Mel Sterland
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Mel Sterland (born 1 October 1961 in Sheffield) is an English former professional football player.
Mel Sterland’s career is distinctly in two halves: 10 successful years with Sheffield Wednesday and 4 equally successful years with Leeds United split by 4 months at Rangers. In 1989 Sterland won his only England cap in a friendly against Saudi Arabia.
A trusty defensive right back, Mel "Zico" Sterland had a powerful free kick and produced some great crosses scoring 37 goals for Sheffield Wednesday mostly from set-pieces.
Mel moved up to Rangers after 10 years at Hillsborough. This proved to be a short stay but boasted and impressive 3 goals in 9 games.
On 1 July 1989 he became one of Howard Wilkinson’s first signings as he built a side geared for promotion. They both knew each other well from their times at Wednesday. Mel became a cult hero for Leeds scoring 20 times in 146 appearances. Although some of the pacier wingers managed to get past him on occasion, he made full use of his experience and bulk to ensure that didn't happen too often.
Towards the end of his career, an ankle injury caused him problems and his professional career came to an end in 1994.
He went on to be player/manager with non-league Boston United and star in the popular football film When Saturday Comes ironically playing captain for Sheffield United but portraying a villain to Sean Bean’s character which appeased the Wednesday fans somewhat.
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