Leaving Dundee with a Championship winner’s medal around his neck was a fitting farewell for Paul McMullan.
The 27-year-old winger played a key role in the Dark Blues’ success last season, excelling in the first half of the campaign.
Though his form dipped late in the campaign, he did enough to earn a nomination for the PFA Championship Player of the Year.
And he made his desire to stay on beyond this summer clear in the winter. However, a new contract offer was not forthcoming before the end of the season and he decided to move on to pastures new.
A new city in a new country and a new league, McMullan is looking forward to a fresh adventure after a career that has included Celtic, Dunfermline, Dundee United and Dundee.
“I fancied something different,” he told the Derry Journal.
“I’ve probably played the last eight or nine years of my career in the Championship bar one when we went up to the Premiership but I just fancied something different.”
He added: “To leave on a high having won the league and contributed a significant part was probably a good way to leave Dundee and now it’s time to start a new chapter here and hopefully I can have similar success.
“I feel like I’ve played against the same 10 left backs for the last nine years so I’m looking forward to seeing a couple of different faces and testing my skills against different people.”
‘Seamless transition’
Though based in Northern Ireland, Derry City compete in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
They play across the summer months with the Candystripes heading to reigning champions Shamrock Rovers on Monday night.
McMullan can’t play until the transfer window opens on July 1 but is already looking forward to what he can add to the team who finished runners-up in 2022.
That second-placed finish saw qualification for the Europa Conference League with McMullan’s second appearance for Derry potentially coming away in the Faroe Islands at HB Torshavn.
Welcome Paul! 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/9H6V93kVlx
— Derry City FC (@derrycityfc) June 25, 2023
Having already trained for a week at the Brandywell Stadium, the winger is getting settled into life in a new city.
And that’s been helped by a former Dundee United team-mate in Mark Connolly.
“I’ve been speaking to Mark for a couple of months about it back and forth and then it just kind of fell into place and now I’m here,” McMullan added.
“He’s been great since we’ve moved over. Anything I thought, I’m not sure about that, I’d text him and within 20 minutes he’d have an answer for me and have two or three people waiting to help me.
“It’s made the transition seamless and made it feel easier whereas when you move to another country you can sort of feel a bit stuck and not knowing what to do but they’ve been great and it has made it so much easier.
“We always wanted to try something different.
“It’s just up to me to make it worth it by producing the goods on the pitch.”
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