Jamie Mulgrew on the sacrifices and standards in Linfield silverware search

“Whenever you become part of Linfield and play for the club you know what’s expected of you,” said Mulgrew. “It’s about winning trophies and being successful.

“When new players come in they see the mentality and the standards that are there and they quickly have to grasp it.

“At the end of the day, that’s what the history of the club is...the pressures are there week in, week out.

“If you draw or lose a match it is a crisis very quickly.

“I admit that and have no issues with that.

“It’s the pressure of the whole situation and that keeps you going and performing and keeps you hungry.

“It’s the fear of failure.

“That’s the attitude and feeling you’ve got to have here.

“Everyone knows the pressures we have whether we are full-time or part-time or whether other clubs are full-time or part-time.

“It’s about when you don’t perform, having that steeliness and mentality to go and win football matches.

“Against Coleraine (in Tuesday’s title decider) we didn’t perform to the heights.

“But after the heights we reached on Friday night (in the Irish Cup final) it was going to be very difficult emotionally, mentally and physically to repeat that.

“For the Coleraine game we did enough and knew how to get over the line.

“It is evident for everyone to see how difficult this year has been for the whole world.

“We are part-time footballers and have jobs, some of us maybe haven’t been working through the pandemic, financially taking a hit - and football has been our release.

“We are in a very fortunate, privileged position to be able to continue in a normal way.

“I’m 35 next month and each year when we are successful I end up becoming emotional because, like all the boys, if you want to be successful you give your life to it.

“Your family makes sacrifices, you make sacrifices and to get the rewards from that means a lot.”

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