Mel Blyth

DOB: 28th July 1944

Position: Centre-back

Season of first appearance: 1978/79

Season of last appearance: 1978/79

Full Appearances: 8

Substitute: 0

Goals: 0

Also played for:

Great Yarmouth Town, Scunthorpe United (27,3), Crystal Palace (252+4,12), Southampton (134+1,7), Cape Town City (South Africa), Millwall (85,0), Houston Hurricanes (USA), Bulova (Hong Kong) and Andover.

Player Profile:

Norwich-born player who started his career with Great Yarmouth before joining Scunthorpe in November 1967. Mel then moved to Crystal Palace in July 1968 and played exactly 250 times for the Eagles before joining Southampton in September 1974.

Whilst with the Saints he made a further 135 first team appearances and played in the side that won the FA Cup in 1976 by beating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley. Mel then played in the 1976 Charity Shield game against Liverpool at Wembley and made six appearances in the 1976/77 European Cup Winners Cup competition.

In November 1977, he returned to Crystal Palace on loan, making six appearances, and at the end of the 1977/78 season Mel left Southampton to play for Cape Town City in South Africa.

He returned to England in September 1978 and joined Margate - a major coup for the club. Manager Dennis Hunt said "he is just the type of experienced player I am looking for" and Mel made his debut in an FA Cup tie away to Croydon on 7.10.78. The Thanet Times said that Mel "steeled the defence" and he made seven further appearances before moving back into League football with Millwall in November 1978.

Mel's short stay at Margate was somewhat controversial on two counts. Firstly, FA Cup opponents Croydon complained to the FA as they thought he wasn't eligible to play against them. Croydon claimed that Margate hadn't received international clearance following Mel's spell in South Africa but the club were cleared by the FA when it was discovered that he hadn't actually been registered with any South African club. Rumours then abounded about how much Mel was being paid and this led to ill-feeling between the club directors and Dennis Hunt who was asked to step down soon after Mel's departure.

Mel went on to play 75 times for Millwall. He made national headlines playing in the Third Division for the Lions at Colchester United on 13.09.80 when a policeman entered the pitch to caution him after Mel had sworn at his goalkeeper. He retired from professional football in 1980 having made more than 500 senior appearances.

Mel then played for Houston Hurricanes in the USA before linking up with Bulova in Hong Kong during 1981.

During the 1982/83 season, Mel had a brief spell with Hampshire-based Southern League side Andover, playing for them between September and October 1982.

During Mel's time at Crystal Palace a newspaper ran an article about his 'playboy' image, quoting him as saying "my Saturday night ends late on Sunday morning - it's devoted exclusively to birds and booze".

An electrician by trade, Mel later became a driving instructor but by November 1990 he was running his own building firm in south London.

In 2001, he was in charge of the Southampton Over 35s side for the 'Football Masters' competition shown on Sky Sports and by 2003 he was a director of a building company and also a part-time coach in Crystal Palace's schoolboy academy.

Mel died in January 2024 at the age of 79.