Jamie Mulgrew programme article
Posted : 19th July 2022
Simply put, if it wasn’t for Linfield’s evergreen captain Jamie Mulgrew, the Blues wouldn’t be playing tonight. The Blues would be out of the Champions League and on their way to Iceland in the Conference League. It looked like that was going to be the case until Linfield’s All-Time leading European appearance maker (48 games) produced a stunning and memorable goal from distance in the fourth minute of added time against TNS last week. Ethan Devine then scored the tie’s winning goal in extra time and despite Mulgrew’s pivotal goal being viewed a couple of hundred thousand times online, the humble midfielder told us the only thing that mattered was the result.
“To be honest, I didn’t really care that it was me who scored – it was just really important for the whole team and the club that we won and qualified. Financially, it’s brilliant for the club and there is now a fantastic opportunity there for us to reach a group stage. The group stage is something that all of us as players and staff are dreaming of. Whilst we’ve given ourselves an opportunity, it’s only an opportunity and we now have to fight like mad for what could be achieved.
“Possibly I should shoot more, but the way the game was going and the way the ball fell for me, I just felt it was right for me to hit it and thankfully, it went into the roof of the net which I felt was the bit of luck that we deserved over the two legs. I haven’t scored a better goal and I knew as soon as it left my foot that it was going in. It is all about the whole squad trying to make a contribution to the team, whether they start or whether they come off the bench and thankfully, I managed to do that as a substitute. We have a fantastic squad and if you’re not in the team, you need to make an impression when you get your chance. Hopefully, that’s what I did against TNS.”
Similar to the Irish League, the Welsh league is currently in its off-season break and the 36 year-old believes the Blues’ superior fitness made a difference, suggesting that Linfield’s pre-season training camp in Marbella paid off.
“I felt we won the game last week through our mindset, our will to win and through our fitness levels. I thought we were fitter than TNS and it also showed in the first leg, because we created a number of chances in the latter stages of the match, and again last week when we scored late on and then controlled the game in extra time, even with ten men, which was really positive.
“The support last week was also fantastic and even last season, when we faced difficult times on the pitch, they stuck with us then too. The European nights just seem to be different and the Linfield supporters always push us on. They gave us that extra percentage to get over the line last week.”
Should Mulgrew play home and away in this tie, he’ll reach a remarkable 50 European appearances for Linfield and whilst he’s hungry for more, he looks back on the 2019 Europa League play-off defeat to Qarabag on away goals as motivation to try and go one better.
“We know Bodo/Glimt have had some fantastic results in Europe in the last year. They have fantastic pedigree and it’ll be a mammoth task for us, but we met the challenge of Qarabag head on and we’ll certainly take a similar approach to this one. We have shown how good we are at home. Obviously, if all else fails, we will have a play-off to fall back on – but make no mistake, we’ll be giving our all in every match to try and win.
“In football I would say you remember the disappointments more than the success that you get, and the hurt from coming so close against Qarabag a few years ago is still there. You use that as extra motivation and hopefully, it can spur us on to go one step further this year.”
The legendary midfielder remains a key man for Linfield and will likely surpass 700 appearances for the club at some point this season. Ten-time Irish League winner Mulgrew remains as hungry as ever and everyone associated with Linfield will wish him the best of luck for tonight’s huge match.
Jamie was awarded the Torrans Trophy in May this year, having overtaken William Murphy and Tommy Dickson into second place in the club's all-time list of appearance makers and another landmark in sight is his 50th career goal for the club. Having scored goal number 49 last week, what chance that the hugely popular and inspirational club captain could notch up his half century of goals tonight ?