Tyrone Mears

Tyrone Robert Mears (born 18 February 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-back and he is currently the head coach for the USL Super League club to be based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

His clubs include Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, West Ham United, Derby County, Olympique de Marseille, Burnley, Seattle Sounders FC, Atlanta United FC, Minnesota United FC, and West Bromwich Albion.

From Stockport in the north west of England, Mears once played for the Jamaica national football team despite not being eligible to do so.

Mears made his debut as an 84th-minute substitute in a 1–0 win at Southampton on 3 February, and went on to make a total of 17 league and cup appearances, as Derby were promoted to the Premier League after beating West Bromwich Albion in the Championship play-off final in May.

Mears came through the ranks at Manchester City and signed trainee forms in August 2001.

Mears only made one appearance for City, replacing Stuart Pearce as a substitute in the 84th minute against Nottingham Forest in March 2002.

On Manchester City's promotion to the FA Premier League in 2002, Mears' first-team opportunities became limited and he was sold to Preston North End.

Mears joined Preston in July 2002, for a fee of £200,000.

He signed a three-year contract and was expected to provide cover for Graham Alexander.

After missing out the start of the season, due to a thigh injury he suffered in the pre-season training, Mears made his debut for Preston as a substitute in a 3–3 draw with Walsall on 19 October 2002, After playing in the reserve for a while, Mears played his first match in months against Grimsby Town on 14 December 2002.

In his first season at Preston North End, Mears went on to make a total of 24 league and cup appearances in the 2002–03 season, as Preston finished in mid-table of the Football League Championship.

It wasn't until on 15 April 2003 when he scored his first goal for the club, in a 5–1 loss against Reading.

Though Manager Craig Brown expressed disappointment over the results, he singled out praises to Mears, including his "spectacular".

In the 2003–04 season, Mears struggled to regain his first team, as he suffered a hamstring that kept him sidelined at the start of the season.

It wasn't until on 27 September 2003 when he made his first appearance of the season, in a 2–1 loss against Walsall.

However, he struggled to continue to in the first team, as he compete with Graham Alexander and Rob Edwards over the wing-backs position.

Despite this, Mears scored his first goal of the season on 10 March 2004, in a 3–3 draw against Sunderland and only made 14 appearances.

Nevertheless, Mears was awarded the club's most improved player this season.

However, in the 2004–05 season, Mears suffered a stress fracture in the pre-season training, which put him out of the game for ten months.

Despite his long-term injury, he was offered and signed a further three-year contract in March 2005, saying "I was out for 10 months so you worry about what is going to happen to you. You need to be in the team but Preston have been very good to me and I can't speak more highly of the manager. Last season to get the stress fracture was very hard but that's all behind me now and I'm looking forward to a fresh start with a three-year deal." Mears made his return from the first team on 16 April 2005, coming on as late a substitute, in a 3–0 win over Cardiff City and went on to make five appearances in the 2004–05 season.

After suffering from injury at the start of the 2005–06 season, Mears managed to regain his first team place since returning from the first team and then scored his first goal of the season on 18 October 2005, in a 2–2 draw against Cardiff City.

He made 39 league and cup appearances in the 2005–06 season as Preston reached the Championship play-offs semi-final.

During that season, instead of having his surname Mears on the back of his shirt, he had his nickname "Tye", a rare occurrence in English football.

His second goal then came on 11 February 2006, in a 5–1 win over Luton Town.

In July 2006, after rejecting two bids from Charlton Athletic, Preston accepted an offer for Mears from West Ham United.

Mears signed for West Ham for an initial £1 million in July 2006, rising to £1.9 million depending on appearances and possible future international recognition with England.

Mears made his West Ham United debut on 19 August 2006, in a 3–1 win over Charlton Athletic, in the opening game of the season and then a month later, he played his first European match on 14 September 2006, playing the whole game, in a 1–0 loss against Palermo.

However, he was only to make six league and cup appearances for West Ham as he struggled to break into the first team.

He memorably produced an athletic overhead clearance on the line, after Stiliyan Petrov lobbed West Ham keeper Roy Carroll in a match against Aston Villa in September 2006.

With his opportunities in the West Ham first-team limited, he was allowed to join Derby County on loan until the end of the 2006–07 season in January 2007.

Derby manager, Billy Davies, who had managed Mears at his previous club Preston, said of him, ''""He is a very attacking full-back with excellent pace who adds great competition.

Ideally we would like to make this deal permanent in the summer."''

He went on to make seventeen appearances for the club in the 2006–07 season, during which Mears scored his first goal for Derby against Leeds United in a 2–0 win on the last day of the 2006–07 season.

Mears then joined Derby permanently for £1 million on 4 July 2007, signing a three-year contract.

Manager Billy Davies said, ''""We're delighted with this deal.

Tye is a very good young full back with excellent pace and potential.

We need him for the challenge ahead and I know he is committed to working hard."'' Mears' first game after signing for the club on a permanent basis came on 11 August 2007, in a 2–2 draw against Portsmouth in the opening game of the season. However, a stress fracture sustained in January 2008 ruled him out for three months of the 2007–08 season. Mears made his return from injury against Fulham on 29 March 2008, coming on as a late substitute, in a 2–2 draw, a game that saw Derby County relegated to the Championship next season. Despite this, Mears scored his second goal for Derby on 19 April 2008 against his former club West Ham United, which saw them lose 2–1 and made 26 appearances (25 in the league and once in the FA Cup) in all competitions.

Following the club's relegation to the Championship, Mears switched number shirt from 24 to 15 after Miles Addison took his shirt.

At the start of the season, Mears competed with Paul Connolly over the right-back position and played first five matches to the start of the season in all competitions.

On 29 August 2008, Mears caused controversy when he flew to France to go on trial with Olympique de Marseille without the express permission of Derby manager Paul Jewell.