EXCLUSIVE: The making of Josh Mulligan at Dundee – in his own words

The Courier

2 days ago

Josh Mulligan's time as a Dundee player could be coming to an end this summer.
If it does, his 14-year association with his boyhood club will come to a close.
Six years after making his first-team debut for the club, Mulligan has seen over 100 players signed at Dens Park.
The majority of those have come and gone in that time. This summer it could be the 22-year-old who goes as his contract expires and clubs line up with offers.
But how did Josh Mulligan become the player he is today?
This the making of Mulligan, in his own words.
Josh Mulligan was born on 12 November 2002 on the same day in the same hospital as future Dundee team-mate Fin Robertson.
Born into a family mixed with Dundee and Celtic supporters, Mulligan has been a dark blue all his life.
He joined Douglas Lads around five-years-old 'just down the road from my house' before joining another future Dens team-mate Lyall Cameron at Logie Harp.
Cameron and Mulligan would join forces again down the road at Dens Park but initially went their separate ways with the former heading to Dundee United.
There was only one club for Mulligan, however.
'It was amazing being scouted by Dundee,' Mulligan exclusively told Courier Sport.
'You never really expect to get this far when you're that age.
'You're just thinking about the next game of football or even the next training session.
'The football we played was good stuff and Fin [Robertson] was in the team.
'Not really anyone else has made it to the first team but we had a really good side and it was really enjoyable.
'You always took the game seriously. It's like now – if you had a bad game on a Sunday, it would ruin your whole week.'
The season finale at St Johnstone on May 18 was Mulligan's 123rd first-team appearance for Dundee.
His first came way back in 2019 as then-interim manager James McPake ditched the loan players that had failed to keep Dundee in the Premiership in favour of the gems he knew were waiting in the academy.
McPake had been the Dark Blues youth chief and wasted little time in blooding Fin Robertson and Josh Mulligan in an end-of-season match against St Mirren.
'When I was younger coaches like Tony Murray and Sandy Buchan were really good for me,' Mulligan recalled of his academy days.
'Then as you get a bit older, you got to Jazz [James McPake] and Darren O'Dea. They were brilliant. They really understood the game because they've been players.
'I think that's when I started developing a bit more when I got to the U/18s. The coaching was really good and I think that set us up.
'Obviously Jazz got the manager job. That helped as well because he put us straight in.
'All the boys that were there – me, Lyall, Fin, Max Anderson and a few others as well.
'It helped make that step up from youth to first team a bit easier.'
The early days as a youth-team player stepping up to first-team training showed a young Mulligan what was required to make it in the game.
Early on he saw first-hand how 'sharp' Glen Kamara was. The Finn was the star player in Neil McCann's team back in 2018 when Mulligan signed his first pro deal and would go on to success with Rangers, play at Euro 2020 and has since featured for Leeds United, Rennes and finished the recent season on loan at Saudi side Al-Shabab.
Mulligan was older when Charlie Adam arrived at boyhood club Dundee following a stellar Premier League career.
'Charlie Adam was really, really good in training,' Mulligan recalled.
'You could see the positional awareness he had.
'He knew exactly where players were around him.
'I play midfield. I'm still learning but that's the part that separates the good players from the top players. That awareness on the pitch. He had that.
'Obviously his left foot helped as well.
'But his brain was always a couple of steps ahead. I'm always learning every day.
'I think that's what it takes to get to that high level. It's good to have the talent and attributes.
'But it's in the brain where you need to be sharp.'
Mulligan credits loan spells at Cove Rangers and Peterhead as crucial points in his development.
The drop into part-time football gave the youngster a dose of the reality of football below the top level.
Joining former Dundee manager Paul Hartley at Cove Rangers in League Two began the first team journey proper in January 2020.
Mulligan played eight times as the Aberdeen outfit won the division amid the Covid shutdown.
He'd then join another with a Dens Park link, Jim McInally, at Peterhead.
There he was compared to Gareth Bale by Simon Ferry, then a player-coach with the Blue Toon.
'Even at Cove, I always say even though I didn't play as much as I wanted, just going out and experiencing the men's game was brilliant,' Mulligan said.
'Obviously I didn't play as much but I think that learning really helped me. My second loan was a bit more successful.
'I was playing every weekend. Jim McInally was brilliant. I still message him now.
'I think he was probably the first manager that put that trust in me to go and play every week. He obviously put me at wing-back, which is a position I still play now. I still enjoy it.
'I think he was really good for me. Si Ferry was obviously one of the coaches as well. They were really good.
'Those loans were an eye-opener. You are playing with boys desperate to win just to get that extra bit of money. You really see what the game was all about.
'You had that extra bit of pressure as well. You had to perform.
'I think I took to that well. It helped having [former Dundee youngster] Danny Strachan and Lyall [Cameron] there.
'I really enjoyed Peterhead. It was good times.'
The best time in his young career, though, came under the lights at Stenhousemuir.
The date was May 5, 2023. On the line was the Championship title. A final day shootout between Dundee and Queen's Park.
The winner won the league and would be a Premiership club the following season while the loser would drop into the play-offs.
A crazy game ended 5-3 to the Dee with Mulligan playing 90 minutes.
'That final game was unbelievable,' he adds.
'A really good moment in my career.
'Some people go full careers without winning a trophy. I'm hugely grateful for that season and that team as well.
'The players on that team, I still speak to most of them now. It was unbelievable.
'The core of that team were Dundee boys. That helped as well.
'That was a good season. [Manager] Gary Bowyer was brilliant with me. He was another one that really took me under his wing.
'He was a bit old school, a top manager.
'You see what he's done now with Burton. He kept them up obviously. I still message him now.
'He was brilliant with me.
'That season in general was really good.'
By the end of the past season, Mulligan moved beyond the likes of Julian Speroni, Matt Lockwood, Juan Sara and Gordon Strachan in the all-time appearance list.
So how does it feel for a lifelong Dundee fan to play more than a century of games for the Dark Blues?
'I'm really proud,' he said.
'Not just for myself but my family. I'm really proud of what I've achieved here.
'Over 100 games. It just flies in. I remember the first game I played against St Mirren.
'If you'd said that to me then, I would never have believed you.
'It's something I'm really proud of.'