Hibernian's central midfielder, Josh Mulligan, is a prime example of a football journeyman. With his birth certificate filled out on 12 November 2002, and hence gracing us with his presence for the past 23 years, he has already made quite a name for himself in Scotland despite the lack of interest from green-hued fans that frequent Celtic Park. Mulligan, standing at a middling 5' 8'' (1.75m) tall and carrying about 12st 1lb (77kg), primarily wears number 20 on his back and has managed to squeeze his way into Scotland's national team. Not too shabby, eh?
According to Transfermarkt, Mulligan is currently even estimated to carry a market value of about £1.3m. Not exactly Neymar money, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. He's still got some time to make it big, if he dares.
Our fair Mr. Mulligan initiated his professional career in Dundee as a trainee back in July 2017. There he wowed the crowds with the sort of performances that included making a whopping single appearance in the 2018-2019 season. However, the youngster found his groove in subsequent seasons, as he trotted out onto the pitch 11 times scoring two goals in 2021-2022, upped his game to 31 appearances and another two goals in 2022-2023, 18 appearances with solitary goal in 2023-24, and held steady with 34 appearances in 2024-25. A slow start turned into a reasonably steep career trajectory, one might say.
January 2020 and October of the same year saw Mulligan flex his footballing muscles with brief spells on loan at Cove Rangers and then Peterhead. Coming back home to Dundee each time, he ruffled opposition defences in a repeat pattern of previous seasons.
Yet again, in July 2021, Mulligan found loaned out, this time to Peterhead, only to return to Dundee in January 2022. Dundee clearly had a hard time letting go of their precious commodity. But alas, good things rarely last, and in July 2025 Dundee finally let their prodigal son go, this time to Hibernian.
In his current season at Hibernian, Mulligan has made 22 first team appearances and found the back of the net once. He also tried his hand in the League Cup 2025-2026, the Scottish Cup 2025-2026, the Europa League Qualifiers 2025-2026 and the Conference League Qualifiers 2025 - 2026, proving to be a bit of a utility player for Hibs.
Amongst all this detail, what we Celtic fans can't help but mull (sorry for the pun) over is, when will Celtic, with its deep pockets and premier reputation, finally spot this Scottish gem? Perhaps it's time to slip a green and white jersey over Mr. Mulligan's shoulders. But for now, we'll just have to sit back and see what the football gods have in store for us.
