Mark Edward Boyd (born 22 October 1981) is an English former

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 ...

player and

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 ...

. He scored 19 goals in 298 league and cup appearances in an 11-year career in the

English 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 Engl ...

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

and

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

, and also later spent six years playing

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

below the Conference level. Beginning his career as

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, he never made the first team and instead signed with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in 2002. After two years with the Vale, he moved north to the Scottish side Gretna via

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. Failing to make an impact, he returned to the Football League with a

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

in 2005. After a short spell with Accrington Stanley in 2006, he joined non-League side Southport. He joined the Irish club

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

in 2007 before turning to the English non-League scene with

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

the following year. He joined

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

via

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

in 2011 before switching to

Celtic Nation The Celtic nations are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. The term ''nation'' is used in its original sense to mean a people who shar ...

in June 2013. He helped Celtic Nation to a second-place finish in the Northern League in 2013–14 before taking up the management position for the 2014–15 season, after which the club was folded. He later played for Penrith and Carlisle City.

Playing career

Mark was released from the

school of excellence at the age of 14 and joined the Academy at

after a successful trial. He left St James' Park in May 2002 on a free transfer to League One side

after being recommended to the "Valiants"

Brian Horton by Bobby Robson. However, he suffered a

broken ankle An ankle fracture is a break of one or more of the bones that make up the ankle joint. Symptoms may include pain, swelling, bruising, and an inability to walk on the injured leg. Complications may include an associated high ankle sprain, compartme ...

with a couple of months of the season remaining. Boyd never really forced his way back into the reckoning the following season as Vale were challenging for the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in League One, and he was released by mutual consent in 2004 to join

until the end of the season. For the next two seasons, Boyd could not forge a longer-term deal with a club and ended up playing bit-part roles for Carlisle United, Gretna,

, and finally Accrington Stanley, before eventually signing for Conference side Southport before the 2006–07 season. His Southport career began disappointingly with a missed

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in the team's first game of the season. The next year he transferred to

in the Republic of Ireland. In January 2008, he was back in England with

of the Conference North. In May 2008, Barrow beat Staylybridge Celtic 1–0 to gain promotion back into the

Conference National 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-profes ...

via the Conference North play-offs. Boyd remained a key part of the Barrow squad during their first two seasons in the Conference National, culminating in the club's 2–1 victory over

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

in the

2009–10 FA Trophy The FA Trophy 2009–10 is the 40th season of the FA Trophy, the Football Association's cup competition for teams at levels 5–8 of the English football league system. The number of team entries for this season was initially 265, but this was r ...

final. In the match itself, Boyd replaced Paul Rutherford with just ten minutes of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

remaining, Jason Walker having already scored Barrow's winning goal three minutes earlier. In February 2011, Boyd signed a short

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

of the Conference North, following a one-month

spell. In June of that year, he became

's first summer signing, penning a one-year deal. The "Reds" finished 13th and 14th in the Conference North in 2011–12 and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. He quit Workington in June 2013 to join Northern League side

. He helped Celtic Nation to a second-place finish in the Northern League in 2013–14. After taking a career break, he joined Penrith of the

Northern League Division One The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division O ...

in March 2016. He moved on to Northern Alliance Premier Division side Carlisle City later in the year.

Coaching career

Boyd was appointed

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in July 2014; at the time of his appointment, the club were undergoing a crisis after a moneyed investor withdrew his support for the club. The club finished second-from-bottom in the 2014–15 campaign, before folding in the summer. He joined Northern League side

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

in May 2017, but left after four months. He returned to Penrith as a player-coach in July 2018.

Later life

After retiring as a player, Boyd went on to commentate on Barrow games for BBC Radio Cumbria.

Career statistics

Honours

Barrow * Conference North play-offs:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Celtic Nation *

Northern Football League The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division ...

Division One second-place promotion: 2013–14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Mark 1981 births Living people Footballers from Carlisle, Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Newcastle United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Southport F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Celtic Nation F.C. players Penrith A.F.C. players Carlisle City F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players League of Ireland players National League (English football) players Northern Football League players Association football coaches Men's association football player-managers English football managers English association football commentators