Mick was my hero in them days, I even had a haircut the same as his. In them days, if you were in the ground early enough, some of the players (as they arrived) would walk around the edge of the pitch from the dugout area around past the park end. One day Mick walked past and I held out my hand and he shook it. It wasn't until about a week later that me ma said if I didn't wash the hand soon, it would get the mange and drop off. Ahhhhh! innit great 'avin memories like that.
Here's a couple of articles from Western Australia. I'm not sure where he is now.
Stirling Lions Sack Mick Lyons Appoint Paul Lincoln
April 5, 2010 by simmo
Filed under headlines, State League
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Swan United senior coach Paul Lincoln has been offered and accepted the head coaching role at Stirling Lions. The 40-year-old has thought long and hard about this decision but believes it’s an opportunity too good to turn down. “It was a big decision to leave Francis Street. Swan gave me the opportunity to coach initially and that is something I will be forever grateful, I have to thank Swan and especially Cos Coniglio and Tony Trusso,” said Lincoln.
“I have met so many good people and have formed friendships so it was always going to be hard for me, but the opportunity to coach Stirling Lions a club I once played for and have had success with as a player was one I couldn’t pass by,” added Lincoln.
The former Stirling Macedonian striker is looking forward to the new challenge at Macedonia Park. “Stirling promises a different challenge for me and its obvious with the players they have introduced this season success is paramount.
The end of an era for Gary Williams and Mick Lyons
“With so many new players its important the right balance is reached and that everyone is on the same page. Team spirit is important, so I need to ensure it’s strong and that the players are proud when they put on the team shirt, that they have togetherness to work for each other. The team on paper is talented but on the park talent without team unity it’s meaningless so for me I need to ensure team unity exists,” explained Lincoln.
Lions’ President Don Evans is delighted to have secured the services of Lincoln and also thanked Michael Lyons and Gary Williams for their great work at Macedonia Park. “Stirling Lions Soccer Club would like to announce the appointment of three time Premier League Championship winner with the then known Stirling Macedonia, Paul Lincoln.
“Paul has proven himself as a winner as a player for us and other Premier League clubs in Perth and we had watched what great inroads he had made at Swan United with limited resources. We are sure he will be able to unite and direct a very talented group together and see us in the fight for finals football at the end of the season. It is truly a homecoming for a player, who was loved and respected by all our fans who watched him play in the 90′s helping bring three successive titles to the club,” said Evans.
Joining Paul in the assistant coaching role will be Ian Cowan who has coached in the VPL and here in WA with Morley Windmills and Forrestfield United.
Lincoln takes over from Mick Lyons whose 5 year reign at the helm of the Lions comes to an end after bringing two Soccer Pools Cup successes and a host of young talented players through the Lion Cubs development path.
President Don Evans said, “It is never easy parting company with gentlemen like Mick and Gary Williams as they have been and are such an important fabric of the new look Lions. This year is a year of high expectation and the board of management felt the time was right for a fresh outlook after the indifferent start to the year by an almost new side. The target was three wins from three games and after careful thought and deliberation we felt it was time for a change, considering the large investment made in player stocks.”
The Swan United Football Club, although disappointed, wish Lincoln all the best at the Lions. “It’s a disappointment to lose Paul after only three games into a new season but we wish him all the best in his time at the Lions,” said Vice President Cos Coniglio.
“Paul has done a tremendous job for us in his three years here and he has added stability on the park and has done a great job with the players at his disposal,” added Coniglio.
The role as head coach at Francis Street will now go to assistant coach Jamie Goodman and he is looking forward to the challenge. “Linc’s moving on has come of a bit of a shock to the club but it has provided an opportunity for me to have another crack in the premier league.
“The club have moved swiftly to make the change over as smooth as possible and I am grateful for the chance and am relishing the challenge that lies ahead,” said Goodman.
“We have strung three good performances together although the results have not reflected what we have deserved. We need to take our chances to turn the performances into results. The squad is young but the attitude and work rate has been very pleasing. If we can continue the intensity and with a bit of luck, there is no reason why we can not surprise a few teams out there,’ added Goodman.
