Sam Ellis

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Personal information
Sam Ellis
Full name	Samuel Ellis
Date of birth	12 September 1946
Place of birth	Ashton-under-Lyne, England
Playing position	Centre half
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1964-1972 1972-1973 1973-1977 1977-1979	Sheffield Wednesday Mansfield Town Lincoln City Watford	155 0(1) 064 0(7) 173 (33) 030 0(4)
National team²
	England Under-23	003 0(0)
Teams managed
1982-1989 1989-1990 1994-1995	Blackpool Bury Lincoln City
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 3, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of August 3, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

"Sam Ellis" redirects here. For the 800m runner, see Sam Ellis (athlete) .

Samuel Ellis (born 12 September 1946 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester) is an English former football player and manager.

In his younger days, Ellis played as a centre-half for Sheffield Wednesday in the 1960s. As a teenager he made his debut in the 1966 FA Cup final against Everton, in which his team lost 3-2 [1]. He then moved on to play for Mansfield, Lincoln, and Watford. It was at Vicarage Road that he became coach and assistant manager to former England boss Graham Taylor. With Ellis' help, Watford climbed the divisions before turning down a new contract in favour of trying his hand at management. When the Blackpool job was advertised, Ellis applied and was accepted.

Ellis was manager at the seaside for seven years, from 1982 to 1989, with no prior managerial experience under his belt, but the new board at Bloomfield Road were confident in his ability.

He was given very little money to spend, thus he had to scour the free-transfer market and nurture the young players at the club. He was also forced to sell Colin Greenall, one of the club's star players, just to pay the tax man.

His first season at Blackpool saw the Tangerines finish in the bottom four of the basement division, meaning the club had to apply for re-election to the league.

A year later (1983/84), Blackpool finished sixth, narrowly missing out on the promotion berths, an achievement made with more zero-fee signings, most notably Mike Walsh from Everton.

Promotion was gained in 1984/85, and Ellis' popularity with the fans was at an all-time high. Once again, it had been done with minimal financial backing. The signings of Alex Dyer and Eamon O'Keefe proved particularly effective.

Ellis also bought a centre-forward by the name of Paul Stewart, who was sold two years later to Manchester City for £250,000. (The Mancunians would later attempt to lure Ellis himself to Maine Road, but he resisted the temptation.)

The seasons following that of 1985/86 were disappointing. The team would start campaigns with promise, only to fall away when it came to the crunch. This resulted in the end of the love affair between the Seasiders faithful and Ellis. Though he made more beneficial additions to the squad (Tony Cunningham, Andy Garner and Colin Methven, for example), the team struggled, and with relegation a serious possibility, Ellis' contract was terminated by mutual consent in April 1989. He was succeeded by Jimmy Mullen.

Ellis next tried his hand with Bury, where he had a decent amount of success, before finally joining Manchester City as Peter Reid's assistant, some five years after the club had first approached him.

Ellis returned to Gigg Lane as Stan Ternent's assistant in 1995.

In 1998, Ternent took Ellis with him when the former was installed as the new manager of Burnley.

After six years at the Turf, Ellis fulfilled the same role for Kevin Blackwell at Leeds between 2004 and 2006 [2] [3]. Following Blackwell's appointment at Luton Town, Ellis left his role at Stoke City to join Blackwell.

On October 31, 2001, Ellis' 28-year-old son, Timothy, was killed in a car accident.[4] Ellis' other son, Steven, is a professional rugby player. [5]