Mark Jason Yates (born 24 January 1970) 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 le ...

and manager, most recently for

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

. As a player, he played primarily in a central

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

role.

Playing career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Yates began his football career as a trainee at hometown club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, before going on to sign professional terms with the club in 1988. He spent a total of three seasons at St Andrew's, making 66 first team appearances, including one in the side that won the 1991

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. In 1991 Yates was sold to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

for £40,000 but struggled to hold down a regular position. Spells at Lincoln City and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

followed, before Yates dropped out of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

to sign for

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

in 1994, going on to become club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In his first season at the club Kidderminster reached the final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

, losing 2–1 to

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

. In 1997 Yates seemed set for a return to League football as Kidderminster led the Conference by a significant margin going into the final months of the season. However, the Harriers let the lead slip, allowing

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

to overtake them and claim the championship. In January 1999 Yates left Kidderminster to join local rivals

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

for a fee of £25,000, helping the Robins to secure the league title and a place in the Football League. Yates remained with the

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

outfit until February 2004, enjoying reasonable success, the highlight being a victory in the 2002 Third Division play-off final. After falling out of favour at

Whaddon Road Whaddon Road, known as the Completely-Suzuki Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Cheltenham, England. It is the home ground of Cheltenham Town F.C. It has a total capacity of 7,066, with a mixture of seating and terracing. T ...

, in 2004 Yates returned to Kidderminster, by this time a Football League club themselves, playing his part in the club's successful fight against relegation.

Coaching and management

At the end of the 2004–05 season Yates called time on his playing career, becoming first team coach at Burnley alongside the manager who had signed him as a player at Cheltenham,

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

Kidderminster Harriers

Yates took up his first managerial position with former club Kidderminster, now back in the Conference, a position which he took up on 6 January 2006. In his first season in charge he steered the club to safety from relegation, and in the second secured a top-half finish as well as an FA Trophy Final place at the new

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He was twice voted Manager of the Month in this second season, for the months of December 2006 and January 2007.

Cheltenham Town

Yates was appointed manager of

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

team Cheltenham Town on 22 December 2009, with

Neil Howarth Neil Howarth (born 15 November 1971) is an English football coach and former player. As a player, he played as a defender in the Football League with Macclesfield Town and Cheltenham Town. Career Howarth is a former Burnley, Macclesfield To ...

joining him as first team coach. He led them to the 2012 League Two play-off final which they lost 2–0 to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. Yates guided Cheltenham to the League Two playoffs again in 2013 only to lose to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

2–0 on aggregate. On 25 November 2014, Yates was sacked by

after almost five years in charge. Cheltenham subsequently appointed

Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager. He is currently a technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL and technical advisor to Landon Donovan at San Diego Loyal. Prior to this, he coached the U23s for South ...

as manager.

Crawley Town

Yates was appointed manager of

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on 19 May 2015, following the club's relegation to

. After a poor showing during the 2015–16 season, Yates was sacked by the club on 25 April 2016.

Solihull Moors

In November 2017, Yates took over at

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

. At the time of his arrival, Solihull were bottom of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

; they managed to survive after a run of 12 wins in 29 matches.

Macclesfield Town

In June 2018, Yates was appointed manager of

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a three-year deal. After a winless start to the season, Macclesfield sacked Yates on 8 October 2018.

Return to Kidderminster Harriers

In January 2019 Yates returned to his former club

on a contract running until the end of the season. He left the club on 21 April 2019 two games before the end of the season with the club five points back from the play-off places.

Stourbridge

In late February 2020, Yates was announced as the new manager of

. The team lost his first game away to Rushall Olympic, however the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused the league season to be abandoned. On 14 October 2021, Stourbridge parted company with Yates with the club sitting 18th in the table, one point clear of the relegation zone.

Soihull Moors

With Stourbridge's 2020-21 season also curtailed, Yates returned to Solihull Moors as manager on a short-term deal until the end of the season on 11 March 2021.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Birmingham City *

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

: 1990–91 Kidderminster Harriers *

runner-up: 1994–95 Cheltenham Town *

Football League Third Division play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual En ...

winner:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

* Football Conference winner: 1998–99 Individual * League Two Manager of the Month: November 2011, October 2012, December 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Mark 1970 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers England semi-pro international footballers Association football midfielders Birmingham City F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Kidderminster Harriers F.C. managers Cheltenham Town F.C. managers Crawley Town F.C. managers Solihull Moors F.C. managers Stourbridge F.C. managers National League (English football) managers English Football League managers