LAND OF THE RISING SONS
Welcome to Danny’s boys... one’s a British champion runner and the other is breaking through for Everton
BY ROSS HEPPENSTALL DANNY MILLS enjoyed a distinguished career with the likes of Leeds United and Manchester City, winning 19 England caps along the way.
Nowadays, the former defender takes great pride in watching his sons write their own sporting success stories.
Eighteen-year-old Stanley is part of Frank Lampard’s first-team squad at Everton and big brother George (right, with Danny) is a professional 1500m runner.
Attacking midfielder Stanley has featured regularly on the bench this season and made his senior bow in the Toffees’ Carabao Cup win at Fleetwood last month. “Stan was at Leeds
United until he was 14 and, given my huge links to Leeds, I was hoping he would come on and make his Premier League debut in the recent game at Elland Road,” said Mills.
“It didn’t happen, but he’s edging closer to it and is in and around Frank’s plans.
“He now needs to play some games and Frank and Everton’s coaching staff are very aware of that.
“It looks like he’s going to keep training with the first team and then drop in to play for Everton Under-21s as much as possible.
“That’s a great learning curve for him and, when he gets his first-team chance, he’s got to take it.” A loan move in January cannot be discounted, with Mills Snr adding: “There was a bit of talk during the summer of Stan going on loan to a Championship club this season. “Frank asked me for my thoughts on it but I said I didn’t feel he was quite ready to go out
on loan.
“He needs another season being around the first team to experience the sharpness, physicality and expectation. We could review things in January, by which time Stan could be in the first team or on the bench for the Under21s.
“It’s all dependent on how he performs but he’s certainly got a lot more ability than I ever had.”
Eldest son George runs for On Running and won the 1500m at the British Championships two years ago. “George recently ran a personal best and has been doing the 1500 in 3mins 35.3secs, but he just missed out on Commonwealth and European selection this year,” said Mills.
“People think football’s hard, but being a professional athlete, running three times a day and living like a monk, is seriously hard graft. On Running have created a fantastic team and George is absolutely loving
it. They have been out in St Moritz in Switzerland for the past three or four months for altitude training.
“Over the winter, they will be based in South Africa before heading back to St Moritz next spring.”
Mills has another son, 17-year-old Spike, who plays local football, and his 21-year-old daughter Mya has just graduated from Oxford Brookes University and secured a job in London.
Mills added: “Don’t get me wrong, my kids have had a very privileged life but all I’ve ever said is, ‘Find something you enjoy and work as hard as you possibly can at it’.
“That will give them the best chance of a successful career and an enjoyable life.
“I’m very proud of them all.”