:Stewart Mell
{{short description|English footballer}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox football biography
|name = Stewart Mell
|image =
|caption =
|fullname = Stewart Albert Mell
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|10|15|df=y}}
|birth_place = Doncaster, England
|height = {{height|feet=5|inches=10}}{{cite book|last=Dunk |first=Peter |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88 |page=316 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |date=20 August 1987 |url=https://archive.org/details/rothmansfootball00lond/page/316/ |isbn=978-0-3561435-4-5 |accessdate=2 May 2020}}
|position = Striker
|youthyears1 = |youthclubs1 = Hull City
|years1 = 19??–1979 |clubs1 = Appleby Frodingham |caps1 = |goals1 =
|years2 = 1979–1983 |clubs2 = Doncaster Rovers |caps2 = 76 |goals2 = 14
|years3 = 1983–1984 |clubs3 = Halifax Town |caps3 = 30 |goals3 = 8
|years4 = 1984–1986 |clubs4 = Burton Albion |caps4 = |goals4 =
|years5 = 1986–1989 |clubs5 = Scarborough |caps5 = 79 |goals5 = 24
|years6 = 1988 |clubs6 = → Boston United (loan) |caps6 = 4 |goals6 = 1
|years7 = – |clubs7 = Goole Town
|nationalyears1 = 1985 |nationalteam1 = England Semi-pro |nationalcaps1 = 1 |nationalgoals1 = 0
}}
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.{{cite book |author=Hugman, Barry J. |title=The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |year=2005 |page=423 |isbn = 1-85291-665-6}}{{cite web |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player3/stewartmell.html |title=Stewart Mell |work=UK A–Z Transfers |publisher=Neil Brown |accessdate=16 December 2013}} 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
Mell began his football career as an apprentice with Hull City, but never played for the first team. 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,{{cite web |url=http://www.doncasterrovers.co.uk/players/KtoM/Mell,Stewart.htm |title=Stewart Mell |website=doncasterrovers.co.uk |publisher=Forward Productions |accessdate=16 December 2013}} and scoring winning goals against Crystal Palace,{{cite news |title=Poor old Palace! |newspaper=Daily Mirror |place=London |date=7 October 1981 |page=31}} Millwall{{cite news |title=Peter baffled |author=Carter, Barry |newspaper=Sunday Express |place=London |date=7 March 1982 |page=32}} and Fulham that contributed to their avoiding relegation in 1981–82.{{cite news |title=Classy Coney |author=Marsden, Jack |newspaper=Sunday Express |place=London |date=9 May 1982 |page=32}} He spent the 1983–84 season back in the Fourth Division with Halifax Town before moving into the Northern Premier League with Burton Albion.
In 1984, Burton knocked Football League club Aldershot out of the FA Cup with goals from Mell and Nigel Simms.{{cite news |url=http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/Sport/McGrath-facing-a-rare-absence.htm |title=McGrath facing a rare absence |newspaper=Burton Mail |date=5 March 2010 |accessdate=16 December 2013}} While a Burton player, Mell won his only cap for the England semi-professional representative eleven; he played against Wales in 1985, without scoring.{{cite web |url=http://www.burtonalbionfc.co.uk/club/history/ |title=History |publisher=Burton Albion F.C |date=15 February 2012 |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
{{cite book |editor=Williams, Tony |title=Official Football Association Non League Club Directory |year=1988 |isbn=1-869833-09-0 |pages=43–44 |publisher=Tony Williams Publications}} In the 1986 close season, Mell followed Burton manager Neil Warnock to Conference club Scarborough.{{cite news |url=http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/sport/football/athletic-honour-for-fab-four-1-1433273 |title=Athletic honour for fab four |newspaper=The Scarborough News |date=15 October 2008 |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
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.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/6475419.stm |title=Warnock back at Scarborough |author=Oliver, Pete |publisher=BBC Sport |date=22 March 2007 |accessdate=12 October 2013}} 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.{{cite news |url=http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/sport/patterson-s-side-match-champions-1-1382353 |title=Patterson's side match champions |newspaper=The Scarborough News |date=14 February 2007 |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
Mell scored Scarborough's first goal in the Football League, 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.{{cite news |title=Wolves send in the clowns |author=Dougray, John |newspaper=The Observer |place=London |date=16 August 1987 |page=42}}{{cite news |url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:LTIB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F90F0E5165D3A42&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB57AB53DF815 |title=Seaside violence may bring ban on Wolves supporters |author1=Goodbody, John |author2=Stafford, Ian |name-list-style=amp |newspaper=The Times |place=London |date=17 August 1987}} He finished the season as the club's top scorer for the second year running, with ten goals in all competitions.{{cite web |url=http://scarboroughfc.com/stats/scorer.php |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430182919/http://scarboroughfc.com/stats/scorer.php |title=Top Scorer(s) |publisher=Scarborough F.C |archivedate=30 April 2007}}
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.{{cite web |url=http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/rollcall.html#Mell |title=Boston United Roll Call |website=Boston United FC – The Original Website |publisher=Ken Fox |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/stats88.html |title=Season 1988/89 – Statistics |website=Boston United FC – The Original Website |publisher=Ken Fox |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
Harman, Alliance to Conference, pp. 122, 131. After 79 appearances in League and Conference for Scarborough,{{cite book |editor=Harman, John |title=Alliance to Conference 1979–2004: The first 25 years |publisher=Tony Williams |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-869833-52-7 |pages=571, 576}} Mell finished his football career back in non-League football with Goole Town.
Personal life
Mell was born in Doncaster, which was then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He worked as a firefighter during much of his football career,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHOpKx9hR6cC&pg=PT87 |title=The Gaffer: The Trials and Tribulations of a Football Manager |author=Warnock, Neil |page=87 |publisher=Headline |year=2013 |isbn=978-0755362776}}
{{cite news |title=Splashing out on a rising tide |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Bierley, Stephen |date=11 August 1987 |page=23 |quote=... 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.}} and {{asof|2007|lc=y}}, was still employed in the fire service, based in Hull.{{cite news |url=http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/sport/catching-up-with-winners-1-1383757 |title=Catching up with winners |newspaper=The Scarborough News |date=21 March 2007 |accessdate=16 December 2013}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mell, Stewart}}
Category:Footballers from Doncaster
Category:English men's footballers
Category:England men's semi-pro international footballers
Category:Men's association football forwards
Category:Appleby Frodingham F.C. players
Category:Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
Category:Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Category:Burton Albion F.C. players
Category:Scarborough F.C. players
Category:Boston United F.C. players
Category:Goole Town F.C. players