Matt Mills

Matthew Claude Mills (born 14 July 1986) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a defender.

He spent most of his career in the English EFL Championship, in which he played for Leicester City, Reading, Bolton, Nottingham Forest, Doncaster Rovers and Barnsley.

Born in Swindon, Mills started his youth career with the academy of Swindon Town before switching to the Southampton Academy in 1999.

Born in Swindon, Wiltshire, Mills started his youth career at Swindon Town in 1999 before joining Southampton at the age of fourteen.

He turned professional in 2002 and had loan stints with Coventry City and AFC Bournemouth during his time with Southampton.

Having progressed through the Southampton Academy, and then the reserves, Mills signed his first professional contract with the club in 2002.

To gain first team experience, Mills was loaned out to Coventry City for one month on 18 September 2004.

On the same day, he made his Coventry City debut, just hours after signing the paperwork for him to play later in the afternoon, in a 0–0 draw against Rotherham United.

Mills made three more starts, including scoring an own goal, in a 2–1 loss against Ipswich Town on 3 October 2004, in what turned out to be his last appearance.

Mills then returned to his parent club and made four appearances.

Coventry City sought to extend his loan period for a second month, but Southampton turned them down.

His performance and form at the club led them to extend his loan twice, eventually lasting to the end of the 2004–05 season.

In the last game of the season, he scored his third goal for the club, in a 4–2 loss against Bradford City.

At the end of the 2004–05 season, Mills made twelve appearances and scored three times in all competitions.

On 21 February 2005, Mills was loaned out again for a month joining AFC Bournemouth.

The following day, he made his Bournemouth debut the next day, making his first start and playing 90 minutes, in a 1–1 draw against Torquay United.

This was followed up by scoring his first goals, coming against Tranmere Rovers and Swindon Town.

After his loan spell at Bournemouth came to an end, Mills was among many youngsters to be in the first team squad ahead of the 2005–06 season.

However, Mills remained out of the first team for almost half of the season until he finally made his Southampton debut, where he made his first start, in a 3–0 loss against Watford on 26 December 2005.

After making three more appearances, Mills' future at Southampton was in doubt, as his contract was set to expire in the summer attracting interest from Manchester City.

In 2006, Mills signed with Manchester City.

However, his playing time was limited due to injuries.

Mills ultimately signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Manchester City on 31 January 2006.

There he linked up again with Manchester City's reserve manager Steve Wigley, who had worked with him during his spell in charge of Southampton's Academy, an opportunity Mills said he could not turn down.

Mills was immediately assigned to the club's reserves.

However, while playing in the reserves, he suffered an ankle injury that saw him sidelined for weeks.

Mills made his Manchester City debut, where he came on as a substitute for Danny Mills in the 84th minute, in a 2–0 loss against Chelsea on 25 March 2006.

Two weeks later on 8 April 2006, Mills made his first starts for the club, playing in the right–back position, in a 2–1 loss against Tottenham Hotspur.

After loan deals with Colchester United and Doncaster Rovers, he signed permanently with the latter in 2008.

After one season, Mills joined Reading for a fee believed to be around £2 million.

In February 2009, football pundit and former Leicester City player Steve Claridge described Mills' style of play as that of "an old-fashioned centre-half who relishes the physical side of the game".

In May 2011, he captained the club in the Championship play-off final defeat against Swansea City, where he also found the net.

After rejecting an offer from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Mills signed with Leicester City in the same year and was appointed as the club captain.

In 2012, he switched to Bolton Wanderers.

Mills finished third in voting for the club's player of the 2014–15 season.

He switched to rival Nottingham Forest in 2015.

After having spent three seasons with Forest, he joined Barnsley, Pune City and Forest Green Rovers before announcing his retirement from professional football.

Mills has been capped at the national youth level and featured eight times for the England under-19.

His younger brother Joseph Mills plays for Forest Green Rovers.

He retired from professional football in 2020.