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Mel Sterland's Free Kicks
There have been technically brilliant Leeds United free-kick takers. But few have ever made the act of striking a stationary football seem quite as violent as Mel Sterland.
Overview
There have been technically brilliant Leeds United free-kick takers.
But few have ever made the act of striking a stationary football seem quite as violent as Mel Sterland.
Enter Zico
Sterland joined Leeds in 1989 after a decade at Sheffield Wednesday and a brief spell with Rangers.
He became an attacking full-back in Howard Wilkinson's newly rebuilt side and played a significant part in the promotion of 1989-90 and the First Division title of 1991-92. He made 114 appearances for Leeds and scored 16 goals.
His nickname was “Zico”.
There was a reason.
Practice makes perfect
Free kicks were not an afterthought.
Leeds United's own retrospective on the art of free-kicks describes Wilkinson's meticulous approach to set pieces and Sterland's hours of practice during difficult training sessions.
The aim was simple: take something you could practise repeatedly and turn it into a weapon.
Sterland was the specialist.
Sheffield United
And if you want the definitive image of the Sterland free kick, look to Boxing Day 1989.
Leeds travelled to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United.
Sterland struck a ferocious free kick into the Blades' goal — one of three consecutive seasons in which he scored direct free kicks against Sheffield United.
It wasn't merely a good goal.
It was a goal that fitted the player perfectly.
Power rather than delicacy. Conviction rather than hesitation. A ball hit with absolute violence.
The unlikely goalscorer
Sterland wasn't a conventional winger or midfielder drifting into dangerous positions.
He was a full-back.
But Wilkinson's Leeds encouraged their full-backs to attack, and Sterland embraced the opportunity.
He could overlap, cross and shoot, while his set pieces gave Leeds another route to goal.
Why Mel Sterland mattered
His Leeds career lasted only four seasons.
He didn't captain the club. He wasn't its leading scorer. He wasn't its most celebrated player.
But he embodied something fundamental about Wilkinson's Leeds: players were given jobs and expected to do them aggressively.
Sterland did exactly that.
And whenever a free kick was awarded within shooting range, Elland Road knew who wanted it.