Sellars: Scott

1983-1986&1992-1993 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Left Midfield

Born: Sheffield: 27-11-1965

Debut v Shrewsbury Town (a): 07-05-1983

5’6” 10st 0lb (1986)

#91 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

A pupil of Hindle House, Sheffield, he started with Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday at an early age before Allan Clarke and his assistant, Martin Wilkinson, invited him to train at Elland Road. This led to him being signed on as an apprentice at the age of sixteen. He turned professional in July 1983, three months after he had made his League debut as a seventeen- year-old. Early performances with United suggested that Sellars had a big future in the game. He was one of a number of talented youngsters encouraged to play open football by Leeds Manager Eddie Gray. Of the talented group Mark Gavin was the first to be given a chance, but sparingly, as was the subsequent case with others. During this period Sellars, Tommy Wright, John Sheridan and Dennis Irwin shared lodgings. Tommy Wright was next in line followed by Sellars as the 1982-83 was coming to a close. In 1983-84 John Sheridan staked his claim for recognition and had established himself before a broken leg at Barnsley curtailed his season in mid-October. Mark Gavin was still used sparingly and Tommy Wight and Sellars, and later Dennis Irwin, became established, but Sellars' progress had been ended with an ankle injury towards the end of the season, but despite that he won the Yorkshire Evening Post young player award. 1984-85 saw four of them first-team regulars, with only Mark Gavin never quite making it. 1985-86 saw the four continue and Terry Phelan had also been blooded before the exit of Eddie Gray saw a complete reversal of strategy with older more experienced players being preferred by new Manager Billy Bremner. He also requested a more physical approach from the players. Sellars, however, being of slight build, had struggled with some of the more physical aspects of the game. It did not help matters when he got a red card from a referee after showing dissent. But, despite having regained a spot in the first team towards the end of the season he was clearly unhappy and his transfer request was granted and he and the other young rising stars, with the exception of John Sheridan all left the club. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers in July 1986 and in his first season at Ewood Park won a Full Members’ Cup Winners’ medal at Wembley in 1987. In 1987-88 he was capped three times by the England Under-Twenty-ones. He made his debut as a twenty-fifth minute substitute for Paul Gascoigne in a 1-0 win over Scotland at the City Ground, Nottingham on 22nd March 1988 and then received his run-on debut in the European Championship Semi-Final 2-4 defeat by France at Besancon on 13th April, when he played a full game on the left-wing. His third and final cap came on 28th May 1988 in Lausanne in a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in a friendly in which he was replaced at half time by Vinny Samways. In 1991 -92 he featured in Blackburn Rovers’ Second Division promotion campaign which ended in a Wembley play-off final victory over Leicester City. However, before he could help to establish Rovers as a force in the EPL he returned to Leeds for £800,000 in July 1992. It was an emotional move he couldn’t turn down. He had played two hundred and two League games for Rovers, which included eight from the bench and scored thirty-five goals. In all games he netted forty-one times in two hundred and forty- five appearances. It turned out that time would prove he had not made the best move as Blackburn, backed by the Jack Walker millions, went on the win the EPL in 1994-95. He always seemed to struggle with injuries in his second spell at Elland Road and found himself on the fringes of the action. Howard Wilkinson had sought to build a strong squad for his assault on Europe, but the midfield at that time was very settled with Strachan, Batty, McAllister and Speed unmoveable, and Hodge, Rocastle and Sellars totally on the outer. The fact that he could never seem to remain uninjured for long did not help his cause. While Leeds had a surplus of midfielders, they had a problem at right back and Wilkinson needed the funds to solve that problem by purchasing David Kerslake from Swindon Town. So, in March 1993 he joined Newcastle United for £700,000 and quickly returned to the EPL as Kevin Keegan’s Magpies swept to the First Division title. Having been brought in to replace Kevin Sheedy, Sellars, with his bright and inventive style of play, was able to conjure up that vital tackle or pass that would unlock the opposition defence, which became an important aspect of the promotion push to the Premiership. Once promoted, Sellars’ influence quickly helped the Newcastle squad to settle into the top-flight again. However, fate was to deal a cruel blow as he suffered a terrible cartilage injury just when he was at the zenith of his ability in the game. He was subsequently replaced by David Ginola. Competition at big-spending Newcastle was hot and on 6th December 1995 Sellars was on the move again, this time going to Bolton Wanderers for £750,000. He had scored six goals in sixty-two League games, of which five had been from the bench. He had also started three F.A. Cup ties without scoring, scored twice in six starts and one game from the bench in the League Cup, and once in four UEFA appearances. He could not prevent the Trotters from crashing out of the EPL, but he was a leading light making forty starts and another two from the bench as Wanderers bounced straight back as champions of the First Division. Unfortunately Wanderers again suffered immediate relegation and then failed to regain their EPL status, as they failed to win the play-offs. He spent almost four years at Bolton before leaving to join Huddersfield Town on 22nd June 1999 on a free-transfer. He scored nineteen goals and played one hundred and twenty-three games in the League for the Trotters, including six as a substitute, he also scored once in five starts in the F.A. Cup, but none in eight starts and one substitute appearance in the League Cup and made one substitute appearance in the Championship Play-offs.He spent almost two years with Huddersfield, making forty-nine League appearances, of which nineteen were as substitute, scoring just once. He also scored once in one start and two games from the bench in the League Cup and had one start and one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup without scoring. After turning down a loan to Hartlepools United, he left Town in April 2001 and went to Danish side Aarhus GF on a free-transfer, where he scored once in twenty appearances before returning to the Football League with Mansfield Town on 22nd March 2002 to help them in their successful promotion push. He was then linked with a move to Non-League Kettering Town in the close season but re-signed for a further year. At Field Mill he scored three times in the League from seventeen starts and three more off the bench. Although he started as a regular in the side in 2002-03, suspension and injury meant that he was only involved in coaching and working with the youngsters from November to the end of the season, when he retired. His son was a junior attached to Sheffield United and he took up coaching the Blades juniors. He joined Chesterfield as a coach in 2004 and became Assistant Manager to former Blackburn Rovers teammate Lee Richardson in early 2008. In October 2009 he became the head of Under-Eighteen coaching at Manchester City and remained there until on 12th April 2014 when the club announced "The club had sacked the head of academy coaching, Scott Sellars, as the Barclays Premier League club continue revamping their youth-set up". It was due to a "difference of footballing opinion with the current regime" following Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano's respective arrivals at the club. He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on 24th July 2014 as head coach of their Under Twenty-One side.