Tags: Mick Lyons, Paul Lincoln, Stirling Lions, Swan United
Lions’ Lyons Bigger Than Tim Cahill
March 17, 2009 by admin
Filed under Stirling Lions News, Stirling Lions State League
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This story was sourced from the West Australian Newspaper 16/3/09
Click here to view this article in the West Australian
A WA soccer coach was smiling last week after he was hailed a bigger star than Tim Cahill.
Mike Lyons spoke of his “pride and honour” after a list of the 50 greatest Everton players had the Stirling Lions coach at No.29 – 20 places above Socceroos favourite Cahill and six higher than Wayne Rooney.
And even accounting for the subjectivity of these compilations – the only list many Evertonians would have Manchester United star Rooney on these days is a hit-list – Lyons’ recognition is fair reward for the heart which the raw-boned defender brought to his 11 years at the club.
Mick Lyons In The Blue of Everton
The Liverpool-born stalwart played more than 450 games for his beloved Blues, a large number as captain, and the passion he displayed from the day he signed in 1971 came back to the surface when talking of his selection.
“It’s great for me when I think Everton Football Club started in 1878, that for so many years they have been going and for all the players that have played there. It’s a great honour,” said Lyons, who even took his confirmation name James as a tribute to his own Everton hero, Jimmy Gabriel.
Lyons’ career at Everton was hardly successful in terms of silverware – the nearest he got to a trophy was a losing League Cup final appearance in 1977. But as The Times newspaper in the UK said when publishing the list: ‘Not skilful but powerful and physically imposing, not even his iron will was enough to resist the slide which culminated in the bleak Gordon Lee years. He said he would run through a brick wall for Everton … and frequently did’.
That brick-wall mentality – Lyons’ warm-up routine is said to have included trying to head the dressing-room ceiling – is a virtue he admires in Aussie Cahill, as well as the midfielder’s knack of being in the right place at the right time.
“What I like about Cahill is he always scores the important goals,” he said.
“He does it for Everton, he did it for Australia in the World Cup and he even did it in the semi-final to get Millwall to the FA Cup Final.
“And he is so brave. People say he’s got a great leap but he always keeps his eye on the ball. It takes a lot of courage to jump in between big, horrible defenders.”
High praise, coming from a big, horrible defender himself, and unsurprisingly Lyons would love to see Perth Glory succeed in their efforts to bring Cahill and the rest of the Everton squad Down Under for a pre-season friendly in July.
“I’m delighted Glory are trying to bring them here, that would be fantastic,” he said. “I think David Moyes has done an excellent job as manager.
“I won’t say they don’t have stars, they do, but what they have going for them even more is that they are a team,” he said. “And look how well players like Phil Jagielka are doing, they’ve been great. They’ve slotted straight in.”
Lyons wants that team attitude at Stirling, where cup success over the past few years has not quite been matched in the league.
The 57-year-old, whose side have one more friendly before the start of the WA Premier League, feels they may have been a victim of their own success.
“We’ve got some good, young lads coming through here – in fact, Glory Youth have had a few of our lads, which I think knackered us up a bit last year, while the likes of Marc Anthony also played for Glory.
“But with the likes of Alan Muir, who’s only 22 and was at St Mirren, Dean Evans, Ludovic Boi and Stevie Hesketh, we’ve got some good young lads here, while our reserves have won the league.”
Back to the top 50 list and sitting first and second are two greats of any era and of any team – goalscoring phenomenon William ‘Dixie’ Dean and England World Cup winner Alan Ball. Fittingly, Lyons has a big affinity with both.
“One of my proudest moments was to have carried Dixie Dean’s coffin,” Lyons said of the former Everton striker who scored an astonishing 60 league goals in the 1927-28 season. “I was one of four of us and it was such an honour. He was a legend.
“And Alan Ball, I remember when I was about 16 and going up to Blackpool to watch a match with a few mates and we met Alan Ball on the beach there.
“He played for Blackpool at the time and we were like, ‘Come to our club, come to our club’. So we always say it was us who persuaded Alan Ball to join Everton!”
PERTH
NEIL DEVEY
