- Mick Mills
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Mick Mills 
Personal information Full name Michael Dennis Mills MBE Date of birth 4 January 1949 Place of birth Godalming, Surrey, England Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) Playing position Full Back Youth career 1964–1966 Portsmouth 1966–1967 Ipswich Town Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1966–1982 Ipswich Town 591 (22) 1982–1985 Southampton 103 (3) 1985–1987 Stoke City 38 (0) Total 732 (25) National team 1973–1983 England 42 (0) Teams managed 1985–1989 Stoke City 1990 Colchester United 2001 Birmingham City (Joint Caretaker) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Michael 'Mick' Denis Mills (born 4 January 1949 in Godalming, Surrey) is an English former football full-back who, by the end of his career, had achieved Ipswich Town's record number of appearances and captained England at the 1982 World Cup.
Contents
Club career
Mills joined Portsmouth as a schoolboy, but the club abandoned its youth system, forcing him to look for a new club to begin his fledgling career. Ipswich Town took him on and he made his debut for the first team in 1966, aged just 17, in a 5-2 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A full back who could play on either side but was more frequently used on the left, Mills spent his late teens in and out of the Ipswich first team but became an established regular in 1969, the year the club achieved promotion to the First Division. It was also the year that Bobby Robson arrived as manager.
Robson appointed Mills as team captain in 1971 and so began a close working relationship between coach and skipper which was at the forefront of Ipswich's rise to the top of the game for a decade.
In 1973, Ipswich finished fourth in the First Division, won the Texaco Cup and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Ipswich began to finish in the top sector of the First Division with some regularity and played in numerous European competitions, but actual success seemed to elude them. Mills was the experienced captain of a young side consisting mainly of players brought through the ranks. They achieved third place in the First Division in 1977 and expected to go better than that the following year.
However, that subsequent season in the First Division for Ipswich was disappointing as they struggled to find any consistency and finished a lowly 16th. There was a tremendous bonus for them in the FA Cup, however, as they reached the final where they beat favourites Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley. Mills, as captain, lifted the trophy - Ipswich's first major honour for 16 years.
Ipswich, meanwhile, continued to hit high spots, finishing in the top five every year between 1978 and 1982, including a memorable season in 1981 which saw them just miss out on First Division and FA Cup glory, but won the UEFA Cup, which Mills duly collected after victory over AZ 67 Alkmaar in the final.
In the same year, Robson had told a 33 year old Mills that his contract at Ipswich would not be renewed. Mills joined Southampton in November 1982 for 40,000 pounds while Robson became Ron Greenwood's replacement as England manager, thereby ending Mills' international career too. He made 741 appearances for Ipswich over 17 years.
Despite his advancing years, Mills played frequently at Southampton over three seasons.
International career
During the 1972/73 season, England manager Alf Ramsey gave Mills his first international cap in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia at Wembley. Mills played at right back, a position which became more familiar to him with England than with Ipswich as his career continued.
His second cap came in 1976 against Wales and he had eleven by the end of the 1977 campaign.
While his club had finally won a trophy, Mills' international career was in a semi-statuesque state. Don Revie had given him a number of games at left back, including the opening qualifiers for the 1978 World Cup (a straightforward 4-1 win for England over Finland, followed by a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Italy) but Mills had to cope with lots of competition for both full back slots. After Revie's departure, successor Ron Greenwood seemed to prefer Liverpool's Phil Neal at right back and Leeds United's Trevor Cherry at left back, with Mills as reserve for both. He didn't play in any of the remaining qualifying games, and England failed to reach the finals.
Mills, however, started to become a regular in the England set-up in 1978 though some confusion continued over his best position as, of the eight internationals during that year, he played six at left back (with Neal on the right) and two at right back (with Cherry down the left). Mills sacrificed his place in the final England game of 1978, against Czechoslovakia, when Nottingham Forest right back Viv Anderson was handed his debut, becoming England's first black player.
Another young debutant, Kenny Sansom, emerged in 1979 to give Mills food for thought in the other full back slot, but he began to settle in at left back for his country as England qualified for the 1980 European Championships. Mills was named in Greenwood's squad but by now Sansom was an established option in the left back slot and he got the nod over Mills in England's opening two group games - a draw with Belgium and a defeat against hosts Italy - before Mills returned for the final game against Spain, which, despite an England win, saw their exit from the tournament.
Mills played four England matches in 1981 - notably, they were all World Cup qualifiers for the 1982 tournament, with Greenwood happy to use less experienced players like Anderson and Sansom in the friendly games which preceded them. When England beat Hungary at Wembley in their final qualifier to reach their first World Cup in a dozen years, Mills won his 35th cap.
