Raith Rovers ace expects to be target for Ayr United boo boys on return this Saturday

But the 31-year-old midfielder, who scored eight times and made four assists in helping The Honest Men finish second tier runners-up in a fine 2022-23 campaign – including netting a double in a 2-0 home Ayr league success over Raith in December 2022 – can’t wait to return to Scotland’s south west coast this weekend.

"I think scoring those two goals against Raith probably played a big part in them signing me in summer 2023,” Mullin told the Fife Free Press. "But listen, I loved it at Ayr. It’s funny because some of the fans boo me and think that I didn’t want to stay.

"That wasn’t the case at all. We had a great season finishing second, the best for many years. It’s just the way things work out sometimes, it wasn’t meant to be at the end of that season and I moved on.

"I’ve not got a bad word to say about Ayr, I loved the club, the fans and playing at Somerset Park.

"Even as a Raith Rovers player I love going back there and playing. I get a warm reception every time, a few boos, but that’s part and parcel of football.

"A lot of the Ayr fans still message me on social media and they’re all great guys. And I still speak to the Ayr chairman (David Smith).”

To add spice to the Somerset Park battle, Scott Brown’s Ayr have a maximum nine points out of nine to lead the table, with pre-season title favourites Rovers fourth on three points with a game in hand.

“I think Ayr away is always one that you look at as one of the hardest away days in the league,” Mullin said.

"The fact that they’ve started on fire the first three games they are looking good.

"But we went there twice last season and won so we need to just go there with the same confidence that we can do that again.

"It’s very early and Ayr are looking good, but I think to pick a title winner is virtually impossible.

"I think anybody can beat anybody on their day and that is just the way the Scottish Championship is.

"You look at us last season, top of the league and playing Arbroath.

"They were bottom and they found a way to beat us.

"That’s why it makes it such an exciting league.”

The league’s unpredictability is also illustrated by the fact that newly promoted Falkirk – runaway League One champions last season – are now rated joint favourites with Raith and Ayr to win this season’s Championship after opening with two victories.

Mullin added: "I know a lot of the players at Falkirk, they’re all really good football players.

"They’ll have that bounce of coming up undefeated from League One, I did it myself with Livingston.

"We obviously came up, had that bounce and managed to get promoted again.

"I don’t mean they’ve nothing to lose but they’re in a good place and winning games of football, that’s the main thing.

"They will obviously fancy themselves but we have boys in the team who’ve been through the mill and done it before so you’d like to think that hopefully come the end of the season we’ll be right up there.”

On Raith winning 1-0 at home to Partick Thistle in their last league game after disappointments earlier in the season which led to manager Ian Murray’s sacking, Mullin added: "We had a wee bit of energy about us in the Partick game. Sometimes you just need to put disappointment to bed, sometimes you do it quicker than other times.”

At the time of posting this article on Wednesday, no replacement for Murray had been announced and Colin Cameron and John Potter were the interim management duo in joint charge.

This newspaper’s requests for an update from Raith on their search for a new manager were met with a ‘no comment’ response.