‘I became a monk after leaving Man Utd - I was bored of money and models’

Philip Mulryne must have thought he had life sussed when he made his Manchester United debut as a young man. The Belfast-born midfielder only made a handful of appearances for the Red Devils but forged a successful career in professional football, spending his prime years at Norwich City and lasting a decade in the Northern Ireland international set-up. He had the lifestyle to go with it, too, earning big bucks and dating model Nicola Chapman.

But in retirement he left it all behind for a life dedicated to religion and sacrifice as an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church. "I didn’t like the trappings of being a footballer," Mulryne told The Times in 2017. "The money, the nightclubs and the attention of women.



While that was fine for a while, when I got to my late 20s I started to feel really dissatisfied. "I loved the game, loved the training. The lifestyle was bringing me pleasure but nothing lasting.

Nothing was ever enough. I was constantly restless, born out of the fact that I thought this way of life was meant to make me happy." After leaving United in 1999 and spending six years at Norwich, Mulryne went on to enjoy brief spells with Cardiff City, Leyton Orient and King's Lynn before hanging up his boots at a relatively young age.

The 47-year-old started seriously considering a change of direction during his final year with the Canaries, and began formation for the Catholic priesthood at 31. His current lifestyle is a world away from the one he used to have, although he does claim to keep on top of how his former teams are getting on. "I live in a monastery, so I am more of a monk, really," Mulryne told an audience of United academy stars.

"There are 15 of us in the monastery. "There is a sense of dependence on each other, the kind of things that Man United taught me, all these virtues and characteristics that you learn from being here. "I have a superior in the monastery that I answer to, like a manager, like a gaffer.

We don't have TV in the monastery. We have a room with a couple of computers, so I watch the three-minute highlights. I get all the highlights, so I keep in touch with it.

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