Auto Windscreens Shield (North) Semi-Final: Burnley v Preston North End - Pete Oliver's big match preview
JOHN Mullin could have been back in a claret and blue shirt this season but instead he will line up against his former club tonight.
Burnley boss Chris Waddle enquired about Mullin earlier in the campaign as the goals refused to flow at Turf Moor.
The move was a non-starter with Sunderland refusing to let the striker go. But in an ironic twist of fate he has now been signed on loan by Preston who visit Burnley in the Auto Windscreens Shield northern area semi-final.
"Burnley were interested early on in the season and it looked like a move could have been possible but Peter Reid blocked it," confirmed Mullin, who started his career at Burnley before moving to Sunderland for £40,000 in 1985.
"I don't think they (Sunderland) had sufficient cover and the timing was all wrong really.
"It would have been a move I would have been interested in if Peter Reid had wanted to sell me but the way it has worked out now Preston came in for me last week and Peter Reid said I could go on loan for a month."
Mullin's situation at the Stadium of Light changed with Niall Quinn's return to full fitness alongside Kevin Phillips, who had also been injured for a spell, spearheading Sunderland's challenge for promotion back to the Premiership.
The recent signing of Daniel Dichio from Sampdoria pushed the 22-year-old further down the pecking order and he jumped at the chance of first-team football again at Deepdale. "I have enjoyed it up there and enjoyed living there but football is the important thing and I found it very difficult this season. But I have gained some valuable experience and it must have stood me in good stead," added Mullin, who made 10 appearances in the top-flight last season and scored in Sunderland's win over Manchester United at Roker Park.
His affection for Burnley is apparent, however, despite the fact that he felt the need to move on two-and-a-half years ago.
The definitive local lad made good, Mullin was frustrated at his lack of first-team opportunities after scoring prolifically in the juniors and reserves.
"I was always well treated by the fans but I didn't feel the club wanted to keep me and feeling like that it was best to move on," he said.
"It will be a strange feeling for me tonight because it's the first time I have been back. Burnley will always be a special club for me. It was my first club and it was where I went to school."
"It will be the first time I have wanted Burnley to lose a game."
Preston manager David Moyes, in desperate need of a goalscorer to stave off the threat of relegation, obviously recognised in Mullin the same qualities that Waddle saw first hand when he joined Sunderland at the tail end of last season.
Mullin added: "Chris Waddle played the last few games. He saw me in training and managed to have a look at me and for him to be interested in signing me is very flattering." The player says he will "see how it goes" at Preston so it remains to be seen if he would figure at Wembley should North End reverse their 3-2 home defeat by Burnley from a week last Saturday and advance to the northern final.
More pressing is Preston's need for league points and Mullin helped them pick up one at Brentford on Saturday, although he was unable to mark his debut with a goal.
"It all happened so quickly," he said. "I didn't know until late on Thursday quite what was happening and I trained on Friday then set off straight for London.
"I believe the team has had it quite hard recently but I am just delighted to have the opportunity to be playing. From hardly playing all season, I have got two games in the space of three or four days."
While one team has to lose tonight, Mullin will be hoping for both to win their fight against the drop.
And he is not surprised to see Burnley making a decent fist of it in recent weeks.
"It was just a matter of time before they turned the corner. I always felt that with the players they had they were in a false position."
There have been big changes at Turf Moor since Mullin left. But of the handful of players still left from his days at the club, he could be in direct confrontation with three of them tonight if Waddle plays Gerry Harrison, Chris Brass and Paul Weller in his back five.
No doubt pleasantries will be exchanged but with a semi-final and local pride at stake, polite conversation may have to wait for the players' bar afterwards.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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