LAST UPDATE | 16 Feb 2023
CHRIS FORRESTER AND Jake Mulraney are sitting at a table together talking about the League of Ireland season about to get underway when one St Patrick’s Athletic supporter approaches.
“Good luck, Jake,” the lady says, adding swiftly.
“Plenty of goals this season now.”
“I’ll try. God Bless. Thank you,” he replies.
Such an encounter is hardly a surprise given the pair had just finished meeting and greeting members of the Patron Saints, a group of the club’s most loyal and fervent fans who provide support well beyond the terraces.
Earlier in the evening, in a Q&A alongside Forrester at the local Rascals Brewery around the corner from Richmond Park, the former Ireland underage international admitted he did not expect to return home so soon in his career.
But before the 26-year-old could properly shed some light into the reasons for leaving Orlando City in the MLS – and a very public annual salary of almost $350,000 – more fans wanted to provide some words of encouragement on the eve of the sold-out visit of Derry City.
“Best of luck for the new season, kid. How old are you now? 29?” one gentleman asks Forrester.
“Ah, old enough enough,” he says.
“Old?! Will you get out the yard. You’re in your prime, or at least coming up to it,” the supporter continues.
“Thirty is the new prime,” Mulraney smiles.
“Famous last words,” Forrester responds.
“Ah, a pair of feet like yours and a head. Are ye kidding me? You’ll be like Eddie Gormley, you’re gonna go on til’ you’re 40,” the supporter insists.
“Eddie’s a God,” Forrester says.
“You’re the new God,” he is told.
“Ah, so I heard.”
“Ye will have to live up to that now,” the supporter says, playfully.
“I will, I will. I’ll try.”
Forrester, for the record, is 30, and while he may no longer be the enthralling rookie he remains an effervescent veteran capable of the sublime. Only striker Eoin Doyle, 34, is older in the current Pat’s dressing room.
It is one which has been bolstered by the arrival of Mulraney, an exciting wide player who has already shown his eye for goal in pre-season.
“Sometimes you bring in players and think ‘these boys aren’t up to it’ but he’s come in and you see the quality, it makes you feel like we can do well,” Forrester explains.
“That pushes everyone on, it makes me want to be a better player. When you’re at a club so long, you can be cruising, then you see boys like these come in and it pushes everybody on.”
Mulraney is relishing that expectation to deliver – some, like former Bohemians manager Keith Long, have tipped him as possible player of the season contender – as manager Tim Clancy eyes an improvement on last year’s fourth-place finish.
The Saints boss was also in attendance to speak with – and listen to – supporters earlier this week. He dealt with queries ranging from his methods to defending set-pieces to the reasons behind losing influential midfielder Adam O’Reilly to rivals Derry with patience and honesty, a trait Mulraney also continued.
“When I first came home I was thinking to myself that I’m after giving up a big opportunity to stay in America on really, really good money. But I was thinking to myself ‘I don’t care’. I hated it that much. Me and my family are a lot happier here,” the Dubliner, who is from just down the road in Drimnagh and also had a spell with Atlanta United in the MLS, explains.
You don’t want to just take the foot off and become comfortable. You still want to try win things. You can easily fall into the trap of coming home and just feeling comfortable.
“The amount of messages I got off people saying ‘what are you doing?’ People sending me bleedin’ pictures of the Atlanta stadium next to Richmond Park.
“I got messages from people showing me my wages from the MLS. I don’t really give a bollocks. I don’t really care about that. People sending me the wages and saying ‘now you’re on peanuts’. It is what it is. It’s only money.”
Forrester sighs. “What are ye supposed to say to that?” before adding with mock exasperation. “What do ye say, ‘ah, ye got me with that one, pal, well done’.”
“Exactly,” Mulraney continues. “I don’t take that seriously at all. People see Orlando an’ all, Disney Land, the weather. On paper it looks deadly but when you’re living there it’s a different story.
“I was going into training in Orlando and only five lads spoke English. Coming here, having the craic after the first day, having a laugh and even just being able to go and see my Ma after training, it’s nice.”
That leads to a warning. “For your own happiness, all those little things are so big,” Forrester, who had spells in England with Peterborough United and Aberdeen in Scotland, adds.
“Did I play against you? I must have played against you?” Mulraney, the former Hearts player, asks.
“No. Not in Scotland anyway. Sure I didn’t travel to games,” Forrester points out, the passing of time allowing him to joke of that unhappy spell in his career.
“But you can get caught up just being happy and not pushing yourself as footballer. It’s a pitfall you can fall into, I fell into it when I first came home. You have thoughts, ‘I should have done this or done that’. This is what it is, get on with it. I wouldn’t be worried about that with Jake.”
There are more well wishes from fans before the night is out and the pair hug for a photo. It’s all smiles for now.
