Christopher Neil Mackenzie (born 14 May 1972) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and most recently played for

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

in the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

Career

Mackenzie has also played for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

and even scored a goal for them. The goal was scored against Barnet on the opening day of the 1995–96 season and the conceding goalkeeper was

Maik Taylor Maik Stefan Taylor (born 4 September 1971) is a former Northern Ireland international football goalkeeper and, since July 2022, goalkeeping coach at Birmingham City. At club level, Taylor played non-League football for Petersfield Town, Basings ...

, who was making his league début. As well as Shrewsbury and Hereford and several non-league clubs, Mackenzie has played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

and Chester City. Mackenzie signed for Shrewsbury on 15 May 2006 on the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...

from Chester City, where he had spent two years as predominantly first choice goalkeeper. He started the season as second choice goalkeeper behind

Ryan Esson Ryan John Esson (born 19 March 1980) is a Scottish former professional football goalkeeper. He is currently a goalkeeping coach for Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Esson started his career in 2000, in the Scottish Premier League, as a goalkeepe ...

, but was handed his club début on 22 August 2006 in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, which Town lost 1–0. By mid-September Mackenzie had gained a spot in the starting line-up, and shortly afterwards, Esson suffered an injury in a reserve fixture, giving Mackenzie a chance to make an extended run in the team. As Esson continued to struggle, Mackenzie found himself competing with loanee

Scott Shearer Scott Shearer (born 15 February 1981) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who works for Oxford United F.C., Oxford United as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeping coach. Career Albion Rovers Born in Glasgow, Sheare ...

for a place in the starting eleven. In the closing month of the season Shearer was being picked ahead of Mackenzie but (due to an agreement made prior to his loan signing) was not allowed to play against his parent-club

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

in the League Two play-off final. At the age of 35, MacKenzie subsequently got his chance to line up at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

for the first time, though Shrewsbury succumbed to a 3–1 defeat. On 21 September 2007, Mackenzie joined Conference side

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

on a month-long loan to provide cover for the injured

Scott Bevan Scott Anthony Bevan (born 19 September 1979) is a former professional footballer currently employed as the under-23s goalkeeping coach at Birmingham City. Career Playing career Bevan started his football career with Southampton as an associate ...

. Despite having a bad debut at Aggborough, this was later extended by a further month, and he returned to Shrewsbury in November. However, Mackenzie made the permanent move to Kidderminster on 31 January 2008, as part of a deal that saw Bevan move in the opposite direction. At the end of the 2007–08 season he was released by Kidderminster Harriers. Mackenzie then signed for Hinckley United in May 2008. He rejoined his first club,

in May 2010, before signing for

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

in 2011. He helped Alfreton win promotion into the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

but Alfreton decided to turn to a full-time football club and Mackenzie did not wish to give up his career outside of football so rejoined Corby Town at the start of the 2011–12 season. Mackenzie retired from football on 29 February 2012, during a team meeting which followed Corby Town's 3–1 home win against Long Buckby in the Hillier Senior Cup Semi-final, in which all the players were asked to take a pay-cut. This announcement came shortly after Mackenzie broke the record for being the oldest player ever to play for Corby Town.

Honours

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

play-off finalists, 2006–07,

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Chris 1972 births Living people Footballers from Northampton Association football goalkeepers English footballers Corby Town F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players