Mark Lyndon Patrick de Vries (born 24 August 1975) is a Dutch football coach and former player. During his playing career he played in Holland, England and Scotland and has since coached in the Faroe Islands and Hungary. After Cambuur, he started working as a coach.

Playing career

Early career

De Vries was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname' ...

, Suriname, but when he was six months old his mother took him to live in Den Helder in the Netherlands. The towering striker played youth football for local side WGW Den Helder. In 1994, De Vries was recruited by FC Volendam where he gained four seasons experience at the top level in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. De Vries spent season 1998–99 in the French Second Division with Chamois Niortais and then the Dutch First Division club Dordrecht '90 acquired his services in 1999. In his second season with the club, De Vries scored 11 times and netted 16 times the following season.

Heart of Midlothian

His services were now in demand and Hearts manager

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing care ...

was successful in securing his transfer to the Scottish club in July 2002. De Vries played a massive part in helping Hearts reach 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 ...

semi-final in February 2003 and also to secure third place in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

football in successive seasons. He scored 29 goals in 72 league matches for the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

club. He is well remembered by Hearts fans for scoring 4 goals on his first start against fierce city rivals Hibernian in a 5–1 victory in August 2002. On 6 November 2003, de Vries scored the winning goal which gave Hearts a shock victory over

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, producing one of the club's best ever away results in European competition. Hearts rejected an offer from

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...

for de Vries on 21 December 2004, while

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and Plymouth Argyle all expressed an interest to sign the striker after his fine performances in the UEFA Cup.

Leicester City

De Vries joined Leicester City on 6 January 2005 – joining

at his new club, and becoming his first signing, alongside fellow former Hearts player Alan Maybury. Upon signing for City, de Vries said, The striker made his debut for ''the Foxes'' in their 2–2

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

third round draw with Blackpool at the

Walkers Stadium King Power Stadium (also known as the Leicester City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations and formerly known as the Walkers Stadium) is a football stadium in Leicester, England. It has been the home of Premier League club Leicester City ...

on 8 January 2005. De Vries made 20 appearances for the Foxes that season, scoring his first goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat of

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 ...

, a goal which was to prove his only one of the season. He was employed as a lone striker in the

fifth round clash against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 19 February 2005, and was instrumental in City's progress to the quarter-finals as they won 2–1. In the first half of the 2005–06 season, he scored 9 goals, including the winning goal against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the

. In a

match against Blackpool on 20 September 2005, de Vries was made captain as he scored two goals for Leicester. After playing 35 matches for struggling Leicester in the season up to the end of January, de Vries left the club on a loan deal to Dutch club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

, following the dismissal of Levein, who was replaced by

Rob Kelly Robert Anthony Kelly (born 21 December 1964) is a former English footballer and manager who is currently the assistant manager at Wigan Athletic in the Championship. He is best known for his spell as manager of Leicester City, as well as bei ...

. De Vries rejected a permanent move to Heerenveen in the summer, instead joining fellow

side ADO Den Haag on loan for the 2006–07 season. He only scored two goals in 27 appearances as the Dutch team were relegated to the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

. On 7 June 2007, de Vries was placed on the transfer list alongside Rab Douglas. Despite this, he remained in the first team for the start of the 2007–08 season, scoring his last goal for Leicester in a 4–1 home win over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

on 25 August. He made his last contribution for the club in a 3–2 away win over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in a

match on 18 September, assisting the winning goal. On 1 October 2007, De Vries joined

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on loan for an initial one-month period, where he provided cover for

Jermaine Beckford Jermaine Paul Alexander Beckford (born 9 December 1983) is an English Football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career as a trainee at Chelsea, and played for Wealdstone, Uxbridge, Leeds United, ...

and Tresor Kandol. He made his debut against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

on 2 October 2007, scoring his first goal for the club against

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

on 6 October 2007. On 25 October, Leeds terminated de Vries' loan contract after he suffered a broken toe. He made a total of four appearances for the club, scoring one goal. However, on 12 November 2007 he rejoined Leeds on until 15 January. His time at Leicester finally came to an end when he was released by mutual consent on 25 January 2008.

Dundee United

De Vries joined

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

on the same day he was released from

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, for the third time linking up with

who had signed him while at Leicester just under three years ago and Hearts before that. De Vries scored his first goal for United in the

final defeat against Rangers and netted his first league goal six days later in the win against Motherwell. De Vries's contract expired at the end of June 2008 and he undertook a trial with Dutch side

SC Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2020–21 Ee ...

in late July.

Cambuur Leeuwarden

De Vries joined SC Cambuur Leeuwarden on 28 August 2008. He scored on his debut against FC Emmen, a game that

Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league sy ...

won 6–2, scoring the final goal of the match. He signed a two-year contract with the club, who are favorites to win the league and to move up to the

. Mark de Vries is, as a "pinch-hitter", very important for SC Cambuur, in last seasons playoffs he scored two important, winning, goals against FC Zwolle and the 1–1 in the away game against Roda JC, gaining a third and decisive game in the playoffs against that team (Roda JC) which SC Cambuur lost. Also in 2011 in playoffs he scored all three goal of SC Cambuur, but SC Cambuur could not qualify due to a last-minute equaliser by Zwolle, who passed at penalties. In 2010 De Vries was voted player of the year in the Dutch Jupiler League.

Managerial career

After leaving

, de Vries played for ONS Sneek before returning to Den Helder to play and coach. He has since worked in the Faroe Islands for

TB/FC Suðuroy/Royn TB/FC Suðuroy/Royn was a Faroese football club based in Trongisvágur. The team was a result of a merger between all three clubs from the island of Suðuroy: Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag, FC Suðuroy and Royn Hvalba. The agreement about the merger ...

and in Hungary for

Budapest Honvéd Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

Honours

Club

Dundee United *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

runner-up: 2007–08

Individual

* Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: September 2002

References

External links

*
Profile
at
londonhearts.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vries, Mark De 1975 births Living people Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Sportspeople from Paramaribo Association football forwards Dutch footballers Leeds United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players FC Volendam players Chamois Niortais F.C. players FC Dordrecht players SC Heerenveen players ADO Den Haag players SC Cambuur players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players People from Den Helder Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate footballers ONS Sneek players