Marc Stephen John Bircham (born 11 May 1978 in
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 ...
) is a former
football player. Born in England, he represented Canada at international level.
Club career
London-born Bircham started his professional career at
Millwall
Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...
and after 6 seasons joined
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
where he became a crowd favorite. Bircham used to be known for his unusual hairstyle – a
dyed
Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...
blue and white streak down the centre of his hair from when he played for QPR and a red and white streak while playing for
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. QPR fans sang a song to the tune of "
I Love You, Baby I Love You Baby may refer to:
* ''I Love You, Baby'' (2000 film), German action thriller film
* ''I Love You Baby'' (2001 film), Spanish romantic comedy film
* "I Luv U Baby", 1994 song by The Original
* " ILY (I Love You Baby)", 2019 song by Sur ...
": ''"We love you, Bircham/ because you got blue hair/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're everywhere/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're Rangers through and through."''
In 2007, he moved to
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to:
* Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset
* Yeovil Town L.F.C.
Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...
. He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Yeovil against
Brentford in the
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...
. After a series of ankle injuries in the 2008–09 season it was revealed that Bircham had quit football and is going to set up a youth coaching camp in Cyprus.
International career
Bircham was eligible to play for Canada because one of his grandfathers was born in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
. He made his debut for
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in an April 1999 friendly match against
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
. He is the only player to have played for a country without actually visiting it when his first cap – as well as his first and only goal – came. He scored that goal only 8 minutes after coming on as a substitute for another player making his debut,
Davide Xausa
Davide Antonio Xausa (born 10 March 1976) is a Canadian former soccer player.
Club career
Xausa started his career with Metro Ford Wolves before accepting a scholarship with the University of Portland where he was a 3 time All American, 4 time W ...
.
Bircham earned 17 caps for his adopted country, representing Canada in two
FIFA World Cup qualification matches. His final international was a June 2004 World Cup qualification match against
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
.
Managerial career
QPR
After becoming a QPR youth coach at the start of the 2009–10 season, he was put in temporary charge with fellow Youth Coach
Steve Gallen due to manager
Jim Magilton's suspension on 9 December 2009. The duo took charge of a 2–2 draw away to
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
on 14 December 2009.
Waterford
On 12 May 2021, Bircham was named manager of
League of Ireland Premier Division side
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
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, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
until the end of the season. With Waterford bottom of the table when Bircham took over, he led his side to 6 wins and a draw from his first 12 league games in charge, taking the club out of the relegation zone and earning a new 2 and a half year contract which was announced in August 2021. On 23 November 2021, Bircham was sacked by
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, having learned of the news on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
without being contacted by the club following a text exchange between himself and owner Richard Forrest the previous night in which Forrest suspended Bircham for a week, preventing him from taking charge of the club's crucial
Promotion/relegation play-off final against
UCD.
Como
In the summer of 2022, he was appointed as first team coach of Italian
Serie B
The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...
side
Como
Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...
under manager
Giacomo Gattuso.
Personal life
Bircham has 3 children from a previous marriage. 1 boy, Frankie and 2 girls, Layla & Dolly.
He currently regularly appears on
Talksport.
Career statistics
International
:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''
Managerial
As of 23 November 2021.
References
External links
*
*
archive
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bircham, Marc
1978 births
Living people
Footballers from Wembley
English people of Canadian descent
English men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Canadian men's soccer players
Canadian expatriate men's soccer players
Canada men's international soccer players
2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
Millwall F.C. players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
Yeovil Town F.C. players
English Football League players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff
Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers
Chicago Fire FC non-playing staff
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England
English football managers