The prayers of the Norwich City Legends squad have been answered with news that Father Philip Mulryne will be making a return to Carrow Road later this month.
The former Manchester United and Canaries midfielder stepped away from football in 2009 and made his way down a very different path, to train as a priest back home in Ireland.
Now aged 40, Mulryne is a Roman Catholic priest in County Kildare but bolsters a City squad which will face a strong Inter Milan legends team, which already includes Jurgen Klinsmann and Javier Zanetti, in a fund-rasing exhibition on Sunday, May 20.
The game is helping to raise £2.5million towards the Build The Nest project being run by the Community Sports Foundation for the charity's new hub, near Norwich Airport.
Canaries legends including Bryan Gunn, Iwan Roberts and Grant Holt have all signed up for the match as well (a 2pm kick-off), which will also mark the approaching 25-year anniversary of the club's famous Uefa Cup run, brought to an end by Inter in the third round.
WATCH: Former Norwich player Philip Mulryne speaks out about becoming a Catholic priest
Mulryne joined City for £500,000 in 1999 and went on to make 178 appearances, scoring 20 goals, and was part of the Nigel Worthington teams which reached the Division One play-off final in 2002 before lifting the title two years later. He was ordained as a deacon in 2016 and as a priest in West Belfast last July.
CONFIRMED PLAYERS
Norwich City Legends: Bryan Gunn, Darren Huckerby, Adam Drury, Chris Sutton, Spencer Prior, Gary Holt, Darren Eadie, Lee Croft, Iwan Roberts, Grant Holt, Mark Bowen, Rob Newman, Daryl Sutch, Youssef Safri, Paul McVeigh, Robert Ullathorne, John Polston, Phil Mulryne
Inter Forever: Jurgen Klinsmann, Javier Zanetti, Nicola Berti, Maicon, Marco Materazzi, Giogos Karagounis, Francesco Colonnese, Massimo Paganin, Giuseppe Baresi, Alessandro Bianchi, and Francesco Toldo
• Tickets are £9.93 for adults and £1.93 for U18s and are available at tickets.canaries.co.uk, by phone on 0844 826 1902 or from the ticket offices at Carrow Road, Castle Mall or Chapelfield.
• Find out more information about the Build the Nest campaign at thenest.org.uk
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