After being cut loose by Sheffield United, Marc McNulty became a lucky charm for Coventry City.
After leaving Sheffield United, Marc McNulty got a fresh lease on life at Coventry City.
The Sky Blues were demoted from the Championship in 2012, and they spent the five seasons before that in League One before being demoted to League Two in 2017.
The fact that the club had been battling several financial problems had not aided its slow downfall.
Due to this, they were forced to groundshare with Northampton Town in 2013 and were even liquidated in 2015, with their only option being to play under a new organisation.
However, Marc McNulty’s presence not only helped Coventry climb back up the leagues but also gave his career a boost.
Marc McNulty was released by Sheffield United and went on to become a Coventry City lucky charm.
After finishing as the third division’s top scorer in his final season played north of the border, McNulty joined Sheffield United in the summer of 2014. He had previously played for Livingston in Scotland.
After a respectable first season in which he scored nine goals in League One, his career in Yorkshire had started off nicely.
However, he would score just once in 13 games throughout his second and third seasons with the Blades, relegating him to a supporting role. In fact, Bradford City and Portsmouth received loans from him.
He was unable to leave Bramall Lane at the conclusion of his contract as a result, and he never really made an impression in England.
The 24-year-old signed a two-year contract with Mark Robins’ Coventry, who had just been demoted from League One.
“Goalscoring was clearly an area requiring improvement from last season, and I’m delighted to have been given the support to improve this area with a player of Marc’s undoubted quality,” the Robins stated in reference to their inability to score goals, which was the main reason they brought in McNulty.
Coventry’s talisman would be Marc McNulty, who guided them to advancement.
McNulty would once again find his shooting boots at Coventry, helping them get promoted straight back to League One at the first time of asking.
In total he would score 25 goals and would assist eight more in 45 games, helping them get promoted, which included a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Grimsby Town. But it would be his goals in the play-offs that were the most important.
They would play in the semi-finals against Notts County and were 1-0 down at home in the first leg, until McNulty stepped up to score a crucial 87th-minute penalty, to level the tie going into the second leg at Meadow Lane.
Coventry would go on to thump the Magpies 4-1, with McNulty scoring Coventry’s second in the 37th minute, which put them 2-0 up on the night.
In the Wembley Stadium final, “Sparky” would emerge victorious, helping two teams to a 3-1 victory over Exeter City. He would be named Man of the Match due to his outstanding performance.
His campaign-long efforts would pay off, as he would secure 42% of the voting to win League Two’s PFA Player of the Year award.
Coventry was fired and returned to League One, but he left after just one season to join Reading in the Championship, reportedly for a cost of £1.2 million.
Even though McNulty’s tenure was brief, his outstanding play during the season will live on in Coventry’s good memories as it helped the team return to the Championship in 2020.
