Gary Roland Mills (born 11 November 1961) is an English football manager and former professional player. He played in the Premier League and Football League for Nottingham Forest, Derby County, Notts County and Leicester City and managed in the Football League with Notts County and York City. He was recently the manager of club Corby Town.
Mills, who played as a right-back and as a midfielder, started his career with First Division club Nottingham Forest. He became the club's youngest league player after making his first-team debut at the age of 16 in 1978. He played in the victorious 1980 European Cup Final, which made him the youngest finalist in European Cup history. He joined the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League in 1982 and played for them for one season, which culminated in a loss to the New York Cosmos in Soccer Bowl '82. While with them Mills had a loan at Derby County, making 23 appearances for the Second Division club. He returned to Forest in 1983, and made 168 appearances over two spells at the club. He left for their rivals, Notts County of the Third Division, in 1987. Mills then joined Leicester City in 1989, and after two unsuccessful forays into the First Division play-offs he helped them win promotion to the Premier League in 1994. He soon returned to County, by this time playing in the First Division, after 232 appearances for Leicester. Here Mills earned the last honour of his playing career, winning the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1995. He retired from professional football in 1996 due to an injury, having made 159 appearances for County over two spells.
Mills started his managerial career as player-manager with Grantham Town in 1996. He left the club after leading them to the Southern League Midland Division title in his second season. He then served as player-manager at Southern League Premier Division club King's Lynn from 1998 to 2000, which was brought to an end after he resigned. He was appointed player-manager of Southern League Premier Division club Tamworth in 2001, before leaving to join the coaching staff at Coventry City in 2002. Mills was handed his first managerial role in the Football League with Notts County in 2004, but was dismissed several months after the club was relegated to League Two. He managed Alfreton Town of the Conference North from 2005 to 2007 when he returned to Tamworth. The club was relegated from the Conference National before Mills led them to the Conference North title in 2009. He left Tamworth in 2010 to become manager of their Conference Premier rivals York City. Mills oversaw York's victories in the FA Trophy and Conference Premier play-offs in 2012, the latter resulting in promotion to League Two. He was dismissed by York in 2013 before taking over at Gateshead, and after leading them to the Conference Premier play-offs in 2014 he was named the Non-League Manager of the Year. Mills took over as manager of their National League rivals Wrexham in 2015, but was dismissed the following year.
Early and personal life 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.
Club career 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.Gateshead FC manager Gary Mills on his club's big month - The Journal 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 played more frequently in 1979–80, making 20 appearances and scoring 1 goal, as Forest finished fifth in the league. He played in the 2–1 home win over Valencia in the first leg of the 1980 European Super Cup, but was not selected for the second leg which the Spanish club won 1–0; this meant Valencia became the first team to win the competition on the away goals rule. Mills missed only one league match for Forest from February 1981 to the end of 1980–81, and finished the season with 34 appearances and 7 goals, with Forest placed seventh in the First Division. He appeared more sporadically in 1981–82, making 17 appearances and scoring 1 goal, not playing more than seven league matches in succession.
Seattle Sounders and Derby County loan Mills left Forest shortly before the end of 1981–82 to join the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League in March 1982. He made 31 appearances, scored 5 goals and recorded 7 assists in the 1982 North American Soccer League season as Seattle finished first in the Western Division. He started for Seattle in Soccer Bowl '82 before being substituted for Roger Davies, and the match was won 1–0 by the New York Cosmos with a 31st-minute goal scored by Giorgio Chinaglia. Less than a month later he made a temporary return to England by signing for Forest's local rivals Derby County on loan on 13 October 1982. Mills made his debut three days later in a 1–1 away draw with Grimsby Town in the Second Division, before scoring his first goal with Derby's second in a 2–0 home win over Queens Park Rangers on 3 January 1983. His loan ended in April 1983, having made 23 appearances and scored 2 goals for Derby in 1982–83. Early in the 1983 North American Soccer League season he had his leg broken by David Watson and was kept out of action for a year. However, this acted as a wake-up call for Mills, who said: "It made me work really hard and that's what made me go on and play until I was 47. I never stopped working on my fitness".
