Former left back Jimmy McNulty is on the move once as he has left parent club Brighton & Hove Albion to sign for Championship side Scunthorpe United in a six-month loan deal. Jimmy joins the Irons for his second loan spell, after he spent the final six weeks of the 2009/10 season on loan at Glanford Park.
Jimmy left County in January 2009 as news of the clubs financial problems started to become an issue and he joined Brighton in a £150,000 deal - just a year after arriving at Edgeley Park. The likeable Scouser suffered a horrific injury in only his fifth appearance for the Seagulls, as he was involved in an accidental clash with a Crewe player during their 4-0 defeat back in February 2009. The clash saw him undergo surgery to remove one of his kidneys and as a result he missed eight months of action.
McNulty returned to first team action with Brighton in a Johnstone's Paints Trophy match in October last year although he struggled to get a run of games in the first team after struggling with his fitness. The 25-year-old was then allowed to leave Brighton on loan in a bid to gain some match fitness and he linked up with Scunthorpe United for the final few weeks of the season. Jimmy made two appearances for Scunthorpe before he picked up an ankle injury which saw him miss the next three matches although he did return for their final match of the season where they drew with Nottingham Forest.
Once again Brighton manager Gus Poyet has allowed the player to go out on loan and his reasoning behind the move this time is due to the fact that the player may find first team football hard to come by this coming season. Poyet appears to favour Marcos Painter in the left back position as he has been their first choice left back ever since he arrived on loan from Swansea in January. Painter has since signed a two-year deal at the Withdean Stadium which is bad news for Jimmy if he wanted to stay at the South Coast club.
It will be interesting to see how Jimmy fares in the Championship over the coming months as it was always thought that he would go on to bigger and better things following his performances at County. He's obviously had his injury and fitness problems following his switch to Brighton so hopefully he can get his career back on track this season.