MELLON CAN BE A SWEET SUCCESS WITH TANGERINES
GRIMMER HAILS HIS FORMER MANAGER’S MOTIVATIONAL SKILLS
HE WAS the youngest player ever to represent Aberdeen when making his debut in 2010 and snapped up by an English Premier League club 18 months later at the age of 17. You would have expected Jack Grimmer to boast confidence to burn. But it wasn’t until he met Micky Mellon in the bottom rung of English football, with Shrewsbury Town, that he truly started to believe in himself.
Grimmer believes Dundee United will have secured one of the best motivators in the British game if they appoint the 48-year-old Scot as their new boss.
Mellon currently has one year remaining on his contract with Tranmere Rovers but talks were continuing last night aimed at concluding a deal that could see him unveiled at Tannadice as early as tomorrow.
After interviewing Malky Mackay and Steve McClaren, United turned to the English lower-league promotion specialist to lead them into a top-flight return next season.
That, according to former Scotland Under-21 cap Grimmer, was an inspired move.
Grimmer signed for Mellon in three successive seasons on loan at Shrewsbury and was the subject of another attempt last summer for Tranmere. From those experiences, he cannot imagine any United player approaching the club’s first season back in the Premiership for four years with any apprehension.
‘Micky Mellon is someone who those players will be prepared to run through brick walls for,’ said Grimmer. ‘When I joined, for me it was nice having that Scottish connection. But it was the same for all the boys in that his manmanagement is second to none.
‘I remember the very first time I joined Shrewsbury, he started talking to me about my Scotland aspirations. I hadn’t been in the international set-up since the Under-21s and in England I found myself down the pecking order.
‘He throws you that “why not?” confidence. I felt that helped me do well for him.
‘It was the first time in my career I had dealt with a manager who was very straightforward and told you what he thought. Yet he put his arm around me at the right times and made me believe that the sky was the limit.
‘I’d gone to Fulham and was dealing with big-name managers and coaches who I felt didn’t really have my best interests at heart. He was the first guy who really filled me with confidence.
‘I am not surprised that a big club wants to take him to Scotland because I cannot speak highly enough of him. It would be a great appointment.’
Mellon’s skills served Shrewsbury well in raising their game for knockout tournaments. Thanks to cup runs, Grimmer played against Manchester United and Chelsea at New Meadow and was far from disgraced, going down 3-0 and 2-1 respectively.
‘He instilled you with the belief that you can go out and beat a Premier League side,’ said Grimmer. ‘We did knock out Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff in previous rounds, those were big scalps at the time and he was quite well known for that.
‘He’d done it before I joined the club by beating Leicester and Norwich to set up that Chelsea tie. That speaks volumes for the belief he gives to his players.
‘He’s always had our backs and we wanted to repay that faith. After games, if we hadn’t done well he’d take it as his responsibility. You’ve seen managers who are quick to throw players under the bus.
‘That’s what resulted in us always wanting to put 110-per-cent effort in for him.
‘United should fear nothing coming into the Premiership if Micky Mellon is in charge.
‘I have no doubt he will be relaying that message to them and making them believe they can make a big impact.
‘Everyone knows going to Celtic and Rangers are massive games but he will give them the belief that they can do it.’
Mellon is Glasgow born and bred but played and managed exclusively in England. He inspired Fleetwood Town to the two promotions in three seasons that secured them a Football League place and then took Shrewsbury back into League One at the first time of asking.
More recently, he took Tranmere up in successive seasons — from the National League then into League One. They were controversially relegated with games in hand and on the back of a three-match winning streak when the third tier voted on a premature end to the 2019-20 campaign.
‘He’s probably relatively unknown in Scotland,’ noted Grimmer. ‘I’m glad he’s getting that chance to go and manage in Scotland if that’s what he wants.
‘You just have to look at his promotion record in England, that’s earned him a great reputation.
‘It’s maybe a surprise he hasn’t ended up in Scotland before. But after Shrewsbury, he was a legend at Tranmere as a player, so it was quite an easy decision to go there — and get more promotions!
‘When I first went to Shrewsbury I could tell he had created an unbelievable team togetherness and a good environment.
‘So he’s shown that he cannot only really galvanise a team but really keep momentum going.
‘So you’d like to think he can go in at Dundee United, who have momentum after a promotion, and keep that going.’
It remains to be seen if Mellon would make an attempt to reunite with defender Grimmer again in the event of accepting the Tannadice post.
Grimmer’s own bid to sample promotion with Wycombe regained momentum on Friday night with a 4-1 play-off semi-final first leg win at Fleetwood.
‘It sums it up that I went back to Shrewsbury three times to play under him and I was speaking to him about joining Tranmere at the start of this season,’ said Grimmer.
‘He’s a manager I do keep in touch with and someone I’d love to play for again in the future.’