Melvyn "Mel" Sage is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player. He played as a full back for Gillingham

Gillingham F.C.

Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 and Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

 in a ten-year career which was ultimately cut short by injury.

Sage began his career as an apprentice professional with his hometown club, Gillingham, turning professional in 1982. He soon forced his way into the first team and became a regular in the defence, as well as attracting attention from larger clubs. In the 1985-86 season he was an ever-present in the team and named the club's Player of the Year, after which he was snapped up by Derby County, who had just clinched promotion to Division Two, for a fee of £60,000. The following season he helped the Rams clinch promotion to Division One and in all made over 140 league appearances for Derby before a succession of injuries, most notably a knee injury sustained in November 1991, forced him into retirement in 1992.

After retiring from football, Sage returned to his hometown of Gillingham and became a taxi driver.