Leon Mike (born 4 September 1981) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former professional player, who is the under-23 manager and joint interim manager at

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

in the North West Counties League Premier Division.

Playing career

Mike began his career with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. As a youngster he played for England Schoolboys against Germany in 1997. His first senior experience came in loan spells at

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

and Halifax Town in the 2000–01 season. In the 2001–02 season he was part of a group of young players selected to train as part of the senior Manchester City squad. Following a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

for the reserve team in November 2001, he was included in the squad for a match against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, and made his debut as a substitute following an injury to

Shaun Goater Leonard Shaun Goater, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 25 February 1970) is a Bermuda, Bermudian former professional Association football, footballer, coach and pundit, he currently works as a youth coach at Manchester City F.C., Manchest ...

. In the following match, against Rotherham United, Mike made his first and only start for Manchester City. Mike's performances for the Manchester City reserve team attracted the attention of scouts from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, who had attended with the original intention of watching Scotland international

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

. Mike moved to Aberdeen in February 2002, but was released from the ''Dons'' fifteen months later. and ended up with

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

, where he scored 37 goals in 71 games. Mike joined FC United of Manchester in December 2005, before leaving a year later and leaving football altogether.

Coaching career

He became manager of

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin M ...

in May 2022. In the summer of 2023 he became the under-23 manager of

, later taking over the side on an interim basis in September 2023 following the departure of Andy Welsh.

Personal life

He appeared as an extra in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

soap ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. He began a law degree in September 2007 at a

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

college. His cousin is

Adie Mike Adrian Roosevelt Mike (born 16 November 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1992 to 2004. He notably played in the Premier League for Manchester City, and in the Football League for Bury, Stockport Co ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mike, Leon 1981 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Manchester City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Men's association football forwards English football managers Burscough F.C. managers Bury F.C. non-playing staff