A tribute to Paul Mullen: RIP

By Albatross
September 6 2004

Hartlepool United lost a devoted fan and servant on Saturday: Paul Mullen, co-founder of fanzine Monkey Business and the club's Media Manager, passed away after being ill for several months. Pools Online pays tribute to one of the most familiar figures in the fan community.

Although Paul had been ill for a while, it's still very sad news for the many of us that either knew him, or had come into contact with him. Our thoughts and prayers will naturally be with his family at this time - in particular Christine, his wife, and son Andrew.

Hartlepool United had always played a big part in Paul Mullen's life, and he was a regular home and away for many years. In the late 80s the idea of a Fanzine was mooted; Paul put his own name forward as an interested party, and in doing so co-founded Monkey Business, which has been around ever since. Before long he was a very familiar figure, selling Fanzines, T-Shirts (I still have "The Monkey goes from strength to strength.... like" from the early days) and the like from "The Salesmobile" in the Mill House Car Park and wherever he could away from home - up to and including the Gents Toilets at Cambridge as he recalled in an article in Issue 50 of the Bizz!

By this point though Paul (who had also been acting as a freelance photographer at Pools games for a while) was no longer editing Monkey Business. He had been approached by IOR and asked to take on the role of Press Officer at the club - and when he said yes, back in 2000, he decided that he would have to step down from running the Fanzine. There had been "issues" between the club and the Bizz over the years, including a threat of legal action from Garry Gibson (what a surprise!), but as Paul pointed out in the anniversary article, Gibson was always happy to take the sponsorship money that the fanzine put into the club! Mostly relations have been cordial - how many places have the Club Shop selling the Fanzine, as happened at Pools - but Paul felt that as a "Poacher turned Gamekeeper" he had a conflict of interest - and so after more than a decade he stepped down.

The appointment of Paul as Press Officer was in several ways a master stroke by IOR. A fan himself, and knowing where fans were likely to be, he made a point of going on to In The Net (at the time the only really active unofficial HUFC Site, and certainly the main Poolie messageboard) to answer queries from fans. "FAO PM" was a common subject line to see, and Paul would always do his best to respond. Sometimes we didn't get answers we liked; sometimes we got answers that weren't really answers at all - he must have got tired of typing "The club doesn't comment on transfer speculation" and the like - but communication between club and fans had never been so good as when Paul was involved.

With the introduction of live match coverage and the "Pools World" service, Paul found himself as co-commentator, and also gave his mobile number out for those listening to text in. This was very handy when there were problems, and after one particularly horrendous experience Paul actually took the trouble to phone me back to discuss things. He was also instrumental in arranging for me to look at the attendance recording systems for an article I did back in 2003, up to and including arranging for me to have a press ticket for the game - and there are many other fans with similar tales of how Paul had helped them over the years.

Paul's illness over recent months didn't make him any less of a devoted fan - indeed, he went to great and painful lengths to make the Playoff game at Ashton Gate - but understandably he had to cut back on his match attendance as his illness progressed. He was out of hospital briefly a short while ago, and well enough to listen to the Pools World commentary and send a text message to the team.

While the news of his death arrived too late for any commemoration on the pitch on Saturday, it is to be hoped that a suitable tribute can be payed to Paul before the game with Torquay on September 18th. If so, there will be many there that will remember Paul with affection, laughter, and more than a little sorrow that he's been taken from us in his early 50s. Rest in Peace Paul Mullen, a Poolie through and through - "one of us".