Mark Lovell (born 16 July 1983 in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

) is an English

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 le ...

. He briefly played professionally for Gillingham. He is the son of former

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966, a ...

striker Steve Lovell, and the grandson of former professional footballer Alan Lovell.

Playing career

Lovell joined Gillingham, one of his father's old clubs, as a trainee in 1999 and was soon a regular for the club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, prompting Gillingham to sign him to a professional contract when he was still 17 years old. He made his debut for the Gills' first team in a match against

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, a ...

in May 2001. The following season Lovell found himself unable to gain a foothold in the first team squad and was loaned out to St. Leonards. In March 2002 he had a trial spell with

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

but was not taken on. Shortly after this his contract at

Priestfield Stadium Priestfield Stadium (popularly known simply as Priestfield and officially known from 2007 to 2010 as KRBS Priestfield Stadium and from 2011 as MEMS Priestfield Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent. It has ...

expired and was not renewed. Lovell next had a trial with

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

but again was not taken on. He later had a spell with Hastings United before joining

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

. In 2006 Lovell had a brief spell with

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

but then rejoined

, where his father was now manager. In June 2007 he joined

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

, now managed by his former Gillingham manager

Andy Hessenthaler Andrew Hessenthaler (born 17 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is head of recruitment at club Gillingham. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at ...

, but in November 2007 left The Crabble to link up with his father, who had recently been appointed manager of Ashford Town (Kent). Following the club's withdrawal from senior football in 2010, Lovell joined

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

. Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Lovell joined Faversham Town

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell, Mark 1983 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from Beckenham Gillingham F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Hastings United F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players St. Leonards F.C. players Faversham Town F.C. players Tonbridge Angels F.C. players Men's association football forwards