Mel Sterland

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Mel Sterland
Personnel
Surname Melvyn Sterland
birthday October 1, 1961
place of birth Sheffield ,  England
size 180 cm
position Full-back (right)
Juniors
Years station
Middlewood Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1978-1989 Sheffield Wednesday 279 (37)
1989 Glasgow Rangers 9 0(3)
1989-1994 Leeds United 114 (16)
1994-1996 Boston United 32 0(5)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1983-1984 England U-21 7 0(3)
1987-1990 England B 3 0(1)
1988 England 1 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1994-1996 Boston United (player-manager)
Denaby United (player-manager)
Stalybridge Celtic (player-coach)
1 Only league games are given.

Melvyn "Mel" Sterland (born October 1, 1961 in Sheffield ) is a former English football player . The right full-back was considered to be one of the best Sheffield Wednesday players of the 1980s and was known for his quick runs down the flank and precise flanks. He later moved to Leeds United and won the English championship there in 1992 , before sustaining a serious injury immediately afterwards and retiring from professional football at the end of the 1993/94 season.

Athletic career

Sheffield Wednesday (1978-1989)

The Sheffield Wednesday trained Sterland went through the youth teams and was mostly found in the forward position. In this role he made his debut in the senior team at the age of 17 on May 17, 1979 against Blackpool FC in the third division and scored his first goal straight away. It was Jack Charlton's co-trainer John Harris who eventually retrained him to a right-back. The measure paid off and from then on Sterland was not only an undisputed regular player in this position, but later also made his first appearances in the English U-21 team . This was joined by the positive developments of Sheffield Wednesday, which led to the rise in 1980 in the second division four more years later under Howard Wilkinson in the first division . Especially two penalty goals from Sterland to 1-0 victories made for important points; the success against Crystal Palace in April 1984 was even the decisive step towards promotion.

Also in the top English division, Sterland confirmed his previous achievements and an expression of his versatility was that he helped out the first game days of the 1988/89 season as a striker. In addition, he had meanwhile not only been promoted to team captain, but was also the first England international of the "Owls" since Ron Springett a good two decades earlier. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, his time came to an abrupt end from November 1988 when Wilkinson left the club and his successor Peter Eustace Sterland withdrew the captain's armband. He then asked for clearance for a club change and Eustace's successor Ron Atkinson let him move to the Scottish Glasgow Rangers in March 1989 for the then club-internal highest sales amount of 800,000 pounds , in order to reinvest this money later in the transfer of Carlton Palmer .

Sterland's stay in Scotland's premier league was short-lived under English coach Graeme Souness . He made nine league games, scored three goals and won the Scottish Championship in a short time before deciding to return to England. He turned down an offer from the first division side Queens Park Rangers and instead went back in July 1989 to his old coach Howard Wilkinson, who had meanwhile taken over the direction of the second division at Leeds United .

Leeds United (1989-1994)

Sterland was quickly again an integral part of a team supervised by Wilkinson and as a regular player on the right defensive side, he made a significant contribution to promotion to the First Division in his first season in 1989/90. He also quickly established himself in the top English league in a new environment and, in addition to his dynamic offensive runs, he prepared many hits from goal scorer Lee Chapman with precise crosses . After a surprisingly good fourth place as a newcomer, Leeds United won the English championship in 1992 . In addition, the feared especially in free kicks Sterland contributed six league goals in 31 missions.

The greatest success in Sterland's professional career was followed by a quick setback when he was seriously injured after only three games in the newly created Premier League . A lesion on his right ankle was so severe that he underwent a number of surgeries, including removing a tendon. However, there was no decisive improvement and he put an end to the long struggle to continue his professional career with the announcement of his resignation in 1994.

English national team

Between 1983 and 1984 Sterland completed seven international matches for the English U-21 team and won the U-21 European Championship in 1984 . On November 16, 1988, he made his debut under coach Bobby Robson for the senior team when the "Three Lions" faced Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in a friendly . The game ended with a 1-1 draw and caused criticism in the English leafy forest. Regular player on the right was also Gary Stevens and the up-and-coming Paul Parker later created additional competition, which meant that Sterland was not used a second time in the senior team. Instead, he played mainly in the B selection between 1987 and 1990 and played for these three internationals.

After the professional career

In the summer of 1994, Sterland took over the post of player-coach at the semi-professional club Boston United and stayed there until May 1996. During this time, he himself played 38 competitive games again. Further stations were then Denaby United and from 1997 Stalybridge Celtic . In addition to and after football, he also pursued a civil profession as a sales representative and later founded an agency that advises footballers on financial matters such as mortgages, pensions, and transfer arrangements.

In 2003, Sterland survived life-saving surgery after a blood clot migrated from a leg into his lungs. Five years later he published his autobiography called Boozing, Betting & Brawling . In it, he also processed the two years as an injured professional player before his official resignation, during which he said he developed suicidal thoughts.

Title / Awards

literature

  • Brodie, John & Dickinson, Jason: Sheffield Wednesday - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85983-973-7 , pp. 218-219 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ England - U-21 International Results 1976 to 1985 - Details in the database of RSSSF (English)
  2. ↑ England - International Results B team - details in the database of RSSSF (English)
  3. ↑ "Mel Sterland: England 1988" (Sporting Heroes)
personal data
SURNAME Sterland, Mel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sterland, Melvyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Sheffield , England