Mel Pejic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mel Pejic
Personal information
Full name Melvyn Pejic
Date of birth April 27, 1959 (1959-04-27) (age 49)
Place of birth    Chesterton, England
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Wrexham (Physio)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1977–1980
1980–1992
1992–1995
Stoke City
Hereford United
Wrexham
Total
001 0(0)
412 (14)
106 0(3)
518 (17)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Mel Pejic (born 27 April 1959 in Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, United Kingdom) is a former footballer and current physiotherapist of Wrexham A.F.C. and the Wales national football team. As a player, he played in the positions of full-back and centre-back for Stoke City, Hereford United and Wrexham.

He made his first team debut for Stoke in January 1980 against Ipswich Town, however he was released by Stoke at the end of the season. He signed for Hereford United where he spent the majority of his footballing career. Unfortunately a serious knee ligament injury hampered his first two seasons at Edgar Street. However in the next four seasons he missed only five matches and was voted Player of the Year for three successive seasons in 1983, 1984 and 1985. He later lifted the Welsh Cup for Hereford at Cardiff Arms Park.

In a 12 season stint, he made 523 competitive appearances, scoring 24 goals. Of these, 412 were in league matches where he also scored 14 goals, this puts him second in the all time appearance list behind John Layton Senior who played 549 times for the club.

He moved to Wrexham midway through the 1991-92 season, and went on to make over 100 league appearances for the Red Dragons.

One of Mel's sons, Shaun, currently plays for Wrexham, and his elder brother Mike was also a footballer.