Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Michael Christopher Fillery | ||
Date of birth | 17 September 1960 | ||
Place of birth | Mitcham, London, England | ||
Playing position | Midfielder | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
1978–1982 | Chelsea | 161 | (32) |
1983–1986 | Queens Park Rangers | 97 | (9) |
1987–1990 | Portsmouth | 67 | (6) |
1990 | Oldham Athletic | 2 | (0) |
1990 | Millwall (loan) | 1 | (0) |
1991 | Torquay United (loan) | 4 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
Michael Christopher Fillery (born September 17, 1960 in Mitcham, London) is an English former professional footballer who played for Chelsea and QPR as a midfielder during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mike Fillery began his career as an apprentice with Chelsea, turning professional in August 1978, having won England schoolboy and youth honours. He made his league debut later that season, as a substitute in a 1–1 draw at home to Derby County on April 4, 1979.
He went on to play 159 games, scoring 32 goals for Chelsea, mainly in the Second Division. In August 1983 he moved to newly promoted Queens Park Rangers, managed by Terry Venables for £155,000, helping them to establish themselves as a top flight side.
He was released in the summer of 1987, having scored 9 times in 97 games for Rangers, joining Portsmouth in July 1987. Portsmouth had just been promoted to the top flight for the first time in nearly 30 years, but it lasted just one season and Fillery found himself playing Second Division football once more.
In October 1990 he moved to Oldham Athletic, but couldn't establish himself, joining Millwall on loan on the 28th of March 1991. At the beginning of the following season he found himself out in the cold at Oldham as the Latics embarked on top flight football. He joined Torquay United on loan in September 1991, playing four league games which turned out to be his last games in the Football League.
He later joined Crawley Town and was their assistant manager until August 1994 before returning to Chelsea as a coach at the club's Youth Academy
In January 2000 he was linked with the manager's post at non-league Southall, the plan being that he would be joint-manager with his former teammate Terry Fenwick, who was at the time Southall's Director of Football. However, this plan backfired when the chairman who had set up the deal was reported to have been sacked by the club's backers for not consulting them first.
In 2001, Fillery and then former Southall Football Club publicist Andy Fitzsimons were re-united on Channel East as sports pundits on the popular Asian award-winning satellite station's 'Sports Special' show: A 30-minute show presented by former SKY and TV AM correspondent Mike Bishop broadcast twice-weekly. He has also undertaken live work for Chelsea TV in more recent times during the club's European exchanges.
Fillery married his longtime fiancée Pamela in 2005 and continues to live in their marital home in London in NW3.
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