Michael Joseph Cullerton (born 25 November 1948) is a Scottish 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 ...

. He is noted for his two spells with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, as well as for being Stafford Rangers' star forward as they were one of the elite non-league clubs in the 1970s. He later worked behind the scenes at Port Vale and Stoke City, and commentated for BBC Radio Stoke.

Career

Cullerton played for Scotland under-16s, where he impressed

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

, and won a trial at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. However, he joined

in October 1965, with the promise of first team football. He made his debut on 12 January 1966, playing in a front-line of five teenagers (the others being

Alex Donald Alexander Donald (born 5 June 1948) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a winger for English club Port Vale between 1965 and 1968, and later played in Northern Ireland for Derry City and Ballymena United. Early life Donald won th ...

Roddy Georgeson Roderick Bruce Georgeson (born 31 July 1948) is an Egyptian former footballer, described by football historian Jeff Kent as "flamboyant". He scored 107 goals in 429 league games in a 17-year career in the Football League and Scottish Football L ...

Paul Bannister Paul Francis Bannister (born 11 October 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. He made 12 appearances in the Football League for Port Vale between 1965 and 1968, before spells in non-League football with Eastwood, Milt ...

, and

Paul Ogden Paul Ogden (born 18 December 1946) is an English football coach and former player who is currently chief scout at Barrow. He played for Port Vale and Altrincham. He was manager of Leek Town in six separate spells, spanning nearly forty years ...

). By November 1966 he had become a regular in the first team and was the 1966–67 season as the club's top scorer with 12 goals. On 22 August 1967, he scored a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over Chester in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, only to hand in a transfer request to manager

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

the following month. He remained at the club however, and scored another hat-trick in a 4–2 win over Swansea Town on 20 April 1968. Of an outspoken nature, he lost his first team place after vocally criticizing manager

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

in the dressing room. He was loaned out to Chester in March 1969, moving there for free in May of that year. He signed with

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, though never made an appearance for the club despite hitting more than eighty goals for the reserve team. He went into the non-leagues with Eastwood and Stafford Rangers. With Rangers he lifted the FA Trophy in 1972, after he scored one of the goals in a 3–0 win over Barnet at

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. He returned to

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

for a £5,000 fee in June 1975, having impressed manager

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

with his tally of 40 goals for Rangers in the 1974–75 campaign. The money went towards a new toilet block at

Marston Road Marston Road is a road in the east of Oxford, England. It links London Place, the junction of St Clements, the foot of Headington Hill ( Headington Road), and Morrell Avenue by South Park to the south with the suburb of New Marston to the n ...

. He marked the home debut of his second spell by scoring a hat-trick past

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in the

. With 21 goals he became the club's top scorer of the 1975–76 season, but severed a cartilage in September 1976, an injury which put him out of action for five months. He was given a free transfer to Northwich Victoria in May 1978 and later re-signed with Stafford Rangers. He again helped Rangers to FA Trophy success in 1979, when Stafford beat Kettering Town 2–0. He also helped the club to the Northern Premier League title, the Bob Lord Trophy, and numerous lengthy

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runs.

Style of play

Cullerton was a goalscorer with excellent finishing skills, able to curve the ball past goalkeepers with ease. He was notorious for refusing to help out in defence though, and gave very little effort in training, which led to him being criticized for being 'idle'. He was also an extremely reliable penalty taker.

Personal and later life

After working as the commercial manager for Vale between 1982 and 1985, he took up the same post at Stoke City and then Stafford Rangers. He later worked as a commentator for BBC Radio Stoke. He has two children: Jamie, a former captain of Leek Cricket Club and vice chairman/assistant manager of Leek CSOB; and Anna, a teacher.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

and

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

Honours

Stafford Rangers * FA Trophy: 1972 & 1979

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullerton, Mick 1948 births Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish footballers Scotland youth international footballers Association football forwards Port Vale F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Eastwood Hanley F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Scottish association football commentators Association football coaches Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff