A player who but for tragic circumstances could well have been one of the greatest full backs the club has ever know.

For many years the name Steve Mills was familiar to all Saints fans, even those that had never seen him play, over the past decade or so though he seems to have slipped quietly into the annals of history with a whole generation of younger supporters perhaps not knowing his name nor his story.

When Pompey scrapped their reserve team and youth system in the mid to late 1960's Saints benefitted greatly by signing several players who might otherwise have been snapped up by their local club, ironically another later Saints player called Mills, this time the Godalming born Mick who found fame with Ipswich and England was one of the earliest casualties of thise.

So it was that Steve Mills the grandson of Jock Gilfillan who had played in goal for Pompey in the 1934 FA Cup Final joined Saintsb in 1969 as an apprentice becoming a professional in the summer of 1971 at the age of 17.

In 1972 he made his debut in the League Cup against Notts County and even at 18 it was clear that he was going to be a classy player, a full back who was not only blessed with pace, but he could tackle as well, if that wasnt enough he was very much two footed and although he was predominantly left, he could just as easily play on the right, but after his bow in the league cup he had to wait a while for his league debut and it would not be till April 1973 and the final three games of the season that he would get his chance against the big boys, and they didnt come much bigger at that time than Chelsea away where he made his full league debut, followed by league runners up Arsenal and third placed Leeds, both of these at the Dell.

The following season though he really established himself in the team being a shining light inn the side, playing 27(4) in the run in however Lawrie McMenemy plumped for experience and David Peach who had made his initial appearances on the wing was moved back in a bid to try and change things as Saints slid down the table.

In those days the England U23 team was an essential part of the national set up and any aspiring youngster for Sir Alf Ramsey's full side had to do a long apprenticeship in there, back then no half a dozen games for your club and an England cap at 18, you had to hit the U23's, Mick Channon spent 2 years and won 9 caps for the U23's at a time when he was one of the top strikers in the Country before he got a sniff of the full side, Steve Mills won his first cap in January 1974 and looked set for an International career.

But if he thought that 74/75 would be the season he would establish himself he would be sadly mistaken, again he was a Saints regular, but at right back and only fleetingly left as Lawrie didnt seem to be able to make his mind up who should play where in the full backs position, indeed eigh players would play either right or left back that season as the now under fire Saints boss lokked for solutions.

But in general Mills was in the side somewhere and by February 1975 had racked up 24 games in the league, then came disaster he was involved in a serious road crash and although he would play a few games on the come back trail, it was clear that he was not the same player as he was before and struggling, his last game was away at Cardiff in November 1976 and although he spent much of the remainder of the season in the reserves and the Club gave him every encouragment and backing, it was evident he couldnt get back to the levels he once had, initially he played in the Southern League at Weymouth, but that was also too much and he retired from the game and took over his parents newsagents in Gosport.

But if the pain of seeing what would surely have been an illustrious career snatched from him, in 1986 it got worse he was diaganosed with Leukemia, and it was then that Saints fans knew the stock of the man, he refused to lie down quietly, not only did he fight the illness, but he founded a charity to raise money to fight it in general with research, whilst receeving treatment he organised the biggest ever charity game seen in the South with an all time Saints XI playing the current Saints side in early 1988, the Dell was packedto the rafters, it was one of those nights when it seemed the Club had squeezed every last person in and ignored the official capacity, the crowd saw everyone from Channon to Keegan to Chivers amongs some Saints legends and Steve Mills himself although not well enough to play went on to the pitch to take the rich applause, it was clear to all present he was not a well man.

Sadly he died in August 1988, still only 34 but his name lived on and the Steve Mills Leukemia fund became the charity of choice for Saints fans for many years and was synonymous with the great courage Steve had faced up to the tragedies in his life and how even as he faced death, he continued to fight and try to help those in the future.

Steve played 77 times for Saints plus 4 as sub, he never scored a goal, but if his final lifes goal was to unite the club, the players, ex players and supporters of Saints and get them to contribute greatly to helping those less fortunate, then he certainly did score a greater goal than any other player who has pulled on our famous red & white stripes.

Photo: Action Images

ThermosNBlanket added 09:34 - Jun 5 Great article Nick, I always rated Mills highly and thought he would of been an England regular, he was very similar to Bridge in a way. I remember the game very well in 88, Shearer was blooded by Nichol and he got up and wacked in a free kick. The thing that stood out in that game was neil maddison was head and shoulders above Shearer but injury also stopped him progressing as far as he could. Mills looked so ill that night and no shock he never recovered, a very good player for Saints

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Chesham_Saint added 09:51 - Jun 5 I remember Mills well (although I was just a school boy at the time) particularly as for those of us from Stubbingotn/Hill Head he was also in bandit country! He just had so much potential. He also seemed to play wth smile and was a good looking fella too and seemed to have it all. Its a cliche but he really had the world at his feet and what should have been a triumphant career truned into one of tragedy.

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huelinsaint added 12:33 - Jun 5 I remember that night as well, i thought there might be about 14,000 there on the way to the ground but as you say it was packed
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