Michael Anthony Proctor (born 3 October 1980) 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 ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Career

Sunderland

Born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

, Proctor started his career with his hometown club

in their youth system and signed a professional contract with them on 29 October 1997. He made his

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 ...

debut for Sunderland against Everton in the League Cup on 11 November 1998, which finished as a 1–1 draw. He was loaned to

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

side Hvidovre in 2000 to recuperate from a cruciate ligament injury. He joined Halifax Town on loan in March 2001, making his debut against

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 ...

, in which he scored in a 4–2 win. He finished this loan spell with four goals in 12 appearances. He played at York City on loan during the 2001–02 season, making his debut in a 1–0 defeat against Rushden & Diamonds. He finished this spell with 49 appearances and 14 goals, making him York's top scorer for the season. He joined

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

on loan in August 2002. He scored the winning goal on his debut as Bradford defeated

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

2–1, and became a favourite among fans, players, and the board. He scored a total of four goals in 12 games during his two-month spell, including a late equaliser as nine-man City drew 2–2 with

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 ...

, but he returned to Sunderland when manager

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

blocked another month's extension to the loan. He scored the winner for Sunderland in their 2–1 win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 15 December 2002. One unfortunate claim to fame occurred whilst playing for Sunderland in 2003, in a 3–1 defeat to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

, where Proctor scored two own goals within just five minutes.

Rotherham United and Hartlepool United

Proctor left Sunderland in February 2004, joining Rotherham United in a swap deal for Darren Byfield. He joined Swindon Town on a month's loan deal in February 2005. Swindon could not afford to extend his loan at the club and he returned to Rotherham in March. He later moved to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on a free transfer in July 2005. He was best remembered by Hartlepool fans for scoring twice in a 3–1 over local rivals

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in a League Cup tie early in his Pools' career. He played just 32 games in two seasons for Hartlepool, scoring ten goals, before he was one of ten players released by Danny Wilson.

Wrexham

Proctor joined

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 ...

club

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on a month's loan in March 2007. This loan was extended until the end of the 2006–07 season in April. During this spell he scored two vital goals for Wrexham in their eventually successful survival bid. These were the winning goal in the 1–0 victory at local rivals Shrewsbury Town and the third goal in the Welsh club's 3–1 victory over

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

which preserved the club's

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 ...

status. He was released by Hartlepool in May 2007 and expressed an interest in joining Wrexham permanently. This move was confirmed in May 2007. He was transfer listed by Wrexham in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the Football Conference, despite finishing the season as the club's top scorer with 12 goals. In the summer of 2009 after talks with manager Dean Saunders, Proctor left the club by mutual consent.

Media Work

From the start of the 2014/15 season, Michael began to work as a co-host for

Sun FM Sun FM is a radio station serving Sunderland and large parts of County Durham in England and owned by Nation Broadcasting. It is also available in Tyne and Wear. Sun FM broadcasts on FM, as well as online. The station plays a mix of contempor ...

's Into The Light football show, discussing all things

with the duo of Stephen Goldsmith and Gareth Barker of the Wise Men Say podcast; Proctor added expert opinion to the comments of Goldsmith and Barker. This isn't an area of work Michael had intentionally planned on getting into after retiring, as he had previously been involved in coaching at East Durham College. Since becoming a frequent visitor to the Stadium of Light to undergo his media duties, Michael has begun to work closer with the

media team, most notably interviewing Jermain Defoe about his winning goal in a game against fierce rivals

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Michael 1980 births Living people Footballers from Sunderland English footballers English expatriate footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark English expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Association football forwards Sunderland A.F.C. players Hvidovre IF players Halifax Town A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Wrexham A.F.C. players