Daniel John Mills (born 18 May 1977) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

best known for his time at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. His main position was

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, though he could also play as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. On 7 August 2009, he announced his retirement from the game at the age of 32 due to an ongoing knee injury.

Club career

Early career

Mills began his career with Norwich City after coming through their youth system. He was unable to establish a regular place in the side and moved to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in March 1998 and helped them win promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

via the play-offs, playing in their dramatic win over Sunderland in the play-off final, winning 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw.

Leeds United

In June 1999, Mills signed for

in a £4.1 million transfer. He played a part in helping Leeds reach the

2000-01 UEFA Champions League The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

Semi-final. Mills' Champions League debut came in Leeds' 4–0 defeat by Barcelona at the

Nou Camp Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcel ...

. Mills spent the 2003–04 season on loan at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

, where he played in the 2004 Football League Cup Final to help Middlesbrough to their first ever major trophy. Following relegation from the Premier League at the end of 2003–04, Leeds could no longer afford to retain Mills' services, and he moved to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

on a free transfer in the close season, signing a five-year contract. As part of his severance package with Leeds, Mills continued to receive part of his wages from the Yorkshire club for the duration of his original Leeds contract. Mills often said that he would've liked to go back to Leeds again (along with

Olivier Dacourt Olivier Yohan Dacourt (born 25 September 1974) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a former French international and is best known for his spells at English side Leeds United and Italian clubs Roma ...

), but this never materialised. Mills has been seen at Leeds games with his son after the club's relegation to the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

Manchester City

Mills made his

debut in the opening fixture of the 2004–05 season, a 1–1 draw against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

. He started the majority of matches in his first season at Manchester City, but was dropped from the first team when

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

replaced

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 a ...

as manager in March 2005. He regained his place for the start of the 2005–06 season, and on 2 October 2005, he scored his first and only goal for Manchester City, a powerful shot from against Everton. One month later, he sustained a shin injury which resulted in a fifteen-game absence. The injury coincided with the emergence of

Micah Richards Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English former professional footballer, sports pundit for Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and as an ambassador of Manchester City. As a player, he was a right back who played in the Premier League and ...

who deposed him as first choice right-back; after Richards made his debut, Mills made only five further first team appearances in the remainder of the season. On 14 September 2006 he joined

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

in a two-month loan deal. He returned to

in January and was on the verge of being sent on loan to

again or

, but a decision was made to keep him at City. Following the appointment of

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

as Manchester City manager, Mills was transfer listed for loan. He re-joined former club Charlton on a loan deal until the end of 2007. He joined Premier League strugglers

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

on loan, in January 2008 until 2 May. However, he was injured in only his second game for the ''Rams'', returning to City shortly after. On 1 July 2009, he was released by Manchester City after his contract finally expired. On 7 August 2009 Mills announced his retirement from all football during an appearance on BBC Five Live.

International career

Following a series of impressive performances for

, Mills received his first

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

callup in 2001, making his international debut on 25 May 2001, as a substitute in a friendly against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. Developed in the 1990s, It covers 80 hectares of former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines. Pride Park Stadium and Derby Arena are bot ...

. His first England start came on 27 March 2002 in a friendly against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. At the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, Mills was chosen as England's first choice right-back following an injury to

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

, and he played every minute of England's five matches.

Outside football

Mills is a patron of Shine (formerly the Association for

Spina Bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...

And

Hydrocephalus Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor balance, urinary i ...

), and has raised money for the charity since the death of his son Archie from the condition in 2002. He has also appeared on BBC Five Live's

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 1100 and 1200 and is based on a similar format to the ESPN show '' Around ...

. Mills now acts as a regular pundit and commentator (often alongside Alan Green) for

BBC Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcas ...

's coverage of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

and

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

matches. In 2010, he competed in the

Brighton Marathon The Brighton Marathon is an annual marathon in Brighton and Hove, England. It was first held on 18 April 2010 and has usually been held in April every year since. The inaugural Brighton Marathon was set up by former international athlete Tim Hu ...

in a wheelchair to raise money fo
Shine
and the National Association of Disabled Supporters, completing the race in two hours, 43 minutes. Mills was a runner up, along with Michael Underwood, on the 2012 series of

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

. He was beaten by

Emma Kennedy Emma Kennedy (born Elizabeth Emma Williams on 28 May 1967) is an English actress, lawyer, comedian, and travel writer, comedian, television presenter and author. Early life and education The daughter of teachers,

in a closely contested final. In 2016, he ran the London Marathon for The Bobby Moore Fund, finishing in a time of 3hours 14mins 46secs.... he had previously run the Yorkshire Marathon for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal in 3hours 17mins.

Personal life

His son George Mills won the 1500 metres British title in athletics. His younger son Stanley is a professional footballer for Everton.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Middlesbrough *

: 2003–04

References

External links

*
Ex-canaries.co.uk archives bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Danny Footballers from Norwich 1977 births Living people English footballers England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers England international footballers Association football defenders Norwich City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Derby County F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players 2002 FIFA World Cup players English association football commentators