Stewart Mell

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Stewart Mell
Personal information
Full name Stewart Albert Mell[1]
Date of birth (1957-10-15) 15 October 1957 (age 66)[1]
Place of birth Doncaster, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Hull City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1979 Appleby Frodingham
1979–1983 Doncaster Rovers 76 (14)
1983–1984 Halifax Town 30 (8)
1984–1986 Burton Albion
1986–1989 Scarborough 79 (24)
1988 → Boston United (loan) 4 (1)
– Goole Town
International career
1985 England Semi-pro 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stewart Albert Mell (born 15 October 1957) is an English former professional footballer who scored 30 goals from 145 appearances in the Football League, playing for Doncaster Rovers, Halifax Town and Scarborough.[1][3] He began his football career as a youngster with Hull City, played non-league football for Appleby Frodingham, Burton Albion, Boston United and Goole Town, and was a member of the Scarborough team that won the 1986–87 Football Conference to become the first club automatically promoted to the Football League. While a Burton Albion player, he was capped for England at semi-professional level.

Football career[edit]

Mell began his football career as an apprentice with Hull City, but never played for the first team.[3] He moved on to local Lincolnshire League side Appleby Frodingham before joining Football League Fourth Division club Doncaster Rovers, initially on a non-contract basis. He made his first-team debut on 29 December 1979 in a 2–1 home defeat to Huddersfield Town. He played irregularly over the next two-and-a-half seasons, helping the club gain promotion to the Third Division in 1981,[4] and scoring winning goals against Crystal Palace,[5] Millwall[6] and Fulham that contributed to their avoiding relegation in 1981–82.[7] He spent the 1983–84 season back in the Fourth Division with Halifax Town before moving into the Northern Premier League with Burton Albion.[3]

In 1984, Burton knocked Football League club Aldershot out of the FA Cup with goals from Mell and Nigel Simms.[8] While a Burton player, Mell won his only cap for the England semi-professional representative eleven; he played against Wales in 1985, without scoring.[9] In the 1986 close season, Mell followed Burton manager Neil Warnock to Conference club Scarborough.[10]

Partnered in attack by Phil Walker or Stewart Hamill, Mell was Scarborough's leading scorer with 16 Conference goals (18 in all competitions) as they won the division, six points clear of favourites Barnet, to become the first team to benefit from the introduction of direct promotion and relegation between Conference and League in place of the longstanding re-election system.[11][12] He scored at each end of the run of 13 consecutive away wins that made a major contribution to their progression from mid-season mid-table to the penultimate game of the season that confirmed them as champions.[13]

Mell scored Scarborough's first goal in the Football League,[14] on the opening day of the 1987–88 season, a 2–2 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers marred by £20,000-worth of damage to the ground, fighting on the terraces, 54 arrests, and a visiting supporter falling through the roof of a stand.[14][15] He finished the season as the club's top scorer for the second year running, with ten goals in all competitions.[16]

He played rarely in Scarborough's second league season. In October 1988, he joined conference club Boston United on a month's loan. He made four appearances and scored once, in his first game for the club, a 5–0 defeat of Barnet.[17] After 79 appearances in League and Conference for Scarborough,[3][12] Mell finished his football career back in non-League football with Goole Town.[3]

Personal life[edit]

Mell was born in Doncaster, which was then in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[1] He worked as a firefighter during much of his football career,[18] and as of 2007, was still employed in the fire service, based in Hull.[19]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 423. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter (20 August 1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. Queen Anne Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-3561435-4-5. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Stewart Mell". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Stewart Mell". doncasterrovers.co.uk. Forward Productions. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Poor old Palace!". Daily Mirror. London. 7 October 1981. p. 31.
  6. ^ Carter, Barry (7 March 1982). "Peter baffled". Sunday Express. London. p. 32.
  7. ^ Marsden, Jack (9 May 1982). "Classy Coney". Sunday Express. London. p. 32.
  8. ^ "McGrath facing a rare absence". Burton Mail. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  9. ^ "History". Burton Albion F.C. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
    Williams, Tony, ed. (1988). Official Football Association Non League Club Directory. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 43–44. ISBN 1-869833-09-0.
  10. ^ "Athletic honour for fab four". The Scarborough News. 15 October 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  11. ^ Oliver, Pete (22 March 2007). "Warnock back at Scarborough". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  12. ^ a b Harman, John, ed. (2005). Alliance to Conference 1979–2004: The first 25 years. Tony Williams. pp. 571, 576. ISBN 978-1-869833-52-7.
  13. ^ "Patterson's side match champions". The Scarborough News. 14 February 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  14. ^ a b Dougray, John (16 August 1987). "Wolves send in the clowns". The Observer. London. p. 42.
  15. ^ Goodbody, John & Stafford, Ian (17 August 1987). "Seaside violence may bring ban on Wolves supporters". The Times. London.
  16. ^ "Top Scorer(s)". Scarborough F.C. Archived from the original on 30 April 2007.
  17. ^ "Boston United Roll Call". Boston United FC – The Original Website. Ken Fox. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
    "Season 1988/89 – Statistics". Boston United FC – The Original Website. Ken Fox. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
    Harman, Alliance to Conference, pp. 122, 131.
  18. ^ Warnock, Neil (2013). The Gaffer: The Trials and Tribulations of a Football Manager. Headline. p. 87. ISBN 978-0755362776.
    Bierley, Stephen (11 August 1987). "Splashing out on a rising tide". The Guardian. p. 23. ... Stewart Mell, scorer of 16 goals in the GMVC Championship side. Mell was a fireman then, and still is. Only five players on United's books, including Moss, are full-time professionals. Needless to say the League, and particularly the PFA, are not 100% happy with Scarborough's part-time policy.
  19. ^ "Catching up with winners". The Scarborough News. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
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