I JACK MULDOON PLAYER FEATURE INTERVIEW

JACK MULDOON

THE SCORER OF OUR FIRST NATIONAL LEAGUE GOAL, OF OUR FIRST FOOTBALL LEAGUE GOAL AND OF OUR FIRST FOOTBALL LEAGUE GOAL IN HARROGATE. ALL THREE TITLES BELONG TO ONE MAN, JACK MULDOON. THE 31-YEAR-OLD STRIKER IS NOW IN HIS THIRD SEASON WITH TOWN AND HAS BEEN A KEY

PLAYER IN OUR RECENT SUCCESS. INTERVIEW BY HENRY WHITAKER

CLICK HERE TO SEE JACK MULDOON’S FACTFILE

MULDOON WAS BORN in Scunthorpe and spent time in Scunthorpe United’s academy from the age of 11 to the under 16’s. He was offered a half contract with the youth team, which allowed him to train to be a footballer while still having an education, studying BTEC Sports Science.

However, like so many youngsters, Muldoon found himself struggling for game time which prompted a move to Doncaster Rover’s youth side, run by Paul Wilson. The Town striker spent just under half a year with the Rovers before “pulling out” of the setup.

“I just wasn’t enjoying being with the lads there,” Muldoon confesses. “I’d be getting on the train and bus there and back, starting my day at 5-6am to get home at 4-5pm for it to be the same scenario as at Scunthorpe.”

The next step for Muldoon was to do another year of college to get his A-Levels to study at University. He would set up camp in Sheffield, studying Sports Technology at Sheffield Hallam University. Muldoon still had a strong passion for football and played for the University team. Alongside this, he played for Sheffield FC, before joining Glapwell in 2009.

“I played there for a year on £130 cash, which as a student, was perfect,” Muldoon explains. “The first year at uni was just messing about. Everything was about the Varsity’s and sport on the Wednesdays, I loved that. A lot of my mates went travelling to America and Australia and I felt like that was my opportunity to do something on my own. I stuck just out of town rather than a million miles away.”

Despite enjoying his time at university, Muldoon never actually finished his degree. After 18 months of studying, he dropped out, confessing that the football lifestyle had begun to “sidetrack” him. The striker moved back home and then signed for Stocksbridge Park Steels, a club where current Premier League striker Jamie Vardy once played. It was at that moment that Vardy had just moved on to Halifax, with Stocksbridge needing an “off the shoulder” type striker to fill the void. Muldoon was the man to get the call and he stepped up, scoring over 20 goals in his first season.

Two strong campaigns saw Muldoon move onto North Ferriby United in 2012. That season, they were crowned as Northern Premier League Premier Division champions, making the step up to the Conference North. However, Muldoon was told he wouldn’t be part of their plans and so signed with Worksop Town, becoming part of a front three which scored 106 goals.

“I ALWAYS LIKE SCORING IF IT MEANS WE’VE GOT POINTS OUT OF IT AND IT MEANS SOMETHING. MY FIRST GOAL AGAINST FYLDE IN THE FA TROPHY WAS A GOOD ONE AS IT GOT US INTO THE GAME.”

JACK MULDOON

Soon after, Town’s number 18 got the chance to sign for Rochdale. At this stage of his career, Muldoon was 25 years old and had been a plasterer for six years. He signed a 13-month contract, giving up his job in the process.

“That move was probably the best thing I could have done because it was a lesson in itself. Training with League One players brought me on leaps and bounds. I had jumped up five divisions and playing with those levels of players week in, week out was something I grasped quite quickly.”

“However, I was massively out of my depth,” Muldoon continues. “I turned up to training knowing I was the worst player in the team and I didn’t really do much on the pitch but training every day, getting the fitness levels up, improving my touch, knowing where to be, it all helped.”

With Muldoon struggling for game time, he spent the second half of the 2014/15 season on loan at Halifax. It was at the West Yorkshire club where Muldoon found some form but he was keen to play football closer to his home town of Scunthorpe. In the second last game of the season, Halifax played Lincoln City, in what was a pivotal moment for the striker.

“I remember the week before that match, I rang Lincoln’s Gaffer saying I wanted to play for them on loan for the last couple games of the season. However, they wouldn’t take me and I ended up playing against them and I got MOTM. The gaffer rang me the next day and said he wanted to sign me for the following season.”

Muldoon signed for the Imps and the spell at Lincoln brought about one of his career highlights, the special FA Cup run during the 2016/17 season. Under the Cowley brothers, Lincoln City made it to the quarter-finals of the competition, becoming the first non-league side to do so since 1914.

The Imps defeated Championship side Ipswich Town, before beating top-flight side Burnley 1-0 to go through to the FA Cup quarter-finals. Their run came to an end at the hands of Arsenal at The Emirates, the team Muldoon supports.

