"The reason all of us boys are allowed to be at the club now." That's how Josh Windass — the man who inherited Mullin's No. 10 shirt — summed it up on social media. Hard to argue with that.
Paul Mullin has left Wrexham after five years, departing by mutual termination of contract at 31. The timing was inevitable; two underwhelming loan spells at Wigan Athletic and Bradford City last season had already written the ending. But inevitable doesn't mean painless, and for a fanbase that watched this man drag their club from non-league obscurity toward the Premier League conversation, this one stings.
What 110 goals actually built
The raw numbers are striking enough — 110 goals in 172 appearances, three consecutive promotions, three straight Player of the Year awards. But the number that matters most is the one that came before any of that: 32 goals in his debut season, enough to signal to every doubter that the Hollywood takeover was serious.
When Mullin signed in 2021, he had options. He'd just scored 34 goals in 50 games for Cambridge United, won League Two Player of the Year, and had Championship clubs interested. He chose to drop into non-league football instead, convinced by a lengthy phone call with co-owner Rob McElhenney. That decision — voluntarily stepping down a level to buy into a project — instantly changed the perception of what Wrexham was doing. Club director Humphrey Ker said they'd "landed a target most would have felt was unachievable." He wasn't wrong.
The season that followed the near-miss playoff heartbreak produced 47 goals and a National League title, with his match-winning double against Boreham Wood to clinch promotion the defining image of the entire Hollywood era. Then came 26 goals in League Two — after recovering from a punctured lung sustained in pre-season. Then five goals in League One, including a Goal of the Season winner against Blackpool on Boxing Day, delivered while working back from minor spinal surgery.
More than a footballer
Mullin's connection with Wrexham supporters ran deeper than goals. In a sport full of carefully media-trained professionals, he was openly political, genuinely outspoken, and occasionally landed himself in trouble for it — most notably after wearing boots bearing a slogan attacking the Conservative government. Fans didn't always agree with him. They respected that he actually had opinions.
Through the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, viewers saw a different side: a father placing his autistic son Albi at the centre of every major decision, using his global platform to raise awareness for autism rather than build a personal brand. He became an ambassador for Your Space, a North Wales charity supporting autistic children and their families. That, as much as anything, cemented his place in the club's identity.
- 110 goals in 172 appearances
- Three promotions: National League, League Two, League One
- Three consecutive Wrexham Player of the Year awards
- Two Wrexham Goal of the Season awards
- FA Cup Golden Ball as the competition's top scorer
- Cameo as "Welshpool" in Deadpool & Wolverine
He was never going to be Wrexham's greatest player of all time. But the argument that he is the most important signing in the club's history is close to unanswerable. Without Mullin saying yes in 2021, the trajectory of everything that followed looks different. Wrexham are now on the brink of the Championship — a division that felt like fantasy four years ago.
He leaves as a free agent. Whatever comes next for him personally, his place in Wrexham's story is already settled. "If anyone ever doubts what Paul Mullin means to Wrexham," Windass added, "they simply don't understand."
