ire was ironic chants sung by away fans during the Colchester game about Phil Parkinson's side's perceived poor form on the road.

One of the songs in question was the infamous "How s*** must you be, we're winning away"

It's true that the first hour of the match was not spectacular from a Wrexham perspective, as the team struggled to carve out decent chances and fell behind in the 54th minute to a rasping half-volley from John Akinde.

It was Mullin himself who headed home a Ryan Barnett cross to equalise shortly after, before Max Cleworth rose highest to nod in a long throw and grab the winner with five minutes left on the clock.

During his post-match interview, Mullin expressed his annoyance with some of the chants from the away fans at the JobServe Community Stadium, despite praising their overall backing.

He said: “They travel everywhere supporting us and the support they give us is brilliant.

“But one thing I never want to hear them singing again is about us not winning away from home.

“What do they think that does to the players who are on the pitch representing their team?

“I know it is all about fun and games, and they deserve to have a good time when you are travelling and paying your hard-earned money to come and watch us.

“Some of the lads have been speaking about it, and they don't really like to hear that but the support from them was unbelievable.”

It's understandable that fans who paid their way and made the near ten-hour round trip to Essex felt slightly aggrieved by Mullin's comments.

Supporter Tom Lewis summed up their thoughts best when he posted about the interview on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said: “Love Paul Mullin obvs. But I think he was wrong to criticise the fans IMO.

“That was an amazing away end and I genuinely feel the support helped get the lads over the line. The song is tongue in cheek anyway.”

It's also true that the Red Dragons have been difficult to watch away from home at times this season.

As per FootyStats, Parkinson's team have won only eight of their 22 games on the road, drawing seven and losing seven.

That's in contrast to 14 wins out of 20 at home, with three draws and three defeats at the Racecourse.

What's more, they have only scored 24 goals on enemy soil, less than half of the 50 witnessed at home.

But when you take a step back, the situation isn't as bad as it might seem.

Wrexham are now 5th in the away form table after recent wins at Colchester, Grimsby and Morecambe.

While they might be 2nd in terms of their home form, the gap isn't really that big.

This is a Wrexham team which is currently on course to achieve back-to-back promotions in a highly competitive league.

It's therefore only natural that Mullin should also feel disgruntled.

Mullin's close link to fans means he feels pressure to win

The Scouser has been in good form overall this term, despite going eight games without a goal at one stage, and is well on course to pass the 20-mark in League Two.

The fact he has managed to achieve such a haul is even more impressive when you consider that he missed the first seven weeks of the campaign after suffering a punctured lung in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United.

It was revealed by Parkinson after the Colchester game that Mullin could easily have missed the match due to a hamstring problem, but played through the pain barrier to help his team.

Another reason why any criticism might particularly sting for the striker is that he already places enough pressure on his own shoulders to carry Wrexham to glory due to his close ties with fans.

It's a burden he admitted to feeling when writing in his autobiography 'My Wrexham Story' which was released last summer.

Discussing their National League title-winning campaign in 2022/23, he said: “Making sure we got promoted became an obsession for me. I’ve built relationships with so many people at Wrexham, not just at the club but with the fans, and the town itself.

“I’ve felt the anguish and sensed the frustration, the nervousness, the tension in the stadium. All I wanted to do was make that disappear.

“Watching the documentary and seeing what normal everyday people had gone through to save the club, how much they cared, only heightened that sense of responsibility.”

For the most part, Wrexham supporters are as loyal as any fanbase in the UK, if not more so.

The club regularly achieves home attendances of more than 12,000, with fans also travelling in their thousands on the road.

Last season, the noise within the club's stadium was so deafening that BT Sport commentator Adam Summerton famously referred to it as the "Racecourse Roar".

However, there have been occasions in the EFL when the crowd has fallen quiet when faced with greater tests than offered by most National League opponents.

Maybe it's with that in mind that Mullin made his comments to create a siege mentality and rally fans to be as noisy as possible heading into the last few games of the season.

If there's one thing for sure, it's that the whole club will need to be united during the vital final chapter of their campaign.