Born in
Motherwell, he started his football career with
Morton in March 1948, before moving to England firstly with
Northampton (from July 1949). In October 1952 he joined
Newcastle where he made fourteen
First Division appearances but found it difficult to claim a regular place, having to compete with
Reg Davies and
Ivor Broadis. In July 1954,
Southampton's manager
George Roughton paid £12,000 to bring Mulgrew and
Billy Foulkes to
The Dell of which £7,000 was attributed to Mulgrew. He scored 15 seconds into his debut on 21 August 1954 at home to
Brentford (won by Saints 6–4); this was the fastest-ever goal scored at The Dell. Mulgrew went on to score eight league goals
that season, as Saints narrowly missed out on promotion to the
Second Division. Although Mulgrew showed promise, this was largely unfulfilled and he did not score consistently. According to Holley & Chalk he was "a real glutton for fetching and carrying." "There was no doubt that Tommy was not only a crowd favourite but popular with his colleagues as well". He became the first player to be sent off for Southampton for 21 years in a match at home to
Coventry over Christmas 1954. His career at Southampton spanned eight seasons during which he scored 90 league goals in 293 appearances placing him 10th on the club's list of all-time league goal-scorers. He also played 37 cup and friendly games, scoring 10 goals to bring his total goals scored for the Saints to a round century. In August 1962, after a dispute over terms, he moved to
Aldershot, where he played 112 league games, before he joined
Andover in August 1965. He had a brief spell in non-league football before moving to
Northampton, where he worked in a steel factory in
Rothwell until his retirement. He lived in Northampton with his wife until his death in January 2016. ==References==