Mark Shankland 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 ...

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 ...

who plays as a

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for Troon. He began his career in the senior leagues with Ayr United.

Club career

In the final Scottish Second Division match of the 2010–11 season, Shankland came off the bench to become the youngest-ever player for Ayr United at just 15 years and 300 days old, the record was previously held by Stewart Kean at 17 years and 56 days. By then he had already been on trial at Liverpool and subsequently also spent time at Burnley and Birmingham City, but no offer from England materialised after Ayr requested a development fee from interested clubs. At the start of the 2012–13 season, Shankland broke another record held by Kean, becoming the youngest goalscorer at 17 years and 17 days old, in a 3–1 away defeat at

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

. (that record was broken by

Alan Forrest Alan James Forrest (born 9 September 1996) is a Scottish footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. He began his career at Ayr United, coming through the academy and making 245 appearance ...

the following season). In 2013, Shankland joined

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side

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

on loan. He scored in the final minute of his debut for Rovers. Shankland left Ayr at the end of the 2013–14 season after turning down a new contract; however, the club held on to his registration, meaning he could not sign for a SPFL club without Ayr being owed a fee, and could only play on amateur terms – a situation which did not change until the player turned 23 in July 2018. On 13 October 2014, Shankland signed for Junior club

Auchinleck Talbot Auchinleck Talbot Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Auchinleck, East Ayrshire. They currently play in the . The club is also a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association, and have won the Scottish Junior Cup on a reco ...

. He went on to win several trophies with the East Ayrshire side including two West Region League titles and two Scottish Junior Cups, and was still playing with them in January 2019 when they secured an unexpected 1–0 victory over his former club Ayr United in the fourth round of the

2018–19 Scottish Cup The 2018–19 Scottish Cup was the 134th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the eighth season of a nine-year partnership, after contract negotia ...

; Shankland came off the bench in what was the first win for ''Bot'' over a professional club and the furthest they had advanced in the competition. He provided the cross for the goal headed in by another former Ayr player Craig McCracken, just as the two had combined for a last-minute goal to win the

2017–18 Scottish Junior Cup The 2017–18 Scottish Junior Cup was the 132nd season of the Scottish Junior Cup, the national knockout tournament for member clubs of the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The winner of this competition entered the following season's ...

for Auchinleck the previous year.

International career

In February 2012, Shankland was called into Ricky Sbragia's Scotland Under-17 side for the match against Serbia at Somerset Park.

Personal life

Shankland was raised in the Ayrshire town of Mauchline and as a child supported Auchinleck Talbot, a team for which his father Kevin Biggart also played. His elder brother Stephen is an amateur footballer who won the Scottish Amateur Cup with Shortlees in 2018. They are not related to

Lawrence Shankland Lawrence Shankland (born 10 August 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team. Shankland began his career at Queen's Park before moving ...

who also played for Ayr United.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shankland, Mark 1995 births Living people Footballers from East Ayrshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Ayr United F.C. players Albion Rovers F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland men's youth international footballers Auchinleck Talbot F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players People from Mauchline West of Scotland Football League players