FORMER Fulham star Peter Mellor has opened up about the long-term effects that goalkeeping has had on his hands.
Mellor, 77, kicked off his career in 1966 with non-league side Witton Albion before joining .
From there, he joined and spent five years at Craven Cottage before going on to play for Hereford United, and Edmonton Drillers.
But over the course of his 16-year career, the 77-year-old picked up a number of injuries to his hands.
He revealed in a social media interview with Fulham that he would never wear gloves while playing.
And if he did, he would use gardening gloves.
Explaining the effects of his injuries, Mellor said: “Take a look at my hands and fingers. This is before gloves.
“No, we didn’t wear gloves. The only time we would do it, and obviously, the green gloves which were gardening gloves that I bought on the market, were just for wet days.
“They were useless after you’d gone down in the muddy fields of the day then.”;;
The little finger on both of the former goalkeeper’s hands is permanently bent forward as a result of his 16-year goalkeeping career.
Former Premier League goalkeeper two years ago.
The little finger on his right hand is now wonky and points outwards.
Explaining his injury, Green told Amazon Prime: “The tales of goalkeeping! Don’t be a goalkeeper kids.
“A long time of playing in goal, it got injured, dislocated and broken on numerous times and slowly started to die.
“It gave up essentially. It was when | started diving to my right and it started sticking in the ground. As I was diving I thought I might need to get seen to.
“Glove manufacturers very kindly made me sort of a paddle hand, which had the two main fingers and one larger finger, where I could tape it together and keep it relatively straight.
“So for the last ten years of my career I had a finger brace within my gloves to help me. I survived through the games. It’s stayed that way ever since and now it’s a nice icebreaker for conversations!”;;