Return to Nottingham Forest Mills returned to England on a permanent basis by rejoining his former club Nottingham Forest in December 1983. It was not until 7 April 1984 that he made his second debut for Forest, when he started the 3–1 home win over West Bromwich Albion. He played in nine matches for Forest in 1983–84, including seven outings in their last nine league fixtures, with the team finishing third in the First Division. Mills' first goal in his second spell with Forest was the winning goal in a 3–2 home victory over Manchester United on 8 December 1984. He was in and out of the starting line-up in 1984–85, ultimately making 31 appearances and scoring 5 goals. Forest ended in ninth place in the First Division this season.
Mills did not establish himself in the team in 1985–86. After a run of eight successive league starts spanning October to December 1985, he went on to make only three starts in the remainder of the season. In total he made 18 appearances, Forest finishing eighth in the First Division. He started 1986–87 only making substitute appearances, but from mid October 1986 onwards he started matches frequently. He made 38 appearances, scoring 1 goal, with Forest again ranking eighth in the First Division.
Notts County After calling time on his Forest career, Mills was once again on the move, this time to Forest's neighbours Notts County on 14 August 1987. His debut came one day after joining, starting County's 4–4 home draw with Wigan Athletic on the opening day of the 1987–88 Third Division. He first scored for County with their opening goal in a 2–1 away win over Chester City on 3 October 1987. Mills played in all of County's matches in 1987–88, making 60 appearances and scoring 5 goals, and was named the club's Player of the Year. County reached the Southern Area final of the Associate Members' Cup, being beaten 4–1 on aggregate by Wolverhampton Wanderers. With County finishing fourth in the table they qualified for the Third Division play-offs, in which they were beaten 4–2 on aggregate by Walsall in the semi-final. He missed only three matches while a County player in 1988–89, making 36 appearances and scoring 4 goals.
Leicester City Mills signed for Second Division club Leicester City on 2 March 1989 as part of the deal that saw Phil Turner join County for a fee of £125,000, with over two months of 1988–89 remaining. He slotted straight into the starting line-up, making his debut two days after joining in a 1–0 victory at home to Walsall. He made 13 consecutive appearances for Leicester before missing the last two matches of 1988–89, his new club finishing 15th in the Second Division. His first goal for Leicester was the only goal in a 1–0 win away to Stoke City on 25 November 1989. Other than a spell out of the team from early September to mid November 1989, Mills was a regular in the Leicester team that ranked 13th place in the Second Division in 1989–90, making 30 appearances and scoring 4 goals. He established himself as a popular player with the supporters, and was named the club's Player of the Year.
Mills made 49 appearances and scored 5 goals for Leicester in 1990–91, missing only one match all season. Leicester avoided relegation to the Third Division by only two points, finishing one place above relegated West Bromwich Albion in 22nd place. Mills went one better in 1991–92 by appearing in all 62 Leicester fixtures that season, scoring 7 goals, and was named the club's Player of the Year for the second time. This season saw an improvement in fortunes for Leicester, as they reached the Northern Area final of the Full Members' Cup, in which they were beaten 3–1 on aggregate by Nottingham Forest, and the Second Division play-offs with a fourth-place finish the league. After beating Cambridge United 6–1 on aggregate in the semi-final Leicester lost 1–0 to Blackburn Rovers at Wembley Stadium in the final.
Mills captained the Leicester team that reached the First Division play-offs in 1992–93 with a sixth place league finish, and they beat Portsmouth 3–2 on aggregate in the semi-final. However, they lost in the final for the second successive season, being beaten 4–3 by Swindon Town at Wembley Stadium. He made 53 appearances this season, missing only three of Leicester's fixtures. Mills featured regularly in 1993–94 before missing the last few months of the season with a foot injury, having made 25 appearances by then. By finishing fourth in the table Leicester made the First Division play-offs for the third successive season, and Mills led the team out before the final despite being unable to play. Leicester beat Derby County 2–1 and thus earned promotion to the Premier League.
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