Mark Peter Falco (born 22 October 1960) is an English former professional

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 ...

who played as a striker for a number of clubs, including

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 ...

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 ...

, Rangers and

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 ...

Career

Falco was born in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Having spent his early years as a prolific goalscorer for Fields United, a youth team in the London Borough of Hackney, Falco started his professional career as a junior at

. He made his first-team debut in May 1979, scoring in a 3–1 victory at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

versus Bolton Wanderers. In his time at Spurs he played alongside strikers

Steve Archibald Steven Archibald (born 27 September 1956) is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager. He played prominently as a forward for Aberdeen, winning the Scottish league in 1980, Tottenham Hotspur, winning two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, and ...

and

Garth Crooks Garth Anthony Crooks, (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic. Throughout h ...

. He had a good career at Spurs however scoring 89 goals in 236 games, including five in the prestigious 1986

Football League Super Cup The Football League Super Cup (known for sponsorship reasons as the ScreenSport Super Cup) was a one-off football club competition held in England in the 1985–86 season. It was organised by the Football League and was intended as a form of fina ...

where he finished second to Liverpool's Ian Rush (7 goals) in the top scorers competition. He won the 1984 UEFA Cup Final with Spurs, successfully dispatching his penalty as Spurs overcame Anderlecht in a shootout. Whilst at Spurs, he had a brief spell on

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 ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

over November and December 1982, making three appearances. In 1986 Falco signed for

, scoring 15 goals in 30 matches, but soon moved on to join the growing English contingent at Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. In his short spell at Ibrox, Falco scored 10 goals in 19 competitive games, including a vital strike against

Dinamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was officia ...

in the European Cup. Falco was signed by

for £350,000 in December 1987, and made his debut against Manchester United soon afterwards. He went on to play 87 league games for QPR scoring 27 goals. He moved to

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 ...

in 1991. He retired through injury in 1992. In 2009, Falco was voted as one of the top 50 greatest Spurs players of all time.

Post-football career

Falco has gone into partnership with fellow ex–Spur John Pratt in a cleaning and asbestos clearing concern based in Hertfordshire. Falco also plays regularly for the Tottenham legends team, and is also part of the "Tottenham Legends" match day corporate host team at White Hart Lane.

Personal life

Falco retired from the professional game due to injury in 1992. This was shortly after the birth of his two children Sarah and Peter.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

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 ...

: 1983–84 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

(shared)

References

External links

Topspurs cup final teams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falco, Mark Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Watford F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Millwall F.C. players 1960 births Footballers from Bethnal Green Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney English people of Italian descent English footballers Association football forwards Living people English Football League players Scottish Football League players UEFA Cup winning players