Struggling Derry Dan in dumps
The Congolese and former French Under-21 international had the flame of his fading football career rekindled at Rugby Park last season.
His 20 games there were not only instrumental in Killie’s top-five finish but in his own renaissance after nine months in the wilderness.
Now, after his surprise late summer switch to Celtic, the 31-year-old midfielder looks set to make his debut this afternoon on familiar territory.
And he insists he is relishing the chance to prove he has the quality to play for the champions, not just impress against them.
He said: “My best memory at Kilmarnock was scoring against Celtic so this is going to be special for me. I always want to win. When I go back to Kilmarnock, I won’t think of mercy. Sorry for my former teammates – but if I can score against them, I will.
“I have respect for Kilmarnock, their players and fans so I won’t celebrate if I do find the net. But if I can score, trust me, I will.”
Mulumbu’s summer spent as a free agent was only slightly more surprising than Celtic’s eventual move for him.
As he prepares to fill Olivier Ntcham’s boots this afternoon though, he admits the football gods were on his side. He said: “When I came to Kilmarnock, I wanted to play football and enjoy it after a couple of poor seasons at Norwich City.
“It’s a big reward to now be at Celtic and I want to give it back on the pitch.
“Me and my agent were just saying how glad we are now that proposed moves didn’t go through in January – such as a deal with Bordeaux.
“Then I missed some deals in the Premier League during the summer.
“Now I think that was for a reason. I am glad that everything went down because now I’m at Celtic.”
No one will be better versed in that than Clarke (inset), who bossed him at the peak of his powers with West Brom in England’s top flight. And Mulumbu reckons he and Brendan Rodgers are cut from the same cloth – even if the stoic Scot has a different way of showing it.
The midfielder said: “Clarke is a great coach. He comes from the same school as the gaffer. They have the same style.
“The only difference is Steve puts more intensity into defence, while Brendan puts more intensity on the offensive side. Steve has worked with Jose Mourinho and Gianfranco Zola – it’s no mystery why Kilmarnock finished in the top five.
“He’s a great coach and deserves all the praise he is getting. To be fair, he’s opened up a bit at Killie – at West Brom he wasn’t talking at all.
“Players at Rugby Park were always asking me what he was thinking, because they never knew.
“I told them that as long as he doesn’t talk, he’s happy!” Derry City 0 Shamrock Rovers 1
DERRY City’s miserable League of Ireland form continued at the Brandywell last night, Dan Carr’s sole goal inflicting a fourth consecutive Premier Division defeat on the Candystripes.
City won the EA Sports Cup at the same venue last weekend but then suffered an FAI Cup quarter-final exit there on Wednesday to Bohemians.
Hoops sub Carr did the damage this time as he tapped home in the 63rd minute to move Rovers into third in the table and back into contention for a place in Europe next season. Ally Roy, Ronan Hale and Aaron Mceneff missed the best of the chances for Derry who now travel to Oriel Park to take on champions-elect Dundalk in their next league game on Tuesday.
In last night’s other Premier Division match, Bohemians came from behind to win the Dublin derby with St Pat’s at Richmond Park 3-1.
The Gypsies made 11 changes from the win over Derry and had a youthful look with six players under the age of 19.
But after going behind to Achille Campion’s goal on four minutes, strikes from Ali Reghba (2) and Robbie Mccourt gave the FAI Cup hopefuls a satisfying win.