Mark James Howard (born 29 January 1986) 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 ...

coach and former player. He works as an assistant coach for American club

Oklahoma City Energy Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system. History Oklahoma City businessma ...

, for whom he played for a season before retiring from playing.

Career

Born in Salford,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, Howard attended Hope High School, Salford, with fellow

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

players

Phil Bardsley Phillip Anthony Bardsley (born 28 June 1985) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Stockport County. He has played international football for the Scotland national team. Bardsley began his career with Manchester United whe ...

and

Mark Redshaw Mark Redshaw (born 25 September 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Career According to a 2011 interview with the player, Redshaw signed for Manchester United at the age of eight and spent almost nine yea ...

. Howard began his career playing for the Barr Hill Lads Club in Salford. He signed for Manchester United as a junior player, and played a number of years in the youth and reserve teams of the club. Having failed to make an impact in the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

, Howard was amongst seven United players given a free transfer at the end of the 2005–06 season. Howard moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

champions

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

, that had recently hired Manchester United reserve team coach

René Meulensteen Reinhard Jozef Petrus Meulensteen (born 25 March 1964) is a Dutch former footballer and coach who is currently assistant coach of the Australia national soccer team. He spent the early parts of his career working in the Netherlands before taking ...

as manager. Howard participated in training sessions and played a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against German team

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

, before signing a three-year contract with Brøndby on 28 July 2006. He made his senior debut for Brøndby in August 2006, and played 13 of 18 league games as Brøndby finished in seventh place after the first half of the 2006–07 Superliga season. When Meulensteen left the club in January 2007, new manager

Tom Køhlert Tom Køhlert (; born 30 April 1947) is a Danish football manager and former player who managed Brøndby IF from 1979 to 1985 and several times later as a caretaker. He led the club to its first ever Danish championship in 1985. He has also funct ...

brought in Danish defender

Mikkel Bischoff Mikkel Rufus Mutahi Bischoff (born 3 February 1982) is a Danish football pundit and former professional player who played as a centre back. Having started his senior career with AB in 2001, he joined Manchester City a year later. For Manchester ...

in contention for Howard's place in the central defence. When Bischoff suffered an injury, Howard proved himself once again and continued in the starting 11 for the rest of the season. He was also a part of the Brøndby team which won the

2006–07 Royal League The 2006–07 Royal League fixtures and results. Rules The twelve participating teams are placed into three groups of four clubs each. The teams of each group face each other home and away. The group winners and runners-up qualify for the quarter- ...

cup on 15 March 2007. In the final match of the cup, Howard received a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

, which

Martin Ericsson Martin Kjell Henrik Ericsson (born 4 September 1980) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He represented IK Brage, IFK Göteborg, Aalborg BK, Brøndby IF, IF Elfsborg, and BK Häcken during a career that spann ...

converted to a goal, securing Brøndby a 1–0 win over

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

. Having secured his place in the starting eleven during the first half of the 2007–08 season, Howard was awarded the player of the year in Brøndby on 1 December 2007. On 10 December 2008, he signed a three and a half year contract with AGF. Howard signed with the

on 11 March 2014 for an undisclosed amount until the end of the year. On 29 June 2014, he scored his first goal in America and was named in the team of the week for his performances

Honours

Club

* Danish Cup: 2007–08 *

Royal League The Royal League was an annual Scandinavian football tournament held three times between teams from the three Scandinavian monarchies (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), starting after the end of the regular domestic seasons of Norway and Sweden. Denm ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Individual

* Brøndby Player of the Year: 2007

References

External links

official Superliga stats

Howard are AGF's hottest player

Former Manchester United men toast Danish success
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Mark 1986 births Living people Footballers from Salford English footballers Association football defenders Manchester United F.C. players Brøndby IF players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players OKC Energy FC players Danish Superliga players USL Championship players English expatriate footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Denmark English expatriate sportspeople in the United States