“It was a surreal moment,” Muldoon admits. “In the tunnel when we’re lining up, they had their full team out and I had Giroud standing next to me. You could feel the difference in quality. Their movement, touch, everything. I remember going into a shoulder to shoulder with Kieran Gibbs, I don’t usually come off second best but this time I did. Gibbs was stick thin and I remember he just sent me flying, I couldn’t believe it, he probably weighed 9-10st wet through but it just shows the strength they have.”

At the end of that season, Lincoln got promoted

to League Two but Muldoon wouldn’t be part of the next stage of their journey. He had been told he wouldn’t play as much and for Muldoon, it didn’t matter where or at what level, he wanted to keep playing week in, week out.

AFC Fylde rang the striker, who signed a deal with the Lancashire club for the 2017/18 season. Muldoon played every game bar a couple and did well in that campaign, helping The Coasters reach the National League playoffs. However, at the end of that season, Muldoon was offered a 20% pay cut to stay, an offer he found “insulting”.

“I had scored 11 goals from the wing that season, got them into the play-offs and was part of a good, strong team. The majority of them now play in League Two. There were quite a few who were offered a pay cut and straight away I turned it down, it was a bit of an insult, to be honest. I was living nearly three hours away, the travel costs come into it and being away from my family comes into it. If I wasn’t going to be rewarded for doing well then I wasn’t interested in staying. I think eight of us left at that time.”

What followed was Muldoon’s arrival in Harrogate Town. He recalls his first training session being full of running, with the striker getting beaten by goalkeeper James Belshaw in a specific drill. Muldoon had been warned by assistant manager Paul Thirlwell that Belshaw would be “right up there in the running”.

Muldoon’s first goal came on his debut in the National League against Sutton United. After going 1-0 down, the striker equalised with a finish from four yards out, after George Thomson’s strike had rebounded off the Sutton keeper. It was Harrogate’s first-ever goal in the division, with the match finishing 2-2.

Muldoon has made over 100 appearances for Town and scored 39 goals during that time, many that have been vitally important to Weaver’s side.

“I always like scoring if it means we’ve got points out of it and it means something. My first goal against Fylde in the FA Trophy was a good one as it got us into the game. We went 2-1 up after initially being behind. They scored in the last five minutes to take it to extra time and I’ve managed to score the winner. Chesterfield away is another one as I got the last-minute winner to make it 3-4. I came off the bench that day, set the equaliser up for Lloyd Kerry and scored the next two to win the game.”

This season, Muldoon has made a strong start to life in the Football League. He scored our

first goal in the division in the 4-0 win against Southend, and then scored our first Football League goal back in Harrogate in the 1-0 win over Barrow. After the opening few games of the season, Muldoon had the best goal involvement ratio per 90 minutes in the entire Football League and was level on goals with the likes of Mohammed Salah come mid-October.

Like a fine wine, the older Muldoon has got, the better he has become.

“I think I’m more educated on what I should be doing now. I remember at Rochdale, there’d be times where I wouldn’t touch the ball all game, but I was running like a mad man. Now, I’ve picked up things and become a better player. I speak to Jon Stead quite a lot about composure in front of goal and he always says it’s about being ‘ice-cold’ and trying to make time stand still for you.”

Muldoon’s success is even more impressive as he’s spent the last 18 years living with Type 1 Diabetes. It means Muldoon has to be extra careful about what he eats and how he exercises.

“I came back from a school trip at about 12 years old about two stone lighter than I should be, my mum took me to the hospital and I was diagnosed with it. It’s another thing to think about,” he admits. “Most people will wake up in the morning, go downstairs, have breakfast and go. Whereas with me, I wake up at 3 am and test my sugar levels to see whether I need to be injected or eat. Then I’m up again at 6:30 am. I’ve got a kid and a dog to help sort out, then I have to check and deal with my levels again. I go to training, check them again, work out whether to eat again etc. I’ve got to base my whole life around it, which is fine, but it’s just one of those things. It’s a bit of a nuisance but I guess it keeps me on my toes.”

The striker is a role model for many diabetic sufferers wanting to become athletes. He chats regularly to people on social media and he’s an example that challenges are there to be overcome.

Muldoon isn’t looking too far ahead, with the striker settled and enjoying life at Town. He has a young family and is set to move into a new house soon, ready to “build his family from there”.

When the time does come for the Scunthorpe man to hang up his boots, he thinks he’ll be able to look back on his career fondly.

“I’ll look back and be pretty proud of my career. For eight years, I was playing at EvoStik level and below. I would never have expected to have done what I’ve done. It’s a bit of a cliché but I’ve done a really good job at being a professional footballer so I’m proud and have no regrets about what I’ve done. I’ve always thought I’ve made the right decisions and it’s always been a mature decision so I know I can be happy with that.”