Depressed at being left on the football scrapheap, Mellon joined dawn patrol as a lorry driver. That road led him to being a manager
AWALK to the pub, a request for help and a job delivering gas canisters. These were the unorthodox steps Micky Mellon took to begin a journey that has now led to his appointment as Dundee United’s new manager.
The 48-year-old is leaving Tranmere Rovers to take over at Tannadice after talks over compensation reached a positive conclusion yesterday.
Replacing Robbie Neilson will give Paisley-born Mellon a first post in his native land as either a player or manager. And bring an interesting, multi-faceted character on to the Premiership scene.
Regarded as an inventive manmanager with a track record of improving players — most notably helping Jamie Vardy on his route into England’s elite — Mellon’s fascination with the psychology of sport and motivation has roots in his own experience.
He was a diligent midfielder with West Brom, Blackpool, Burnley and others, but the end of his playing days did not lead seamlessly into coaching. There was a period of bleak thinking and stasis before Mellon sought an unlikely kickstart for his working life. Speaking to the Sing When
You’re Losing podcast recently, he recalled those struggles and the lessons they provided.
‘It hit me head-on,’ said Mellon. ‘A couple of months after I stopped playing, I remember going out with the dogs to the park and looking at the sky, praying for some direction. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
‘I thought about lots of different professions and nothing interested me because I just loved football.
‘It was the filling of time I struggled with. Then the panic comes in and you don’t know where to turn.
‘People close to you then can really be a big help. This directionless (state) had gone on for about a year when my wife Jane walked in one day and asked me if I was just going to sit there forever.
‘I said I didn’t know what else to do. She said: “I suggest you get off your a***, stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something”.
‘Do you know what I did? I walked to the pub across the road. The first guy I bumped into was a guy called John. A great friend of mine. He asked me if I was all right.
‘This is the lesson. Tell him you’re not all right if you’re not all right. I went: “Actually John, no”.
‘I asked him what he did. He told me he was a manager with (the industrial gas firm) BOC. I said:
“Get me a job”. At this time, everyone in the pub supposedly knows who I am. I’m Micky Mellon, the footballer who played high end of the Championship and all the rest. ‘I expected him to laugh but he said: “Tomorrow morning, 7am. Get a pair of steel toe-capped boots. You’re in”. ‘The next morning, I’m in a truck delivering gas to pubs in the north-west of England. And I loved it. ‘I loved having somewhere to be, something to do. And my mood changed. ‘From there, I happened to do a football club one day and someone recognised me. He asked me what I was doing and if I fancied coaching. ‘That was how that story started, from going across the road to the pub.’ Books on psychology, communication and sociology continue to captivate Mellon, who consumed Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers during lockdown.
United’s players can also expect to have their desire for improvement tested. Mellon regards The Last
Dance, the recent Netflix Michael Jordan documentary, as the ultimate insight into an elite mindset and something that should be close to essential viewing for aspiring talents.
His views on coaching were initially formed working with youth players at Burnley, before a first management gig at Fleetwood Town in January 2009. Mellon’s impact there was profound.
He led the Lancashire club into the Conference and subsequently secured their first-ever place in the senior ranks of the English game. His sacking in December 2012 came with the club sitting seventh in League Two.
It was during the Conference promotion season that Mellon plucked Vardy (left) from Halifax Town. One year and 31 goals later, the striker was sold to Leicester for a club record £1million.
Explaining the joy of guiding a player’s development, Mellon said: ‘It’s when you go eye-to-eye and tell them where they need to improve.
‘You say: “Listen, this is what you need to get better at, this is what you need to do consistently, this is how you need to live better. I believe you can go and do this”.
‘I had a conversation with Jamie Vardy when he was playing for me in non-league. I said to him that if he put all this together, he would play for England.
‘He looked at me. I said: “I’m serious, you will play for England”. He had everything.
‘Winning and helping players realise their ambitions gives me a lot of satisfaction. But it is also about improving a young man as a human being. I love all of that and believe it’s why I do what I do.’
After Fleetwood, Mellon became assistant manager at Barnsley — working with the likes of John Stones and Jack Butland — ahead of a promotion-winning spell in charge of Shrewsbury Town.
He joined Tranmere in October 2016, steering them back into the
English Football League two years later. Back-toback promotions followed when Tranmere then won a place in League One via the play-offs.
Again, Mellon is open about the steps he took when he felt his thinking was clouded by a period of poor form.
‘I went to see a psychologist, David Nightingale,’ he admitted. ‘I phoned him up, having learned from the pub thing, and told him I needed a chat.
‘I went to see him, was there about half an hour, and he straightened me out. Rejigged me. Got me back into the right frame of mind and what I should think about if this happens.
‘He said there is no one in the world who is always happy. Accept that and learn about coping with it. I grabbed the bull by the
“I loved having somewhere to be, to go to”
horns. You will be surprised by how many people want to help you. And then you can help them.’ Tranmere were ultimately relegated by a tiny margin on a points-per-game basis when it was decided League One couldn’t be completed amid the coronavirus pandemic. That, however, doesn’t quite tell the full story of the season. Mellon and chairman Mark Palios had marshalled their resources for the second half of the campaign. Having won their three games before lockdown, and with a game in hand, they had every right to feel aggrieved.
Speaking before last month’s vote by clubs, Mellon explained: ‘We were determined to give the group that got us two promotions an opportunity in League One.
‘These guys deserved a crack at seeing if they were League One players. And that’s what they got.
‘However, one thing always in mind was that I worked for Tranmere, the badge. I was going to watch how they all progressed, or didn’t, and replace as we went along. Because our winning the league was staying up.
‘We were in control of the process. We started to make up our mind and began to plan recruitment around October. The chairman knew all this.
‘When we got to January, we pressed the button. The performances had started to turn. I could see the improvement.’
Tranmere wanted him to stay on, but Mellon is moving to Tannadice. How he fares could well be one of the more engaging tales of the forthcoming season.