Brian Mills (born 26 December 1971) is an English former

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, rugby lea ...

. A forward who scored four goals in 23 games for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, his brief professional career was ended by illness in 1993.

Career

Mills joined

's junior squad at the age of 14 after being spotted by Mike Pejic while playing for Stafford & District schools and Staffordshire County schools. After four years of coaching from Pejic, he went on to sign professional forms under

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

John Rudge John Robert Rudge (born 21 October 1944) is an English former professional football player and manager who is the president of club Port Vale. Rudge began his playing career at Huddersfield Town in November 1961, but made little impact at t ...

in April 1990. He scored twice on his full debut on 11 May 1991, in a 3–1 win over

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. This was the last game of the 1990–91 season. He was selected for the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

squad at the

1991 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship was the eighth staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, an international football competition organized by FIFA for men's youth national teams, and the eighth since it was established in 1977 as the FIF ...

in Portugal, and started in the game against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

before he was taken off for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

star

Andy Cole Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career lasted from 1988 to 2008, and is mostly remembered for his time with Manchester United, who paid a Brit ...

. He scored three goals in 27 league and cup games in 1991–92, as the "Valiants" suffered

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

out of the Second Division. He scored in a 2–1 home win over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on 24 September 1991, in the first leg of the First Round of the League Cup. He also scored in a 1–1 home draw with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 21 April 1992, and also found the net in a 4–2 defeat to

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

at the

Abbey Stadium The Abbey Stadium, currently known as the Cledara Abbey Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Cambridge, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United since 1932, and currently has a maximum capacity of 7,937 spe ...

four days later. Mills was hospitalized in March 1992 with

transverse myelitis Transverse myelitis (TM) is a rare neurological condition wherein the spinal cord is Inflammation, inflamed. The adjective ''wikt:transverse#Adjective, transverse'' implies that the spinal inflammation (myelitis) extends horizontally throughout ...

and was released from his

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

in September 1993; still not fit to play full-time. Still only 21 and with a mere 23 league appearances and four goals to his name, he never played professional football again due to the damage to his spinal cord caused by the disease. The disease meant he was restricted to crutches for the rest of his life, though he said, "I can swim, ride a bike, lift weights but I just can't walk".

Post-retirement

After leaving the professional game, he graduated from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

with a Physics and Sports Science degree and became a schoolteacher. He also became a keen

powerlifter Powerlifting is a competitive strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight singl ...

, winning West Midlands bench press titles in the 69 kg class and becoming the British Masters 1 unequipped bench press champion.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Brian 1971 births Living people Footballers from Stone, Staffordshire People from Barton-under-Needwood English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Alumni of Loughborough University Schoolteachers from Staffordshire British powerlifters 20th-century English sportsmen