County-bound Josh bids Lions farewell
Winger leaving‘special group of guys’
Former Livingston winger Josh Mullin admits he’s leaving behind a “special group of guys” after he opted to sign for Ross County.
The 25-year-old was one of David Hopkin’s first signings as Livi boss in January 2016, and he went on to make 88 appearances for the club as he won back-to-back promotions.
He commented: “Of course it’s difficult to leave but it was about where my career might benefit. The facilities up at Ross County made it a no-brainer.
“I would have liked to try the Premiership with Livi and it was difficult to leave, but the age I’m at and where I see my career going, the best chance of progressing is at Ross County and that was my main reason.
“The group of boys we had were special. Everyone was on the same wavelength and would go through a brick wall for you. It was a really good group of friends that played – and worked hard – for each other, week in, week out.
“I spoke to a couple of boys before I signed. Raffa de Vita was injured and he had enough on his plate, so I didn’t want to worry him with my stuff but I spoke to him after it was done and he was positive – he said I would love it up there and that it’s a great club to be at.”
Reflecting on the season just gone that saw the Lions beat the odds to gain promotion to the top flight for the first time in 12 years, he said: “Everyone that watched our games saw we outworked every other team in the division. That was a massive thing for us. We maybe didn’t have as good players but the team-spirit did the job for us.
“We were predicted to finish in the relegation play-off. For us to even finish second was massive, let alone to go up through the play-offs.”
Despite enjoying his time in West Lothian, he confessed a move to the Highlands was the best option.
He said: “Seeing the facilities, you realise how much of a community club it is and the chairman said the same – everything is about the community. The facilities they have there too, you can tell they were a Premiership side.
“I spoke to Stuart Kettlewell first and he said how much he wanted to get me in. They knew other things were happening and wanted to speak to me as soon as possible.
“When you have a manager like that, it gives you that bit of confidence and it made my decision easy, just how he put his point across.
“I know Ross County want to go straight back up and I would love to be part of that. I played in this league week after week last season and I know how hard it is. I would like to get back up again with Ross County, now I’ve got a couple of years there.”
He added: “I don’t think it’ll be easy. We want to start the season as best as we can and see where it takes us. It’ll be a hard task but with the group of boys we have it’s very doable.
“I played in a squad that would run through brick walls for each other so if we have that here then there will be no problems.”