da 888casino： Paul Mullin has relived getting unexpectedly papped while in America, with the Wrexham striker stunned to discover how famous he has become.
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Prolific frontman boasts fans around the worldGot a taste of that during trip to the StatesOwners have raised profile of the clubWHAT HAPPENED?
The Welsh outfit took in a summer tour of the United States as part of their pre-season programme ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. Mullin lined up against Chelsea, but then suffered a punctured lung in a meeting with Manchester United.
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He was forced to stay behind when the rest of Phil Parkinson’s side headed home, and it was during that extended break in the U.S. that he was chased by the paparazzi. Mullin has told Kammy & Ben’s Proper Football Podcast: “When I stayed behind with my two friends. After about 10 days or so I felt alright to walk around and we went out for some dinner. We went to a bar next door and I didn’t know at the time that it was quite a hotspot.
"As I’m walking in, I’ve turned round the corner and there are flashes going off in my face! The first picture will be a picture! I don’t even know where they are. I was like ‘what are you doing?’ I couldn’t believe it. I sort of cottoned on and started laughing and smiling, and my mates were saying ‘who do you think you are?’ I said they were taking photos of them as carers! Leaving was exactly the same and they ended up running after me down the street asking me questions. I don’t know if they thought I was going to be getting into a Lamborghini or something, but it was a Chrysler that we’d rented for a couple of hundred quid!”
WHAT THEY SAID
As stars of the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary, Mullin and Co had been warned by club co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to expect special treatment in the States. They got plenty of that, with Mullin adding on becoming a household name a long way from home: “It’s been very strange. Going there for the whole time, the first season of the documentary was out and the owners were telling us ‘you don’t know how well received you’re going to be’.
"The first night we got there we went for a walk around North Carolina, literally as we stepped out of the taxi a car is driving down the road, the window goes down and it’s ‘hey, it’s Paul Mullin!’ I thought they might be right here! Against Chelsea the fans were cheering, and the Man Utd game was the same. It was quite surreal, but now we know that when we go out there it’s going to be a bit of chaos but something you can enjoy.”
Getty/GOALWHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Wrexham’s squad had already spent time in the States before facing the likes of Chelsea and United, with Reynolds and McElhenney funding an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas on the back of the club’s record-breaking promotion into the Football League. Mullin, who hit 47 goals last season, said of that experience: “It was phenomenal. It was treatment you wouldn’t normally receive – it was fit for a movie star. It was a shame Ryan wasn’t there! They really looked after us and it was something that I’ll remember for life. I don’t know if a few remember too much of it, but it was a great time and it was worth every penny that they spent on it.”