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A Manchester United midfielder has bucked the trend of the same old post-career plans of professional footballers.
Experience and the choice of a player’s agent are two of the most typical paths that old surnames follow in the game; an individual in the past on United’s books does not, in fact, fall into that category.
Philip Mulryne, who was part of the Red Devils’ FA Youth Cup-winning squad in 1995, discovered him through a United scout betting for his parish team in Belfast at the age of 14 and invited him to the club for a trial. He was a four-year collegiate contract at Old Trafford before signing a four-year professional contract in 1994.
He made his first-team debut for the club in a 2-0 League Cup defeat by Ipswich Town in October 1997 and his one and only Premier League appearance arrived on the final day of the 1997/98 season against Barnsley.
Mulryne was sold to Norwich City in 1999, in a deal worth £500,000, and remained at Carrow Road for six years. He went on to play for Cardiff City, Leyton Orient and King’s Lynn before hanging up his boots in 2008.
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Since retiring from his career, the former Northern Ireland foreigner has a priest in the Republic of Ireland. His official name is now “Reverend Father Philip Mulryne” and he is guilty of overseeing a congregation at St. John’s Priory Church. To make this position possible, he embarked on a two-year degree in philosophy in Rome and then a four-year career in philosophy before becoming a Dominican priest.
Describing how his journey from football to a respected religious figure came about, he previously told Norwich City’s club website: “It’s hard to pin down a particular moment. I would say it started in my last year at Norwich, not explicitly and I wasn’t thinking about it at that time but I started to get dissatisfied with the whole lifestyle.
“We have a glorious life as a footballer and I’ve been privileged, but I discovered that in everything around me in the end there was a kind of emptiness. Why am I not satisfied when I have everything so young?Do men need it?
“It put me on an adventure to re-explore my religion, the religion I had when I was young. I made the resolution to stay home for a year, and in fact, it was that year that everything changed. I volunteered at a homeless shelter for a while. I began to return to Mass and pray regularly. I discovered a genuine sense of fulfillment in it.
“Football has had its ups and downs and that gave me a constant sense of satisfaction. My vocation to the priesthood and devout life came later that year; I felt a strong preference for this way of life and stayed in it for a few months, then I had the courage to explore it and I made the resolution and now it is 8 years later.
Mulryne filed for bankruptcy in September 2016 after making a financial investment in London-based film corporations Tudor Films LLP and Zeus Films LLP. The company’s accounts presented through Tudor showed losses in excess of £900,000, and Zeus wasted more than £800,000.
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