Phil Mulryne is the unusual — orthodox perhaps in his beliefs, but not in his career path. As recipient of the Dave Bushell Award for Lifelong Learning, Mulryne is at Old Trafford for just the second time in 20 years.
“He was a wonderful winger,” recalls Bushell, who is given an award himself, for 30 years of service at United.
“Phil used to turn people inside out.”
He used to turn people inside out, now he turns people into believers.
Mulryne made five appearances under Sir Alex at United in the late 1990s. He left in ‘99 and became a regular starter and fan favourite at Norwich City, helping them secure Premier League promotion. After retirement, he began studying for the priesthood. He was ordained in 2017, two decades after his United debut. He now lives in a monastery.
“I get asked a lot is ‘are there any similarities between being a footballer and a priest?’” Mulryne says.
“And I live in a monastery now, so I’m more of a monk, really. But there is. A lot of the qualities that Sir Alex was saying there: sacrifice, giving yourself to something greater than you. I live in a community of brothers, there’s 15 of us in the monastery, so the sense of dependency on each other. It’s the things that Manchester United taught me, all these virtues and characteristics that you learn from being here.”