Mick Mills

Mills joined Portsmouth as a schoolboy, but the club abandoned its youth system, forcing him to look for a new club to begin his 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 after 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,…

Mills represented England at youth and under-23 levels. 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…

In 1985, Mills became player-manager of Stoke City with Sammy Chung as his assistant. Mills joined Stoke with the club a very poor position having just been relegated from the First Division with a record low points tally and with little money available. He set about trying to restore some pride into the support and began well as Stoke beat Leeds United 6–2 on the third match of the 1985–86. Money was still a major problem so the club sold Mark Chamberlain to Sheffield Wednesday for £300,000 but typical of the financial climate at Stoke the money was used to reduce the club's overdraft. Results slowly improved and Stoke finished the season in 10th place in what was a season of recovery. More player sales followed in 1986–87 but the arrival of Peter Coates as chairman allowed for some new players to arrive most notably Lee Dixon, Nicky Morgan and former Ipswich teammate Brian Talbot. Morale was boosted again thanks to another large win over Leeds United (7–2) as Stoke climbed up the table into the play-offs. However their form could not be maintained and they had to settle for 8th position. 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…

After a period of time as Technical Director of Galaxy Sports Management Mills is now retired, but continues as a football summariser for BBC Radio Suffolk, which he continues to do to this day on match day live. In 2010, Mills was named a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.