Oldham Athletic and Preston North End

Born in Salford, Lancashire, Ellis began his playing career in local and non-league football, with Horwich RMI and Northwich Victoria and Poets F.C. in the Salford Sunday League. In August 1986 at the age of 21, Ellis was signed by Joe Royle for Oldham Athletic, for whom he played ten games. Ellis was spotted by Preston North End manager John McGrath scoring goals for Oldham's reserve team. McGrath paid £23,000 in October 1987 to take Ellis to Deepdale, where he scored a last-minute winner on his debut against Port Vale. In his first spell at Deepdale Ellis scored 32 goals in 106 games in a little over two seasons.

Stoke City

In 1989 Alan Ball at Stoke City tabled a £250,000 offer for Ellis. For Preston, the money was too good to turn down, and Ellis found himself leaving for the Victoria Ground in December 1989. His time at Stoke was disrupted by injury and the emergence of both Wayne Biggins and Mark Stein as first choice strikers. However in two and a half years he scored 20 goals in 93 first-team appearances and was a regular scorer for the City reserve team that won the Central League division two titles in 1991-92.

Back at Preston

In August 1992 Preston resigned Ellis, paying Stoke £50,000 plus striker Graham Shaw. Stoke valued Ellis at £250,000 while Preston valued Shaw at £200,000. This deal therefore meant that Ellis became Preston's record signing at the time. His second spell at Preston was even more productive than his first: Ellis scored 56 goals in just 88 games and was named the club's official player of the year in 1992/93 and 1993/94. His final game for the Lilywhites was their 1994 play-off final defeat against Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley. In his two spells at Preston, Ellis scored 88 goals in 194 games.

Blackpool

In 1994, after a much-publicised fall out with Preston boss John Beck over a new contract, Ellis signed for arch-rivals Blackpool for £165,000. In November 1995, Ellis handed in a transfer request, fuelling rumours of a return to Deepdale, by then managed by Gary Peters. Blackpool got around this problem by offering Ellis an extension to his contract. In three-and-a-half years at Bloomfield Road, Ellis scored 65 goals in 173 games, and was the leading goalscorer for each of his three seasons at the club. One of his strike partners, Andy Preece, included Ellis in his all-time XI in 2021.^[1] The duo also played together at Bury.

Latter career

In December 1997, Ellis was on the move again, this time to Bury for £70,000. He scored twelve goals in 38 games at Gigg Lane. Then in 1999 he joined Stockport County for a fee of £25,000. He made 21 league appearances, scoring six goals before joining Rochdale on a free transfer later that year where he made a total of 68 appearances and scored 18 goals.

He was released by Rochdale at the end of the 2000–01 season, and found himself without a club, with semi-retirement and a return to non-league football looking likely until Burnley boss Stan Ternent offered him a lifeline. In his only season at Turf Moor, Ellis played ten games, all as a substitute. At the age of 37 he scored the winner against Bradford City in a 3–2 win at Valley Parade, his only goal for the club. During his Football League career Ellis had scored 205 goals in 612 first team games.

Non-League

After leaving Burnley at the end of the 2001–02 season, Ellis joined Football Conference side Leigh RMI in August 2002.^[2] In 2003, he joined Northern Premier League side Mossley.^[3]

In 2003–04 he became player/assistant manager of Conference North club Hyde United and also took on the role of coaching the Burnley under-15s at the Turf Moor club's Centre of Excellence.