Mickey Lill

Mickey Lill
Personal information
Date of birth	3 August 1936
Place of birth	Romford, England
Date of death	October 2004 (aged 68)
Place of death	Johannesburg, South Africa
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
	Storey Athletic
	West Ham United
Senior career*
Years	Team
1957–1960	Wolverhampton Wanderers
1960–1962	Everton
1962–1963	Plymouth Argyle
1963–1965	Portsmouth
1965–1966	Guildford City
1966–1968	Germiston Callies
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mickey Lill (3 August 1936 – October 2004) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton, Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth.

Career

He began as a trainee at London non-league club Storey Athletic before being spotted by West Ham United. However, he left for then-Champions Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1954 still as an apprentice.

The winger made his first team debut on 7 December 1957, scoring in a 2–1 win at Preston North End. However, he did not feature again that season as Wolves won the league title for a second time. He really broke through at Molineux in the following campaign as the club successfully retained the League Championship, making 18 appearances and scoring 12 goals.

Their league triumph gave Lill the chance to appear in the European Cup during the 1959–60 season, but he still found himself on the sidelines often and left for Everton in early 1960.

He played for two full seasons at Everton as the club twice finished in the top five. He was sold in the summer of 1962 to Second Division Plymouth Argyle. After less than a season with the Pilgrims, he moved along the South coast to fellow second-tier club Portsmouth in March 1963.

After a little over two seasons at Fratton Park, followed by one season in the Southern League with Guildford City, Lill left English football in May 1966 to join Germiston Callies in South Africa. He soon became manager/coach of the club after retiring from playing for the period 1968 to 1973. He left Callies to manage Jewish Guild (based in Johannesburg). He eventually worked as a PE teacher at Sacred Heart College, Observatory, just outside central Johannesburg.

He died of cancer in October 2004, aged 68.

References

Mickey Lill, Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database