Still switching flanks for his country when required (but rarely for club - he was almost always the left back), Mills played in just two of the preparation matches for the competition, but was named in the team as right back and captain (squad captain Kevin Keegan was injured) when England played their first game of the tournament against France in Bilbao.[1] England won 3-1 and Mills stayed in the side for the remaining group matches, both of which England also won, although he switched to left back for the final match to allow a run-out for Neal.
Greenwood reverted to a Mills-Sansom full back pairing for the second phase, but two goalless draws against West Germany and Spain (the latter of which finally saw Keegan's return to the team) sent England out of the competition.
Mills received 42 caps for England but never scored for his country.
Coaching and management career
In 1985, Mills became player-manager of Stoke City, where he lasted until November 1989 when he was sacked. The following year he became manager of Colchester, but was sacked after only a few months when they were relegated to the Conference
Mills became chief scout for Sheffield Wednesday and then a coach at Birmingham City - at one point becoming caretaker manager after the dismissal of Trevor Francis.
Career statistics
Team From To Record G W D L Win % Stoke City 24 June 1985 7 November 1989 213 72 63 78 33.8 Colchester United January 1990 May 1990 24 8 3 14 33.33 Birmingham City (Joint Caretaker) 15 October 2001 12 December 2001 12 5 4 3 41.67 Total 249 85 70 95 34.14 Personal life
He is now technical director of Galaxy Sports Management, a sports management company.
Like many other ex-Ipswich players he settled in Suffolk following his retirement from the game.
In 2010, Mills was named a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.[2]
Awards
Mills was awarded the MBE for services to football.
Honours
As a player
- FA Cup winner 1978
- UEFA Cup winner 1981
- Winner of the Texaco Cup in 1973
- Ipswich Town Player of the Year 1978
- Football League Division 1 Runners-up: 1980-81
- Football League Division 1 Runners-up: 1981-82
- Football League Division 1 Runners-up: 1983-84
References
- ^ Mick Mills Statistics FIFA. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
- ^ "Ipswich Legend Mick Mills Becomes Suffolk’s Patron Of The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation". Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5xXx0HPWC. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
- MICK MILLS, Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
1976–77 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year GK: Ray Clemence · DF: John Gidman · DF: Roy McFarland · DF: Kevin Beattie · DF: Mick Mills · MF: Kevin Keegan · MF: Brian Talbot · MF: Trevor Brooking · FW: Trevor Francis · FW: Andy Gray · FW: Dennis TueartEngland squad – UEFA Euro 1980 
England squad – 1982 FIFA World Cup Stoke City F.C. – managers Slaney (1874–83) · Cox (1883–84) · Lockett (1884–90) · Bradshaw (1890–92) · Reeves (1892–95) · Rowley (1895–97) · Austerberry (1897–1908) · Barker (1908–14) · Hodge (1914–15) · Schofield (1915–19) · Shallcross (1919–23) · Rutherford (1923) · Mather (1923–35) · McGrory (1935–52) · Taylor (1952–60) · Waddington (1960–77) · Eastham (1977–78) · A'Court (1978) · Durban (1978–81) · Barker (1981–83) · Asprey (1983–85) · Lacey (1985) · Mills (1985–89) · Ball (1989–91) · Paddon (1991) · Macari (1991–93) · Jordan (1993–94) · Hartford (1994) · Macari (1994–97) · Bates (1997–98) · Kamara (1998) · Durban (1998) · Little (1998–99) · Megson (1999) · Thordarson (1999–2002) · Cotterill (2002) · Kevan (2002) · Pulis (2002–05) · Boskamp (2005–06) · Pulis (2006–)
Colchester United F.C. – managers T. Fenton (1946–48) · Allen (1948–53) · Butler (1953–55) · B. Fenton (1955–63) · Franklin (1963–68) · Graham (1968–72) · Mochan (1972) · Smith (1972–75) · Roberts (1975–82) · Hunter (1982–83) · Lea (1983–86) · Walker (1986–87) · Brown (1987–88) · Wallace (1989–89) · Foley (1989–90) · Mills (1990) · Atkins (1990–91) · McDonough (1991–94) · Burley (1994) · Wignall (1995–99) · Cook (1999) · Whitton (1999) · Wadsworth (1999) · Whitton (1999–2003) · Williams (2003) · Parkinson (2003–06) · Williams (2006–08) · Lambert (2008–09) · Dunne (2009) · Boothroyd (2009–10) · Ward (2010–)
Categories:- 1949 births
- People from Godalming
- Living people
- English footballers
- Ipswich Town F.C. players
- Portsmouth F.C. players
- Southampton F.C. players
- Stoke City F.C. players
- UEFA Euro 1980 players
- 1982 FIFA World Cup players
- Birmingham City F.C. managers
- England international footballers
- English football managers
- Stoke City F.C. managers
- Colchester United F.C. managers
- Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- The Football League players
- The Football League managers
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