The striker admitted that he “can’t go to bed without feeling guilty” as he opened up about his little boy

Paul Mullin, a Wrexham hero, was moved to tears when he stated that he “can’t go to bed without feeling guilty” after his son Albi was diagnosed with autism.

In January, the striker revealed Albi’s diagnosis, telling his Twitter followers that it made him a “happy and healthy boy… no different than anyone else.” He talked more about his family life on the most recent episode of Welcome to Wrexham, which focused on the problems Mullin’s family encountered this year.

“The first 12 months of Albi’s life, he was hitting all the milestones,” the 28-year-old claimed. “He was walking nine and a half months before I was.” Everything was normal until he was 12 months old and he was duplicating sounds, clapping his hands, singing songs, and executing motions.

“Then Albi began to regress.” He stopped making eye contact with me, his mother, or anyone else. He did not imitate. He no longer attempted to produce sounds.”

While Mullin and his wife Mollie were able to obtain Albi a diagnosis and make arrangements for when he starts school, the Wrexham star claimed that he still goes to bed feeling terrible every night. He went on to say that “football comes second” to Albi’s health and happiness, with the latter being “the most important thing” in his life.

“He’s a happy lad, enjoys every single day. Makes me smile,” he continued. “He doesn’t talk, he’s nonverbal, but he might as well talk because I know exactly everything he needs and when he needs it. He’s a joy. I wouldn’t change him for the world.”

“Sometimes he’ll just turn around and say ‘Dada,’ and that’s something I love to hear; to be honest, it makes me cry every time,” Mullin continued, as he delivered a message to other parents in the same predicament. “If you’re going through a difficult time with your partner and you feel you have to break up because you’re always at each other’s throats, because it’s tough, believe me, staying for your child will only help and benefit them.”

As the documentary crew inquired if he wanted to take a break, the striker became obviously distressed. Mullin composed himself and continued, saying, “I’m fine, it happens all the time anyway, I’m used to it now.”

Later in the episode, the former Morecambe striker shared a heartwarming moment with the club’s co-owner Ryan Reynolds, showing him a video of Albi counting to ten, which he had learnt “out of nowhere.”

“We were sitting in my mother’s kitchen, and he was just counting fruit out of the fruit bowl,” he explained. “I’d never heard him do it before, and I just looked at him like, ‘what the f***, where’s that coming from?'” Now he only recognizes numbers and everything.”

The video moved the actor, who told Mullin, “That’s so good.” Oh my goodness. Then it just goes nuts like every other kid.”

The episode, the second in the new series, also features Millie Tipping, an autistic Wrexham fan. She demonstrated how the club’s ‘quiet zone,’ in which fans with sensory needs can watch a game while wearing noise cancelling headphones and following a familiar routine, had changed her life, before giving Mullin a gift bag to pass on to Albi to remind him that autism “is a superpower, not a disability.”