Christopher Robert Burke (born 2 December 1983) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently a reserve team coach at Kilmarnock. He primarily played as a right-winger, but also played on the left wing. Burke began his career with Scottish Premier League club Rangers, playing in 131 games, but without establishing himself as a regular first team player. He then played 118 matches over two-and-a-half seasons at Championship club Cardiff City, followed by 155 matches over three seasons at the same level for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

. He then made 50 league appearances over two seasons for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He left Forest after a brief loan spell with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. Burke returned to Scottish football in September 2016, signing for Ross County. After one season there he signed for Kilmarnock, where he made nearly 150 league appearances across five seasons. Burke was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

seven times at full international level, and scored two goals on his Scotland debut, a

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in 2006. In addition to this, he has also appeared once for the Scotland B team, and twice for the Scotland under-21 team.

Club career

Rangers

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and brought up in the city's

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportun ...

district, Burke is a product of Rangers'

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

having joined on 5 July 2000, but he had previously played for Celtic Boys Club. He first broke into the Rangers first team in the 2001–02 season and scored on his début against Kilmarnock on 20 March 2002. He became a regular player in the Rangers squad and was involved in the club's 2003–04 Champions League campaign. In the opening game of the 2004–05 season at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Burke fainted on the pitch and was out of action for almost the whole season with a mysterious virus. However, he came back strongly and played in most Rangers games in 2005–06, including vital Champions League games against

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

. He was voted as both Supporters' and Players' Player of the Year, while also picking up an accolade from

John Greig John Greig (born 11 September 1942) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers, as a player, manager and director. Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the ...

. Burke was injured against Celtic on 23 September 2006, damaging ligaments in his left shoulder in a challenge with Aiden McGeady. The injury required an operation and Burke was ruled out of action for an estimated three months. On 25 January 2007, Burke signed a new contract with Rangers keeping him at the club until 2009. After being frozen out of the first team squad for the first half of the 2007–08 season, Burke returned to replace the injured Nacho Novo and DaMarcus Beasley, keeping his place in the side until April 2008, when he himself was injured in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Johnstone.

Cardiff City

After making just two appearances for Rangers during the first half of the 2008–09 season, Burke left the club on 9 January to sign for Football League Championship side Cardiff City on a free transfer, linking up with former Rangers teammates

Gavin Rae Gavin Paul Rae (born 28 November 1977) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was recently the head coach of National Premier Leagues NSW club Hakoah Sydney City East FC. Rae started his pla ...

and Ross McCormack. He made his debut on 17 January when he replaced Peter Whittingham after 45 minutes of a 1–1 draw with

, and scored his first goal for the club on 21 April during a 2–2 draw with

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 ...

. Burke scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season on 16 September, in a 1–0 win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

at the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a Association football, football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is the home of Reading F.C., Reading Football Club, who play in the E ...

. His second, two weeks later, came in a 6–1 thrashing of

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2 ...

. In December, he scored in three consecutive matches, including winning goals against Preston North End and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, and on 27 March 2010, Burke reached ten goals in all competitions with a goal against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, leading manager Dave Jones to describe him as being "an integral part of what we do". On 23 May 2011, Burke left Cardiff City after failing to agree a new contract.

Birmingham City

On 8 June 2011, Burke signed a pre-contract agreement with fellow Championship club

. He joined the club formally on a two-year deal on 1 July, having left Cardiff on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling. He made his Birmingham debut on the opening day of the season in a 2–1 defeat to Derby County, and came close to equalising in the second half when his shot after a fine solo run beat the goalkeeper but rebounded back into play off the post. Burke was part of the starting eleven in Birmingham's first match in major European competition for nearly 50 years, the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, which finished goalless. He featured in 61 of the club's 62 competitive games as they reached the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, scoring 14 goals and making 19 assists, and won the club's Player of the Year award, as well as the Players' and Junior Blues' Player of the Year awards. At the end of the 2012–13 season, the club took up their option to extend Burke's contract for a further year. He left the club when that contract expired.

Nottingham Forest

Burke signed a two-year deal with Championship club

on 29 July 2014. He scored on his debut, curling the second goal in from the edge of the box in the 30th minute of a 2–0 win over Blackpool in Forest's first game of the season, and started Forest's first eight league games of the new season. His second goal, in new manager Dougie Freedman's first home match in charge, was Forest's second in a 3–0 win over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

in February 2015, and he also scored in his next two appearances, against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

clubs Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers.

Rotherham United loan

Burke joined fellow Championship club

on 22 January 2016 on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut the following day against Cardiff City, and scored his first goal for the club a week later in a 4–1 defeat against Charlton Athletic. On his return to Nottingham Forest, Burke was released at the end of his contract.

Ross County

In September 2016, Burke signed a contract to the end of the 2016–17 season with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Ross County. His time there was again hampered by the effects of a virus.

Kilmarnock

Burke signed a one-year contract with Kilmarnock in July 2017. On 25 October he scored a stoppage-time goal to earn his side a point in a league match away to former club Rangers. He signed a further one-year contract with Kilmarnock on 22 June 2018. His second goal for the club came eleven months after his first: a "brilliant long-range howitzer" to level the scores in a home league fixture against Celtic on 23 September 2018, which Kilmarnock won 2–1. He scored against Rangers again on the final day of the

2018–19 Scottish Premiership The 2018–19 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the se ...

season, as Killie secured third place, their highest position in over 50 years. Burke left Kilmarnock after the 2021–22 season, in which the club won promotion back to the

, but then returned as a reserve team coach.

International career

Burke won his first

cap on 11 May 2006 as a substitute against

in the

and scored twice in a 5–1 victory. After six years without international recognition, Burke was named in

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

's first squad in January 2013. According to Strachan, "Chris was fantastic in the Europa League at a good level, he has a maturity about his play now. In the international set-up you need to be able to beat people by passing or eliminating people by going past them. He can certainly do the second part and is getting better at the first. International defences are so good, you need people like that."

Career statistics

Club

International appearances

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Rangers * Scottish Premier League: 2004–05 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2007–08 Scotland *

: 2006 Kilmarnock Scottish championship 2021-22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Chris 1983 births Living people People from Gorbals Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football wingers Rangers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Kilmarnock F.C. non-playing staff