Mark Roberts (born 29 October 1975 in

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 coach. Roberts' playing career was mainly based in Scottish football, with spells at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, St Mirren,

Airdrie United Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

. He also had a spell at Shelbourne in the Republic of Ireland. In 2012, Roberts 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 ...

of Ayr United, a position he held until his departure from the club in 2014. He then had a stint as head coach of Queen's Park.

Playing career

Roberts spent his youth career with Bellfield Boys Club in

during the 1991–92 season. He signed for

Kilmarnock F.C. Kilmarnock Football Club, commonly known as Killie, is a Scottish professional football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. The team is currently managed by Derek McInnes, who was appointed in January 2022. The club has achieve ...

at the start of the 1992–93 season and stayed for 8 seasons. Roberts made 101 league appearances and scored 15 league goals. During 1999, Roberts was loaned out to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

by Kilmarnock, where he made 3 league appearances and scored one league goal. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2000–01 season and stayed for one season, where he made 25 league appearances and scored 9 league goals. He then signed for

at the start of the 2001–02 season and made 36 league appearances and scored 12 league goals. Airdrieonians went out of business at the end of the season. He then signed for

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

club Shelbourne. He played in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

in the summer of 2002. Roberts signed for Paisley club St Mirren in the January 2003 transfer window for the remainder of the 2002–03 season. He made 13 league appearances and scored 3 league goals for the Paisley club. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2003–04 season and stayed for two seasons, where he made 62 league appearances and scored 3 league goals. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2005–06 season. Roberts scored a brace in his first game against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

. Roberts scored 22 goals during his first season at

Firhill Firhill Stadium is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909. The stadium is commonly referred to as simp ...

, as Partick Thistle gained promotion to the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

via the play-offs. Roberts was one of 5 nominees for the Scottish First Division Player of the Year Award for the 2006–07 season. Roberts made 104 league appearances for Partick Thistle in his 4 seasons at the club and scored 30 league goals, as well as 17 goals in other competitions. His 47 goals for Thistle ensured that the Jags fans would hold him in high regard long after he left the club, particularly as many saw him as the player that led Thistle to promotion to the First Division. Roberts signed for

in January 2009. On 18 September 2010, Roberts made history when he scored three

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. ...

s for Ayr in a league fixture with East Fife. Roberts was sent off after a confrontation whilst celebrating his third. On 18 January 2011, Roberts scored the goal that sent

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

side Hibernian out of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

club

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, having already played three times for the club as a trialist. After leaving a coaching role with Clyde in August 2016, Roberts resumed his playing career at

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

side

Hurlford United Hurlford United Football Club are a Scottish Association football, football club based in Hurlford, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Nicknamed ''The Ford'', they were formed in 1912 and play at Blair Park, wearing red and white. They currently play i ...

. He left the club in August 2018 to become assistant manager at Queen's Park. On 5 February 2020, Roberts rejoined

before departing upon the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2020. Roberts signed for

Troon Troon is a town in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with freight services and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O Ferrie ...

ahead of their debut in senior football in September 2020.

Coaching career

Ayr United

On 15 May 2012, it was announced that Ayr would not renew the contract of Brian Reid, and that Roberts would replace him as manager for the

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 ...

season. Despite, winning the League 1 manager of the month award in August of the same year, Roberts was sacked by Ayr United in December 2014, with the club sitting in ninth place out of 10 clubs in

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was e ...

Queen's Park

Roberts joined Queen's Park in August 2018 as an assistant to

Gus MacPherson Angus Ian MacPherson (born 11 October 1968) is a Scottish football former player and coach. MacPherson's playing career saw spells at Rangers, Exeter City, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline Athletic and St Mirren. His management career began at his f ...

. After MacPherson left the club to join St. Mirren in September 2018 he took caretaker charge and was then appointed

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

on 12 October. Roberts left Queen's Park by mutual consent in December 2019.

Honours

;Kilmarnock *

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

promotion 1992–93 ;Airdrieonians *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2001–02 ;Shelbourne *

champions 2001–02 ;Partick Thistle *

play-off winners 2005–06 ;Ayr United *

play-off winners 2010–11

Statistics

Manager

:'A defeat to Peterhead on 15 November 2014 was invalidated due to Peterhead fielding an ineligible player

/ref> * Spell at Queen's Park was initially caretaker until permanent appointment on 12 October 2018.

References

External links

* (Partick Thistle & Ayr United) * (Kilmarnock to Airdrie United) {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Mark 1975 births Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Airdrieonians F.C. players Men's association football forwards Ayr United F.C. managers Ayr United F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players League of Ireland players Living people Partick Thistle F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Hurlford United F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Premier League players Shelbourne F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Queen's Park F.C. non-playing staff Queen's Park F.C. managers Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland