Career
Mark Ellis first came to the attention of while playing for junior club Trinity Athletic in 1978, as an amateur, before he was taken on as a non-contract player in 1980. He made his debut as a substitute on 11 April 1981 in a 3–3 draw with Wigan Athletic, before signing as a full-time professional the following month. On the last day of that successful season his day was to turn into a nightmare when 56 spectators were killed in the stadium fire in a game against Lincoln City.
Following promotion, Ellis, nicknamed "Mega Star", found league games harder to come by, but he came close to playing in all four divisions when City missed out on promotion to 1987-1988 on the final day of the season.
But the season also proved to be a personal disaster for Ellis, when his career was nearly ended just after his 26th birthday following a cruciate ligament injury in a 1–1 draw at Street Andrews against Birmingham City. Ellis was out injured for more than a year and played just 11 more league games for City in two more seasons.
Ellis had been known as a tricky winger who had the ability to beat opposition defenders, and was later given a testimonial match against an Everton team featuring his friend and former teammate Stuart McCall. He moved down the leagues to join Halifax Town and later played in the South African premier league for Hellenic Football Club in Cape Town.
He then came back to England and played a few games for Guiseley scoring the winning goal against Gretna Green on his debut.Ellis then went back to South Africa and worked in the Ajax Academy coaching the u17 team
After once again returning to the United Kingdom he started work at Thomas Danby College coaching the u19 team as well as running his own coaching business in the Detroit Area of the United States during the summer. He also combined this with a part-time coaching role in the Huddesfield Town academy where he worked for over 6 years. Ellis also had a short spell bck at coaching the under 16s with former team mate John Hendrie and also had a spell as first team coach at Guiseley Football Club with his former manager Terry Dolan.
Ellis now runs an elite Education and Soccer Academy with 2 other partners, called RIASA based in Leeds and London.
lieutenant has seven development teams and has already produced 4 professional players, one of them being Nahki Wells who has just left for an estimated £1.5 million to Huddesfield Town, and although the main focus is on international business RIASA has a massive scouting network all over the United States and is expanding worldwide has young talented players want the chance to play in Europe as well as get there Education.
