Derek Mountfield

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Derek Mountfield
Personal information
Date of birth	November 2, 1962 (age 44)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defender
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1980-82 1982-88 1988-91 1991-94 1994-1995 1995 1995-98 1999	Tranmere Rovers Everton Aston Villa Wolves Carlisle United Northampton Town Walsall Scarborough	026 (1) 106 (19) 090 (9) 083 (4) 031 (3) 004 (0) 099 (2) 006 (0)
National team
1984	England U21	001 (0) [1]
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Derek Mountfield (born 2 November 1962 in Liverpool) is an English former football player, who played as a centre-back.

His time at top-flight clubs Everton and subsequently Aston Villa were where he gained most fame, as both clubs enjoyed successful periods and pushed for honours during his time there.

Contents 1 Playing Career 2 Managerial Career 3 Today 4 References

[edit] Playing Career

After turning professional, Liverpool-born Mountfield spent a season-and-a-half at local club Tranmere Rovers before moving across Liverpool to play for Everton. He signed for £30,000 prior to the 1982-83 season.

A fast and strong defender, Mountfield was a composed footballer who could make important contributions at both ends of the pitch.

At Everton he formed a defensive partnership with fellow defender Kevin Ratcliffe and the club leapt to League Championship glory in 1984-85. Everton reached the FA Cup final that season, and won the league title again in 1987. In league matches, he scored an average of one goal every 5.6 matches - an incredible average for a defender. In one season he scored 14 goals in all competitions.

After suffering a few serious injuries he was sold to Aston Villa, where he scored a still impressive 9 goals in 90 appearances in two-and-a-half seasons. He signed for a fee of £450,000. Villa, newly promoted in 1988, struggled in Mountfield's first season but finished second in the league in 1990.

Mountfield's career slowed down after leaving Villa for Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 1991. He stayed for three-and-a-half years, playing 80 league games, but found himself moving to lower-ranked clubs after that.

His last consistent spell in league football was as player, coach and captain of West Midlands side, Walsall. Indeed, such was the measure of respect he was held in by many at the club, he was one of the favourites to replace Jan Sorensen as manager in the summer of 1998. However, the job went to former Aston Villa winger Ray Graydon, and Mountfield left the club to pursue his managerial ambitions.

[edit] Managerial Career

In 2000, eircom League team Cork City FC appointed former Shelbourne boss Colin Murphy as successor to local legend Dave Barry. Colin Murphy stayed for one Super Cup game before departing to Leicester City. In the lurch, facing a UEFA Cup tie in Lausanne, the club brought in Derek Mountfield. Mountfield had a turbulent ride in his first managerial appointment, the team lacking consistency, goals and luck. After relative success in preceding seasons crowds again dwindled as the team struggled and the increasingly unpopular Mountfield was sacked in January, after just six months in charge and during a 4-0 defeat at home to St. Patrick's Athletic. Liam Murphy took over and the team embarked on a 13-game unbeaten run that brought an Intertoto ticket and a tenth Munster Cup success. Mountfield is today remembered in Cork as a good manager who perhaps was ahead of his time - Cork City had not yet become a fully professional side and rumours abounded of Mountfield's unpopularity with some of the older semi-pros in the squad. Cork would finally make the leap to professionalism in a few short years, attaining the League title in 2005, with Mountfield's first signing, goalkeeper Mick Devine an integral part of the side's great defence which earned them the title.

[edit] Today

He is now the presenter of (Liverpool radio station) Radio City's Saturday afternoon football phone-in.

[edit] References