Derek Mountfield
Encyclopedia
Derek Mountfield is an English
former football
player, who played as a centre-back
.
His time at top-flight clubs Everton
and subsequently Aston Villa
were where he gained most fame, as Everton enjoyed successful periods at this time. Aston Villa pushed for honours during the early 1990s.
before moving across the Mersey
to play for Everton. He signed for £30,000 prior to the 1982–83 season.
A fast and strong defender, Mountfield was a composed footballer who could make important contributions at both ends of the pitch.
At Everton he formed a defensive partnership with fellow defender Kevin Ratcliffe
and the club leapt to FA Cup glory in 1984 against Watford, followed by League Championship glory in 1984–85. Everton also reached the FA Cup
final that season, and won the European Cup Winners Cup in Rotterdam. He also won another League Championship winners medal in 1987. In league matches, he scored an average of one goal every 5.6 matches – an incredible average for a defender. In one season he scored 14 goals in all competitions.
However, his first team chances became limited at Everton following the arrival of Dave Watson
in August 1986, and injuries didn't help his chances of first team football either.
After appearing in just nine out of 40 First Division games for Everton in 1987–88
, a £400,000 fee took him to newly promoted Aston Villa in June 1988. He was a regular in the Villa defence for the next three years, helping secure their First Division survival in 1988–89
. In 1989–90
, it looked as though Mountfield would add another league title medal to the two he won with Everton, as Villa topped the First Division on several occasions, but eventually they finished second behind champions Liverpool
.
However, the appointment of Ron Atkinson
as Villa manager in June 1991 signalled a new era at Villa Park
, and Mountfield was not part of Atkinson's plans as he bought Shaun Teale
to partner Paul McGrath
in the centre of defence, and Mountfield made just two more appearances for Villa before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers
in November 1991.
He stayed for three-and-a-half years, playing 80 league games, but after 1994 his career was spent outside the top two tiers of English football. He first spent a season with Carlisle United, helping them win promotion to Division Two as Division Three champions, before a brief spell at Northampton Town
.
He then began a spell as player, coach and captain of West Midlands
side, Walsall
. Indeed, such was the measure of respect he was held in by many at the club, he was one of the favourites to replace Jan Sorensen as manager in the summer of 1998. However, the job went to former Aston Villa winger Ray Graydon
, and Mountfield left the club to pursue his managerial ambitions.
His final club as a player was Scarborough
, and he played six Division Three games for them late in the 1998–99 season
, but was unable to prevent their relegation from the Football League.
. He made his début at Bramall Lane
in the second leg of the final versus Spain which England won 2–0. England beat Spain 3–0 on aggregate. It was the only England U21 cap that Mountfield received.
He represented England at 'B' level later in his career.
team Cork City appointed former boss Colin Murphy (footballer) as successor to local legend Dave Barry. Colin Murphy stayed for one Super Cup game before departing to . In the lurch, facing a UEFA Cup
tie in Lausanne
, the club brought in Mountfield. Mountfield had a turbulent ride in his first managerial appointment, the team lacking consistency, goals and luck. After relative success in preceding seasons crowds again dwindled as the team struggled and the increasingly unpopular Mountfield was sacked in January, after just six months in charge and a 4–0 defeat at home to . Liam Murphy took over and the team embarked on a 13-game unbeaten run that brought an Intertoto ticket and a tenth Munster Cup success. Mountfield is today remembered by some in Cork as a manager who was out of his depth and by others as a good manager who perhaps was ahead of his time – Cork City had not yet become a fully professional side and rumours abounded of Mountfield's unpopularity with some of the older semi-pros in the squad. Cork would finally make the leap to professionalism in a few short years, attaining the League
title in 2005, with Mountfield's first signing, goalkeeper Mick Devine
an integral part of the side's great defence which earned them the title.
He is also working for BBC Radio Cumbria as part of their Carlisle United commentary team.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
former football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player, who played as a centre-back
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
.
His time at top-flight clubs Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
and subsequently Aston Villa
Aston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...
were where he gained most fame, as Everton enjoyed successful periods at this time. Aston Villa pushed for honours during the early 1990s.
Club
After turning professional, Liverpool-born Mountfield spent a season-and-a-half at local club Tranmere RoversTranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...
before moving across the Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
to play for Everton. He signed for £30,000 prior to the 1982–83 season.
A fast and strong defender, Mountfield was a composed footballer who could make important contributions at both ends of the pitch.
At Everton he formed a defensive partnership with fellow defender Kevin Ratcliffe
Kevin Ratcliffe
Kevin Ratcliffe is a former Welsh footballer who spent most of his career playing for Everton. He was born in Mancot, near Queensferry in North Wales.-Club career:...
and the club leapt to FA Cup glory in 1984 against Watford, followed by League Championship glory in 1984–85. Everton also reached the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
final that season, and won the European Cup Winners Cup in Rotterdam. He also won another League Championship winners medal in 1987. In league matches, he scored an average of one goal every 5.6 matches – an incredible average for a defender. In one season he scored 14 goals in all competitions.
However, his first team chances became limited at Everton following the arrival of Dave Watson
Dave Watson
David "Dave" Watson is an English former professional footballer who made 12 appearances for the English national team. He is now the youth team coach at Newcastle United.-Playing career:...
in August 1986, and injuries didn't help his chances of first team football either.
