Peter Mellor

Peter Mellor (born 20 November 1947) is an American former professional footballer whose playing career as a goalkeeper spanned three decades. He played 17 years in the top three tiers of English professional football with Burnley, Fulham, Hereford United and Portsmouth. He is now a coach in the United States.

Early and personal life Mellor was born in Prestbury, Cheshire, and was raised in Manchester, England. In 1992 he moved to Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Valerie have been married for over four decades, are both US citizens, and have two children.

Playing career Mellor's playing career spanned three decades; he played more than 800 league and cup matches over 17 years in the top three tiers of English professional football with Burnley, Fulham, Hereford United, and Portsmouth. Mellor won an England Youth cap whilst with his first club Witton Albion in the Cheshire County League. Tall, fair haired and ever-smiling Mellor was soon spotted by Burnley (the Clarets) in 1969, and quickly became their regular keeper, playing for them from 1969 to 1972. The arrival of Alan Stevenson from Chesterfield in January 1972 saw him going in the opposite direction for a loan period at Saltergate.

From there a month later he was sent to Fulham (the Cottagers, who play at Craven Cottage), which paid £25,000 to the Clarets. Mellor was to make over 220 appearances for Fulham in all competitions over six seasons from 1972 to 1977, including perhaps most memorably an appearance in the 1975 FA Cup Final, during which he was unfortunate enough to be deemed at fault for West Ham's two goals, both scored by Alan Taylor. Mellor quickly became a hugely popular cult figure at Fratton Park, keeping the emerging young Alan Knight out of the team long after he was ready, as Knight made only eight appearances over the course of three years, until the 1981–82 season.

From 1981 to 1983 he played for the Edmonton Drillers in the North American Soccer League. Mellor ended his playing career in Canada, retiring in January 1983.

Coaching career Mellor later lived and coached in the United States. Mellor also served as national staff coach and goalkeeping instructor for the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for 15 years. In 2005 through 2007, Mellor served as the assistant coach for the expansion club Real Salt Lake of MLS's Western Conference, managing the goalkeepers and reserve squad.

In 2010, the United Soccer Leagues retained Mellor as National Technical Director, assigned responsibility for managing the technical aspects of USL's player development programs, helping USL teams in the areas of scouting, development, and advancement of players, and setting up a coaches network in the US and Canada to identify top goalkeeping talent for USL teams.

Honors Fulham FA Cup runner-up: 1974–75