Mick Buckley (4 November 1953 – 7 October 2013) was an English footballer who played for Everton,

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 ...

, Hartlepool United,

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

and Middlesbrough as a midfielder.

Club career

Buckley was born in Salford. He started his professional footballing career with Everton in 1971 and made 135 appearances for them, with ten goals. A youth team product, who had rejected advances from

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

as a schoolboy, he made his debut in March 1972, with manager Harry Catterick viewing him as a long-term replacement for

Colin Harvey James Colin Harvey (born 16 November 1944 in Liverpool, England) is an English former footballer who is best known for his time as a player, coach and manager with Everton. Playing career Harvey was born in Liverpool and joined Everton as ...

.Ivan Ponting, ''Everton: Player by Player'', Guinness Publishing, 1992, p. 82 However it would not be until the arrival of Billy Bingham that Buckley fully came to the fore, and was a regular first-teamer during three of Bingham's seasons in charge. He suffered a series of injuries in 1977 and during his absence both

Trevor Ross Trevor William Ross (born 16 January 1957) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Ross played for English clubs Arsenal, Everton, Portsmouth, Sheffield United and Bury. He also featured for AEK Athens of the Greek Fir ...

and Andy King forced their way into the first team picture, with Buckley sidelined when he returned to fitness. Unable to regain his first team spot, Buckley was sold to Sunderland in August 1978 for £80,000. Buckley made his debut for Sunderland on 2 September 1978 against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

in a 3–1 at Roker Park. He went on to make a total of 121 league appearances, scoring 7 goals for the club. He then moved to fellow North East team Hartlepool United in 1983 where he scored no goals in just six appearances, he spent one season at the club. Towards the end of his career, he spent seasons at

and Middlesbrough. Buckley died in October 2013 at the age of 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Mick 1953 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Everton F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Men's association football midfielders