Lee Mills

[nodge]

I follow Mills on Twitter and he's always very complimentary and nostalgic of his time at Bradford where he played at his highest level.

I also notice that in his Bio he lists all of his former league clubs (including his 11 game spell at Stoke) but no mention of us at all.

He scored 102 goals in his career, and a third of them for us.

I was young when he left and I do recall that he said "Three years at Port Vale is enough for anyone" when he left.

What on earth happened for him to have seemingly cut us dead like he has?

[Birches Head Fred]

Seeing as you follow him on Twitter, could you perhaps ask him direct ?

I'm sure he's not the only player to have had unhappy memories of Vale, or any other club for that matter and I do seem to recollect him saying that after he left.

I don't recall him being castigated by Vale Fans, I'm fairly certain one particular goal he scored definitely endeared him to the faithful.

He played in a good team at the time he was here so I can only assume it was something behind the scenes rather than on the pitch that was the problem, maybe the totty is a bit more forthcoming in Bradford, who knows ?

[CAVALIER]

Rudge made him too. Should be grateful. 

[nodge]

14 minutes ago, Birches Head Fred said:

Seeing as you follow him on Twitter, could you perhaps ask him direct ?

I'm sure he's not the only player to have had unhappy memories of Vale, or any other club for that matter and I do seem to recollect him saying that after he left.

I don't recall him being castigated by Vale Fans, I'm fairly certain one particular goal he scored definitely endeared him to the faithful.

He played in a good team at the time he was here so I can only assume it was something behind the scenes rather than on the pitch that was the problem, maybe the totty is a bit more forthcoming in Bradford, who knows ?

I might try and engage with him, but he never talks about us or posts any of his old goals. 

[Playa Amodores]

Three years is enough for anyone.? What a quitter I’ve only been going for 50 years others have been going even longer. Mills is a lightweight.

[andy jones]

Yeah, even the 'Great Train Robbers' didn't get a lifetime sentence like us!

[Lornelounger]

I remember once he went to Bradford, they beat us 4 - 0 shortly afterwards at their place, and he said something along the lines of "they're doomed if they can't play better than that" after the game. Stunning insight really.  I'm guessing he wasn't Mr. Popular in the dressing room, but then again, there must have been lots of players in those days who just saw us as a temporary home until greater things came calling.  No big deal really, players come and players go.

[philpvfc]

Port Vale made him. He’d have been playing for someone <ovf censored> like Crewe if we hadn’t resurrected his career.

Some players are very ungrateful for what the Vale have done for them, Ryan Burge is a prime example.

[darren1810]

3 hours ago, nodge said:

I follow Mills on Twitter and he's always very complimentary and nostalgic of his time at Bradford where he played at his highest level.

I also notice that in his Bio he lists all of his former league clubs (including his 11 game spell at Stoke) but no mention of us at all.

He scored 102 goals in his career, and a third of them for us.

I was young when he left and I do recall that he said "Three years at Port Vale is enough for anyone" when he left.

What on earth happened for him to have seemingly cut us dead like he has?

Perhaps he's mates with Ryan The Legend Burge ?

[Valient1961]

Ryan Burge the narcissistic tool ,my god does he love himself 🙄🙄

[MelbourneValiant]

Lee Mills was a great striker, but he was somewhat a scapegoat as he was bone idle. He would have scored double the amount of goals if he worked harder.

[Emile]

Rudgies book mentions a bit of a trick he did on Mills with the new upcoming Bosman rules coming in. Perhaps this is the reason? 

[ginginator]

Yeah, I think Mills was miffed by the fact that we sold VDL to Derby and Rudgie asked for a sweetener on the deal, so they threw Lee in 🫢His goals scored record was good for us though.

[Santa]

I’m sure he’s mentioned before that he had problems with the bottle during his time at Vale and I seem to remember it being reported that he was questioned by police for an alleged assault on his wife.

I always felt he underachieved a bit at Vale until March/April 1997 when he was unplayable and it nearly got us into the play offs. A year later his agent forced a move to Bradford and I think it left a bit of bad blood.

[mr.hobblesworth]

I remember when he was at Bradford, he got a hat trick against us at Valley Parade. Vale fans responded with that "He beats his wife..." song and Mills responded by holding up 3 fingers to us. 

He also got slagged off in the Vale programme when they came to us and I remember him being unhappy about that.

It's a shame really, at his best (as Santa stated) he was unplayable and he improved us immeasurably. There was a goal he scored (and started if memory serves correct), possibly goal of the year, and the interplay between him and Tiny ( auto correct but I'll leave it) Naylor was sublime. Anyone remember it? Think there was a goal at Forest too that was so classy. He was far from a carthorse.