Four ex-Clarets at one Australian club
Players move clubs so often these days that it isn’t always an easy task trying to find out what has happened to some who wore the claret and blue of Burnley, but by chance, this morning, I traced Joseph Mills who is now in Australia with A League side Perth Glory alongside three other former Burnley players.
Mills has joined the Williams brothers, Rhys and Aryn, along with Brandon Wilson who left us this year with Glory but he’s the only non-Australian of those four. Rhys and Aryn are both from Perth whereas Wilson was also brought up there although born in Botswana.
It was the summer of 2012 that Mills joined Burnley on a season long loan from Reading. Eddie Howe had been searching for a left-back following the departure of Brian Easton and a number of names were in the frame until he landed the deal for Mills in July.
It wasn’t to be a successful loan. He made just twelve appearances with only three of them coming after Sean Dyche became manager in October, and it came as a shock to many at the end of the season when we offered him a permanent two year deal which he promptly signed.
The deal had been struck at the start of his loan and the club reported: “Out of contract Joseph Mills has been at Burnley on a season long loan, and under the terms of last summer’s agreement with the Clarets he has triggered an automatic transfer to Turf Moor.”
He didn’t play again for us. He went to Oldham and then Shrewsbury on loan during the 2013/14 season before joining Oldham permanently ahead of the following season. He lost his place there to Danny Lafferty last season and was released in May.
Mills, who will celebrate his 27th birthday this Sunday, has played in two of their first three games this season with Glory reporting in his profile: “The attacking full-back is a product of Southampton Football Club’s academy where he trained and lived with English superstars Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott.”
Wilson is the one who has done best though. He’s landed himself a regular place in the team already, and played alongside Mills in a 3-2 win against Melbourne City last time out when former Wolves striker Andy Keogh scored all three goals.
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