Gary Mills

Nottingham Forest

Mills played for a local village team before being spotted by a Nottingham Forest scout at the age of 11. Aged 14 he broke into Forest's reserve team, which played in the Central League. Mills also played for Long Buckby's youth team, and was part of the team that won a national under-16 competition. He started his senior career at Forest under the management of Brian Clough, making his first-team debut in a 2–1 victory at home to Arsenal in the First Division on 9 September 1978, and in doing so became Forest's youngest league player at the age of 16 years and 203 days. Mills signed a professional contract with Forest on 13 November 1978, two days after his 17th birthday, after serving his apprenticeship He scored his first goal for Forest with the opening goal of a 2–1 win away to Leeds United on 15 May 1979. Despite not participating in the 1979 European Cup Final at the Olympiastadion, in which Forest beat Malmö FF 1–0, Mills became the youngest player to win the European Cup at the age of 17 years and 201 days on the virtue of having made one appearance in the competition that season. He finished the 1978–79 season, in which Forest were First Division runners-up, with six appearances and one goal. Due to an injury to Trevor Francis he started in the 1–0 victory over Hamburger SV in the 1980 European Cup Final, staged at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, and being aged 18 meant he became the youngest player to appear in a European Cup final. Mills…

Mills was capped by England at schools level before making his under-18 debut in a 1–0 victory over the Soviet Union on 10 October 1978. He won his second and last cap in a 4–0 victory over Belgium on 17 January 1979. Mills' debut for the under-21 team came in a 3–0 victory over Romania in a 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier on 28 April 1981. He was capped again in a 0–0 with draw Norway in a friendly on 8 September 1981.

Mills played primarily as a right-back or as a midfielder. He was comfortable on the ball, could play the passing game and was a good tackler.

Mills was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire to Roly, also a footballer, and Jean (née Frost). As a youngster Mills displayed talent in multiple sports, being capped for England schools in both football and rugby union, and showed promise as a sprinter, running 100 metres in 11 seconds as an English Schools' Athletics Championships finalist.