Mel Sterland
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| Mel Sterland | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1 September 1961 | |
| Place of birth | Sheffield, England | |
| Playing position | Right-Back | |
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1978-1988 1988-1989 1989-1994 1994-1996 |
Sheffield Wedesday Rangers Leeds United Boston United Total |
279 (38) 9 (3) 114 (16) 32 (5) 434 (62) |
| National team | ||
| 1988 | England | 1 (0) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1994-1996 | Boston United | |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Mel Sterland(born 1 October 1961 in Sheffield) is an English former professional football player.
Mel Sterland’s career is distinctly in two halves: 10 successful years with Sheffield Wednesday and 4 equally successful years with Leeds United split by 4 months at Rangers. In 1988 Sterland won his only England cap in a friendly against Saudi Arabia. Earlier in his career he had helped England win the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, in which he scored a goal in the final against Spain.
A trusty defensive right back, Mel "Zico" Sterland had a powerful free kick and produced some great crosses scoring 37 goals for Sheffield Wednesday mostly from set-pieces.
Mel moved up to Rangers after 10 years at Hillsborough. This proved to be a short stay but boasted an impressive 3 goals in 9 games.
On 1 July 1989 he became one of Howard Wilkinson’s first signings as he built a side geared for promotion. They both knew each other well from their times at Wednesday. Mel became a cult hero for Leeds scoring 20 times in 146 appearances. Although some of the pacier wingers managed to get past him on occasion, he made full use of his experience and bulk to ensure that didn't happen too often.
Towards the end of his career, an ankle injury caused him problems and his professional career came to an end in 1994.
He went on to be player/manager with non-league Boston United and star in the popular football film When Saturday Comes ironically playing captain for Sheffield United but portraying a villain to Sean Bean’s character which appeased the Wednesday fans somewhat.
His autobiography entitled, Boozing, Betting & Brawling (Green Umbrella Publishing), has been co-written with Sheffield-based journalist Nick Johnson and was published in August 2008. Howard Wilkinson has written the foreword.
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