Gary Mills (footballer, born 1981)

Gary Mills
Mills playing for Stevenage Borough in the 2009 FA Trophy final
Personal information
Full name Gary Leonard Mills
Date of birth (1981-05-20) 20 May 1981
Place of birth Isle of Sheppey, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position Midfielder
Youth career
?–1997 Coventry City
1997–1998 Rushden & Diamonds
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2006 Rushden & Diamonds 124 (2)
2006–2007 Crawley Town 21 (0)
2007 Rushden & Diamonds 17 (0)
2007 Tamworth
2007–2008 Kettering Town
2008–2009 Stevenage Borough 30 (1)
2009–2011 Mansfield Town 44 (1)
2010Forest Green Rovers (loan) 2 (0)
2011 Rushden & Diamonds 21 (0)
2011 Bath City 4 (0)
2011–2012 Nuneaton Town 23 (5)
2012–2013 Lincoln City 18 (0)
2013–2014 Boston United 0 (0)
2013–2014King's Lynn Town (loan) 18 (0)
2015 Rugby Town 2 (0)
2016 King's Lynn Town 8 (0)
2020–2021 St Ives Town 0 (0)
Total 330 (9)
Managerial career
2015 Rugby Town (player-manager)
2016–2017 Corby Town
2023–2024 Burton Albion (caretaker)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gary Leonard Mills (born 20 May 1981) is an English football coach and former player who is the assistant manager at EFL League One club Port Vale. He was a midfielder during his 18-year playing career, which he mostly spent in non-League football.

Mills began his career at Rushden & Diamonds, helping the club to win the Conference title in 2000–01 and the Third Division title in 2002–03. However, he left Rushden shortly before relegation out of the Football League was confirmed in 2006. He had made 143 appearances in seven seasons at the club. He then spent the next seven years playing in the Conference for Crawley Town, Rushden & Diamonds (in two further spells), Tamworth, Kettering Town, Stevenage Borough, Mansfield Town, Forest Green Rovers (on loan), Bath City, Nuneaton Town, Lincoln City and Boston United. He won the Conference North with Kettering Town in 2007–08 and was promoted out of the Conference North play-offs with Nuneaton Town in 2011–12. He also lifted the FA Trophy with Stevenage Borough in 2008–09, playing in the 2009 FA Trophy final at Wembley Stadium. He went on to play for King's Lynn Town lower down the pyramid.

He turned to coaching, spending seven games in charge at Rugby Town in 2015 and managing Corby Town from October 2016 to April 2017. He coached at Wrexham, King's Lynn Town, Northampton Town, Milton Keynes Dons, Coventry City, Burton Albion, Rotherham United and Port Vale. He took caretaker charge at Burton Albion for part of the 2023–24 season.