Ian Mellor (born 19 February 1950) is an English 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, rugby ...
. He was born in
Sale, England.
Mellor, a
left-winger, began his career with
Manchester City. He played as a substitute as City won the
1972 FA Charity Shield
The 1972 FA Charity Shield was contested between Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Normally, the Charity Shield would have been contested by the First Division champions and FA Cup holders, who were Derby County and Leeds United respectively, but ...
. He then moved to
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
in 1973 for a fee of £65,000. The Canaries were struggling against relegation in their first season in English football's top division when Mellor joined. He played in the last eleven league games of the season and played his part in helping the club stay up. He went on to score nine goals in 43 games for Norwich before playing for
Brighton where he was known as "Spider". and then in February 1978 moving for £25,000 to
Chester,
He helped Chester finish fifth in
Division Three
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...
in his first season and was on target in a
Football League Cup giantkilling against
First Division side
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
early in
1978–79.
At the end of the season Mellor moved to
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
, securing a place in Wednesday history by scoring in the 4–0 defeat of Sheffield United, in the famous 'Boxing Day Massacre', here he remained until joining
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
...
in June 1982. He also played briefly in Hong Kong for Tung Sing. He spent two seasons with City before ending his professional career.
Mellor is the father of former
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
striker
Neil Mellor, and second cousin to Louise Dalton.
References
*
Ian Mellor Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database
Notes
1950 births
Living people
English footballers
People from Sale, Greater Manchester
Manchester City F.C. players
Norwich City F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Chester City F.C. players
Kiveton Park F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Bradford City A.F.C. players
English Football League players
Association football wingers
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