Reading Football Club

Younger brother to another former Royals defender Matt Mills, Joseph began his footballing career at Southampton as a product of their youth system.

He made his first team debut for the Saints as a substitute in the Carling Cup against Birmingham on 26^th August 2008. Mills brought the count to 10 appearances that season before moving on loan to Scunthorpe until the end of that campaign.

The following year and the Swindon-born defender made an appearance for Southampton in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final, beating Carlisle United 4-1 to lift the prestigious cup at Wembley.

Come the 2011/12 season, after spending the previous year on loan to Doncaster Rovers, Mills signed a contract with Reading for an undisclosed amount.

For the Royals it was the old case of ‘one-in, one-out’ as his older brother Matthew had just been sold to Leicester City at the start of the summer.

He made his debut for the Royals in our Carling Cup fixture that year against Charlton, replacing Ian Harte at left-back in the 62^nd minute. Mills went on to play 13(+1) games for the club, with his first Madejski Stadium start coming against Watford that September.

For the 2012/13 season, Mills was loaned out to Burnley, making 11(+1) appearances for the Clarets prior to signing for them on a permanent basis come the summer.

The subsequent season however, Mills spent his time on loan with Oldham and Shrewsbury, before embarking on another free transfer, this time back to Boundary Park where he’d caught the eye of the managing staff during his initial loan spell in the months before.