• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

Rovers old boys

overthewater

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29 Oct 2009
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131
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chris malkin
He has a great chance to win something now in his first season at Tannadice. Such a comprehensive win as they achieved today will possibly make them favourites now. The style of football he has had them playing hasn't apparently been very attractive ('Mellonball' they call it) but he has kept them up more than comfortably
 

Ian

Super White!
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Aldo
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Kingy
Paul Mullin L2 Player of the Year....
Amazing really. Just shows you some players just fit better at other clubs. It will be interesting to see how he gets on next season.
 

Boz

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30 Sep 2005
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Iain Hume
No Rovers players in the final selection for L2 team of the year, a mix of the usual suspects and one or two left field choices. Does anyone know who gets to vote on this?
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
I don't know who selected the eleven, but I thought there were some strange omissions from that list, not least a few of our players. The PFA selection might be more convincing.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
Paul Mullin L2 Player of the Year....
It just shows how difficult it is to assess how good a striker is. Some will score wherever they go, but most don't. Although Keith is getting flak for binging in Nugent, a striker with a good pedigree, I don't hear anyone criticise Micky or MJ for mismanaging and then releasing a 30-goal striker called Paul Mullin. To be clear, I'm not criticising Micky, but then I think the criticism of Keith re Nugent has been over the top.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
It just shows how difficult it is to assess how good a striker is. Some will score wherever they go, but most don't. Although Keith is getting flak for binging in Nugent, a striker with a good pedigree, I don't hear anyone criticise Micky or MJ for mismanaging and then releasing a 30-goal striker called Paul Mullin. To be clear, I'm not criticising Micky, but then I think the criticism of Keith re Nugent has been over the top.
Mullin had failed to score goals in long spells at Morecambe and Swindon before arriving here, so I think it is harsh to suggest Mellon mismanaged him. Nothing in his career to that date suggested he would be prolific, and we already had a prolific goalscorer at the club (Norwood).

The criticism of the Nugent signing relates more to his age and state of fitness when he arrived, not his natural ability.
 

Ian

Super White!
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Aldo
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Kingy
In all honesty, I thought Mullin was average when he was here. He tended to score when he came on as a sub but play him from the start and I don’t think he did enough. Which is why I’m amazed at his record this season.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
In all honesty, I thought Mullin was average when he was here. He tended to score when he came on as a sub but play him from the start and I don’t think he did enough. Which is why I’m amazed at his record this season.
Agree completely.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
I don't entirely share the negative view of Mullin others have expressed. It became apparent fairly early on that Norwood and Mullin didn't work as a pair, hence the re-signing of Stockton. That didn't work out either, though Cole is another who's gone on to show elsewhere that he's a perfectly capable striker at this level. You could understand Micky sticking with Norwood as the main striker and since that got us promoted, there's little argument he was right. However, Mullin only featured in about half the games that season and there was a spell where he got no game time at all, which understandably dented his confidence, resulting in him trying too hard on the rare occasions he did get to play. It felt that Micky, for whatever reason, didn't rate him and we didn't see enough of him at L2 level to know what he might be capable of. That benefit has gone to Cambridge, with Mullin shining under Mark Bonner, who clearly does believe in him. Some players do click with one manager and not another, that's football. Mullin was given more of an opportunity in L1 and didn't shine. It will be interesting to see how he fares in that league next season, either with Cambridge or another, after his stock and morale have risen.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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John King
It is still difficult to blame Mellon for giving Mullin too few opportunities in League Two. Norwood and Jennings were obviously our best striking partnership in the 2018-19 season and won us promotion, so which one of those two should Mellon have dropped ? If it was not broken, Mellon was not going to fix it.
 
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