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Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's record number of appearances and captained England at the 1982 World Cup.. He is 7th on the list of all-time appearances in the top-flight of English football (First Division and Premier League) with 658 league appearances, and fourth for outfield players.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1984 New Year Honours, for "services to association football".United Kingdom list:
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, 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, a club record. In seven seasons he played all 42 league games including four in a row, 72/73 to 75/76. He also played all matches including cupgames in six seasons; 50 in 70/71, 54 (72/73), 57 (73/74), 50 (75/76), 55 (78/79) and finally all 55 matches in 81/82. He had just turned 22 when he became captain 30.01.71 and remained Ipswichcaptain for the rest of his career - a total of 588 matches
He joined Southampton in November 1982 and spent three seasons at The Dell making 123 appearances before leaving in the summer of 1985 to become player-manager at Stoke City. (2025). 9780992686406, Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 9780992686406 At Stoke, Mills played himself 44 times before deciding to retire from playing at the age of 38.
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 much 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 did not 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. Mick Mills Statistics FIFA. Retrieved 4 February 2010. 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.
The 1987–88 season was frustrating for Stoke as little progress was made culminating in a finish of 11th. Further funds were raised by selling both Lee Dixon and Steve Bould to Arsenal. The 1988–89 season again saw Stoke finish in mid-table which prompted speculation that Mills would not be offered a new contract. In the end he was given a 'final chance' to get Stoke promoted and he was given a £1 million transfer budget by Coates for the 1989–90 season. He spent it all breaking the club's record transfer of £480,000 for Sheffield Wednesday defender Ian Cranson, £75,000 on Derek Statham from West Bromwich Albion, £175,000 for Ian Scott and £250,000 for Wayne Biggins both from Manchester City. However, with Cranson only making 19 appearances in 1989–90 missing most of the campaign due to a knee injury, results were poor and with Stoke rock bottom and heading into the third tier for the first time since 1927 he was sacked in November 1989.
The following year he agreed to become manager of Colchester United, who were adrift at the bottom of the league. Despite closing the gap Colchester failed to avoid relegation and Mills declined to stay on for the following season. Mills became chief scout for Sheffield Wednesday and then a coach and Assistant Manager at Birmingham City – at one point becoming caretaker manager after the dismissal of Trevor Francis.
In 2010, Mills was named a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| England | 0 |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| + Managerial record by club and tenure | ||
| Stoke City | 24 June 1985 | 7 November 1989 |
| Colchester United | 3 January 1990 | 9 May 1990 |
| Birmingham City | 15 October 2001 | 12 December 2001 |
Southampton
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