Gary Mills (footballer, born 1961)

Gary Mills
Mills in 2009
Personal information
Full name Gary Roland Mills[1]
Date of birth (1961-11-11) 11 November 1961 (age 62)[2]
Place of birth Northampton, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[3]
Position(s) Right-back / Midfielder
Youth career
0000–1978 Nottingham Forest
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1982 Nottingham Forest 58 (8)
1982–1983 Seattle Sounders 34 (5)
1982–1983Derby County (loan) 18 (2)
1983–1987 Nottingham Forest 79 (4)
1987–1989 Notts County 75 (8)
1989–1994 Leicester City 200 (15)
1994–1996 Notts County 47 (0)
1996–1998 Grantham Town 66 (3)
1998 Gresley Rovers 7 (0)
1998–2000 King's Lynn 67 (3)
2000–2001 Boston United 8 (0)
2001–2002 Tamworth 41 (2)
2005 Glapwell
2005–2007 Alfreton Town 24 (0)
2007–2010 Tamworth 3 (0)
Total 727 (50)
International career
1977 England Schoolboys 9 (2)
1978–1979 England U18 2 (0)
1981 England U21 2 (0)
Managerial career
1996–1998 Grantham Town
1998–2000 King's Lynn
2001–2002 Tamworth
2004 Notts County
2005–2007 Alfreton Town
2007–2010 Tamworth
2010–2013 York City
2013–2015 Gateshead
2015–2016 Wrexham
2016–2017 York City
2020–2022 Corby Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gary Roland Mills (born 11 November 1961) is an English football manager and former professional player. He played in the Premier League and Football League for Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Notts County and Leicester City and managed in the Football League with Notts County and York City. He was recently the manager of Northern Premier League Division One Midlands club Corby Town.

Mills, who played as a right-back and as a midfielder, started his career with First Division club Nottingham Forest. He became the club's youngest league player after making his first-team debut at the age of 16 in 1978. He played in the victorious 1980 European Cup Final, which made him the youngest finalist in European Cup history. He joined the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League in 1982 and played for them for one season, which culminated in a loss to the New York Cosmos in Soccer Bowl '82. While with them Mills had a loan at Derby County, making 23 appearances for the Second Division club. He returned to Forest in 1983, and made 168 appearances over two spells at the club. He left for their rivals, Notts County of the Third Division, in 1987. Mills then joined Leicester City in 1989, and after two unsuccessful forays into the First Division play-offs he helped them win promotion to the Premier League in 1994. He soon returned to County, by this time playing in the First Division, after 232 appearances for Leicester. Here Mills earned the last honour of his playing career, winning the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1995. He retired from professional football in 1996 due to an injury, having made 159 appearances for County over two spells.

Mills started his managerial career as player-manager with Grantham Town in 1996. He left the club after leading them to the Southern League Midland Division title in his second season. He then served as player-manager at Southern League Premier Division club King's Lynn from 1998 to 2000, which was brought to an end after he resigned. He was appointed player-manager of Southern League Premier Division club Tamworth in 2001, before leaving to join the coaching staff at Coventry City in 2002. Mills was handed his first managerial role in the Football League with Notts County in 2004, but was dismissed several months after the club was relegated to League Two. He managed Alfreton Town of the Conference North from 2005 to 2007 when he returned to Tamworth. The club was relegated from the Conference National before Mills led them to the Conference North title in 2009. He left Tamworth in 2010 to become manager of their Conference Premier rivals York City. Mills oversaw York's victories in the FA Trophy and Conference Premier play-offs in 2012, the latter resulting in promotion to League Two. He was dismissed by York in 2013 before taking over at Gateshead, and after leading them to the Conference Premier play-offs in 2014 he was named the Non-League Manager of the Year. Mills took over as manager of their National League rivals Wrexham in 2015, but was dismissed the following year.

  1. ^ "Gary Mills". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Gary Mills: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Gary Mills: Overview". Premier League. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.