I don't think it is really. He does not rate him but he is under contract so we can't just get rid of him. Plus, until the strikers arrived this week we had to hold on to him just so we had sufficient bodies up front.
I think this is all classic displacement. We face a massive challenge this season, and we are not sure we have the resources or the players to compete at this level, so people are dealing with that anxiety by obsessing about a fringe player who is pretty much irrelevant in the bigger picture.
"people are dealing with that anxiety by obsessing about a fringe player who is pretty much irrelevant in the bigger picture."
What a ridiculously condescending remark!
Mullin could have and should have been given the opportunity to replace Norwood.
His footballing qualities are blatantly apparent, not to mention his professionalism and patience when not selected.
But you are right on one thing, Micky clearly doesn't rate him. Towards the end of last season, he failed to give him any meaningful game time, preferring instead to run Nors into the ground over the full 90 minutes despite the fact that he was carrying an injury.
Our scatter-gun approach to recruiting attackers this close season has been truly dubious. Adding an array of largely untried youngsters comes at a high risk and at a financial cost.
I don't believe that Ponticelli and Payne offer any improvement on Mullin. They have not shown any premium in quality over the lad in any aspect of their game - hold-up play, chasing, closing down, heading and shooting. Yesterday, HM showed a high degree of immaturity - far too selfish in possession and stupidly getting sent off. Hope he's fined for that idiotic behaviour.
Mullin has something to offer still. The lad deserves a fair crack at the whip.
On a more optimistic note, Ferrier looks promising and Connor will always do a good job behind a lone striker.