Former Man United footballer who became a PRIEST after growing ‘bored of money and attention from models’ opens up on new life inside a monastery and how he manages to watch Ruben Amorim’s side

A former Manchester United star-turned-priest says there are more similarities between playing football and monastic life than first meets the eye. 

Philip Mulryne, 47, came through United’s academy and made his only Premier League appearance for them in 1998 against Barnsley alongside Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole. 

He also earned 27 caps for Northern Ireland in a career that included spells at Norwich and Cardiff City before retiring in 2008.

In 2017, he opted for a little-trodden path when he was ordained as a deacon in the Catholic Church – a simpler life than his extravagant footballing days when he commanded up to £500,000 per year.

A few years ago he told Norwich’s club website how he had grown ‘dissatisfied with the whole lifestyle’ of a footballer, having dated models such as Nicola Chapman. 

And now he has opened up on his new life to an audience of academy stars, via Belfast Live. ‘I live in a monastery, so I am more of a monk, really. And it’s not on the surface, but there are a lot of the qualities there,’ he said.  

He was ordained as a deacon in the Catholic Church in 2017, after retiring from football in 2008

He made one Premier League appearance for Manchester United and a handful overall

‘They were saying, sacrifice, giving yourself to something greater than you, in the sense that I live in a community of brothers, there are 15 of us in the monastery.

‘So 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.

‘All these things have been great. I had a most wonderful career. It was a dream to come here and play.

‘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.’

Mulryne made a handful of appearances for United, but only one in the Premier League, before moving to Norwich in 1999 for £500,000.

Becoming a fan favourite at Carrow Road, the Northern Irishman made over 150 league appearances for the Norfolk outfit before leaving for Cardiff City in 2005. 

His career would then start to go downhill, barely featuring for the Welsh side before spells at Leyton Orient and King’s Lynn Town.

Ex-Northern Ireland star Mulryne was once a player in Manchester United’s youth system

The former footballer first enrolled at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome in 2009

At 31, he began formation for the Catholic priesthood after he started to fall out of love with football. Mulryne, who earned over £500,000-a season in his best years, didn’t enjoy where his career was going – and thus, he made a significant change.

Speaking on his transition into priesthood, Mulryne previously told Norwich’s official website: ‘It’s hard to pin down a particular moment. I would say it started in my last year at Norwich, not explicitly and I wasn’t thinking about it at that time but I started to get dissatisfied with the whole lifestyle.

‘We have a wonderful life as a footballer and I was very privileged, but I found with all the surrounding stuff that eventually there was a kind of emptiness with it. I was quite shocked – why am I not happy when I have everything that young men want?

‘It started me on a journey towards exploring my faith again, the faith that I had as a young man. I took a decision to come home for a year and it was really during that year that everything turned upside down.

‘I volunteered at a homeless shelter for a while. I started going back to mass and I started praying again on a regular basis. I just found a real sense of fulfilment with it. Football was huge highs and lows and here was something that was giving me a steady sense of contentment.’ 

After quitting the game over a decade ago, Mulryne revealed he has no regrets about his decision.

He added: ‘My vocation to priesthood and religious life came later in the course of that year – I felt this strong desire for this way of life and I stayed with it for a few months and then got the courage up to explore it and I took the decision and it’s now eight years later.’ 

Mulryne has enjoyed his fair share of worship from fans during his career, but it hasn’t always run smoothly.

The ex-Manchester United player at his Solemn Profession to the Dominican Order

The footballer earned up to £500,000 during his playing heyday with Norwich City and dated model Nicola Chapman

He was once sent home in disgrace from a Northern Ireland squad in 2005 after breaking a curfew to go drinking with team-mate Jeff Whitely. 

Peter Crouch, who played alongside Mulryne at Norwich reckons he may have played a bit of a role in pushing the former footballer to become a priest. 

In his book, How to Be an Ex-Footballer, the former Liverpool striker said: ‘Maybe — and this is a possibility I don’t like to entertain — it was hanging out with me in those giddy months that convinced him he needed a fresh direction in his life.’

Mulryne first enrolled at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome in 2009. He had previously spent two years studying philosophy in Italy, before undertaking a four-year theology degree in Belfast.