LOAN REPORT: MICHAEL MELLON

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Striker wins promotion with Bradford City

2025-06-24T09:35:14.726Z

LOAN REPORT: MICHAEL MELLON

Striker wins promotion with Bradford City

2025-06-24T09:35:14.726Z

Striker wins promotion with Bradford City

At the end of the 2024/25 season, Burnley was rife with celebration as the Club gained promotion to the Premier League.

U21s striker Michael Mellon was able to experience scenes of a similar nature at his loan club Bradford City, with the Bantams securing promotion to Sky Bet League One in dramatic style.

City headed into the last day of the League Two season knowing that a victory of any kind would guarantee them 3rd place and, with it, automatic promotion.

With nearest challengers Walsall beating Crewe Alexandra 1-0, Bradford looked to be heading into the play-offs when the deadlock was yet to be broken heading into stoppage-time against Fleetwood Town.

However, they were spared that scenario when Antoni Sarcevic scored a 96th-minute winner to send a packed-out Valley Parade into pandemonium.

“What a day that was!” Mellon reflected.

“We went into the game confident because Fleetwood had a lot of injuries, but the longer the game went on everybody was starting to get a little bit touchy and nervous.

“We then got the news through that Walsall scored and everybody panicked. We hit the post twice and had a lad blaze over a chance that he’d snap up every other day.

“The way it (the goal) went in, I feel like I could bottle it up and sell it for millions. The relief that came over me was an experience that I’ll treasure forever, and I don’t think I’ll ever get again.

“I may have got a little bit carried away in the celebrations after, but I enjoyed every single second of it.”

After spending the first half of the season on loan at Stockport County in League One, Mellon linked up with Bradford in January.

The move was the 21-year-old’s fifth across four different clubs in his young career, having previously had two spells at Morecambe and another at Dundee.

“I spoke to a few gaffers and what the Bradford gaffer said really appealed to me and my family, and it wasn’t a really an offer I felt I could turn down,” Mellon continued.

“The experience I had there was second to none, and I wouldn’t change much of it. It’s probably underestimated how much of a step up it is from Academy football.

“During my first ever loan I was probably a bit of a rabbit in the headlights, that was in League One with Morecambe.

“When I went there the second time it was a bit different because I’d already had that experience, and I went in with a different attitude.

“You learn different things - Academy football’s very technical with lads passing it around the back, so I’d got a lot of goals from people making mistakes while trying to play a certain way.

“In League Two the players might not be as technical, so you have to find different ways, and I feel like I did.

The manager the Scotland youth international refers to is Graham Alexander, who is of course a familiar name to Clarets fans having spent four years at Turf Moor as a player.

Mellon continued: “He (Alexander) was brilliant.

“He absolutely loves Burnley and would always ask me what was going on and tell me about his time at the Club.

“He’s a very intelligent manager and I learned a lot from the packs of information he gave me that I’ll use for the rest of my career, and I’m really grateful for that.”

Mellon is now back at Burnley and, looking ahead to next season, is keen to continue his development wherever he plays his football.

“I’ve had three loans where I’ve done okay but have been a bit of a squad player at times,” he finished.

“Wherever I go this year I need to make sure that I’m the main man and I think I need that.

“If I give it everything, hopefully I can get back to that point and everything works out well.”