After appearing in just nine out of 40 First Division games for Everton in 1987–88
1987-88 in English football
The 1987–88 season was the 120th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season....
, a £400,000 fee took him to newly promoted Aston Villa in June 1988. He was a regular in the Villa defence for the next three years, helping secure their First Division survival in 1988–89
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
. In 1989–90
1989-90 in English football
-European competitions:English clubs were still banned from competing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster.- First Division :...
, it looked as though Mountfield would add another league title medal to the two he won with Everton, as Villa topped the First Division on several occasions, but eventually they finished second behind champions Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
.
However, the appointment of Ron Atkinson
Ron Atkinson
Ronald Ernest Atkinson, commonly known as "Big Ron" and "Bojangles" is an English former football player and manager. In recent years he has become one of Britain's best-known football pundits...
as Villa manager in June 1991 signalled a new era at Villa Park
Villa Park
Villa Park may mean:United Kingdom* Villa Park, an association football stadium in Birmingham, EnglandUnited States* Villa Park, California, a small city in Orange County* Villa Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in DuPage County...
, and Mountfield was not part of Atkinson's plans as he bought Shaun Teale
Shaun Teale
Shaun Teale is a former English professional footballer. He is perhaps most famous for being in the League Cup winning team of Aston Villa in 1994.-Playing career:...
to partner Paul McGrath
Paul McGrath (footballer)
Paul McGrath is a retired Irish footballer, who played as a defender. McGrath is widely recognised as one of the greatest players to have ever come out of Ireland....
in the centre of defence, and Mountfield made just two more appearances for Villa before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
in November 1991.
He stayed for three-and-a-half years, playing 80 league games, but after 1994 his career was spent outside the top two tiers of English football. He first spent a season with Carlisle United, helping them win promotion to Division Two as Division Three champions, before a brief spell at Northampton Town
Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...
.
He then began a spell as player, coach and captain of West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
side, Walsall
Walsall F.C.
Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...
. Indeed, such was the measure of respect he was held in by many at the club, he was one of the favourites to replace Jan Sorensen as manager in the summer of 1998. However, the job went to former Aston Villa winger Ray Graydon
Ray Graydon
Ray Graydon is an English football manager and retired football player. He was recently employed as First Team Coach of Championship team, Leicester City while Rob Kelly was manager during the 2005-06 season.-Playing career:...
, and Mountfield left the club to pursue his managerial ambitions.
His final club as a player was Scarborough
Scarborough F.C.
Scarborough Football Club was an English football club based in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. They were one of the oldest football clubs in England, formed in 1879, before they were wound up on 20 June 2007, with debts of £2.5 million.In the 2006–07 season...
, and he played six Division Three games for them late in the 1998–99 season
1998-99 in English football
-Premier League:Manchester United overcame close competition from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea to win their fifth Premiership title in seven seasons thanks to the comeback of Roy Keane after his long-term injury and a transfer raid totalling nearly £30 million which netted Aston Villa striker...
, but was unable to prevent their relegation from the Football League.
International
Mountfield was selected to participate in the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
The UEFA U-21 Championship 1984, which spanned two years , had 30 entrants. Albania, Iceland and Wales competed in the competition for the first time. England U-21s won the competition for the second time running....
. He made his début at Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane
-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...
in the second leg of the final versus Spain which England won 2–0. England beat Spain 3–0 on aggregate. It was the only England U21 cap that Mountfield received.
He represented England at 'B' level later in his career.
Managerial career
In 2000, League of IrelandLeague of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
team Cork City appointed former boss Colin Murphy (footballer) as successor to local legend Dave Barry. Colin Murphy stayed for one Super Cup game before departing to . In the lurch, facing a UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
tie in Lausanne
Lausanne Sports
Lausanne-Sports is a Swiss sports club based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is most famous for its football department , but the club also had athletics, sport rowing, and rink hockey departments until they split in 2009 over a row about the construction of a new stadium that will be built by...
, the club brought in Mountfield. Mountfield had a turbulent ride in his first managerial appointment, the team lacking consistency, goals and luck. After relative success in preceding seasons crowds again dwindled as the team struggled and the increasingly unpopular Mountfield was sacked in January, after just six months in charge and a 4–0 defeat at home to . Liam Murphy took over and the team embarked on a 13-game unbeaten run that brought an Intertoto ticket and a tenth Munster Cup success. Mountfield is today remembered by some in Cork as a manager who was out of his depth and by others as a good manager who perhaps was ahead of his time – Cork City had not yet become a fully professional side and rumours abounded of Mountfield's unpopularity with some of the older semi-pros in the squad. Cork would finally make the leap to professionalism in a few short years, attaining the League
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
title in 2005, with Mountfield's first signing, goalkeeper Mick Devine
Michael Devine (footballer)
-Early career:Devine began playing football with Springfield FC in Cobh, County Cork, where he was capped at U15 and U16 levels, and thereafter signed for English team Middlesbrough. Devine spent four years at Ayresome Park learning his trade before he briefly moved on to Newcastle United and...
an integral part of the side's great defence which earned them the title.
Today
He now works as part of the PE staff at Pensby High School A Specialist Sports College, Wirral. He also is teaching a course at St Mary's College on Multi Skills with 25 students, Learning to become Sports LeadersHe is also working for BBC Radio Cumbria as part of their Carlisle United commentary team.