Mark Venus (born 6 April 1967) is an English football coach and former player. He works as assistant head coach of Sunderland. As a player, he spent the majority of his career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

and

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 ...

. As a coach, he has served as an assistant manager to Tony Mowbray at Hibernian,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, Celtic,

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

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Playing career

His career started with his hometown team of

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

where he signed as a youngster in 1985. After a stay at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, he signed in 1987 for

. Over nearly a decade at Molineux, Venus was an integral part of the club's resurrection after bankruptcy. Playing left back and, occasionally in his preferred position of central defence, Venus helped Wolves to Divisions Four and

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

championships. He joined

in 1997 after being exchanged for Steve Sedgley. With Ipswich Town he won the 1999–2000 First Division play-offs, and then finished 5th in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, qualifying for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. Ipswich were relegated in 2001–02, but Venus picked up the club's Player of the Year award. He was given a free transfer by Ipswich Town

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...

at the end of 2002–03. Whilst playing for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

in 2003–04, he fell out with the club and played the rest of that season on loan to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Coaching career

Venus was hired as Hibernian assistant manager by his former Ipswich Town teammate

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

in 2004. Venus also registered as a player for Hibs, but played in only one match before ending his playing career. Their contracts were extended in September 2006. Venus returned to the West Midlands in October 2006 by following Mowbray to

. Their first game in charge was a

Black Country derby The Black Country derby is the local derby between English football teams West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, apart in the Black Country of the West Midlands. The most successful side in the Black Country derby is West Bromwich A ...

against Wolves, where Venus had spent the bulk of his playing career. They had their contract extended until June 20111 in February 2008. Venus was appointed Celtic assistant manager on 16 June 2009, again following Mowbray. After Mowbray was sacked as Celtic manager in March 2010, Venus and Peter Grant also left the club. Venus was appointed assistant manager of

on 26 October 2010, working again with Mowbray. After Mowbray was sacked by Middlesbrough in October 2013, Venus was made caretaker manager. Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson commented that Venus was on the shortlist of candidates to be the next permanent manager. On 25 October he led Middlesbrough to a 4–0 win over Doncaster Rovers. Mark Venus' tenure as caretaker manager came to an end on 13 November when Aitor Karanka was appointed as the new Middlesbrough head coach. Venus joined Coventry City in June 2015 as technical director. After the resignation of Tony Mowbray on 29 September 2016 he was made caretaker manager.

Personal life

Two medals awarded to Venus were stolen during a break-in at his house in the Morningside area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

on 29 December 2010.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Ipswich Town * Football League First Division play-offs:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Individual *

Player of the Year: 1989–90 * PFA Team of the Year: 1998–99 First Division * Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 2001–02

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venus, Mark 1967 births Living people Footballers from Hartlepool English footballers Association football defenders Premier League players English Football League players Hartlepool United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Hibernian F.C. non-playing staff Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Coventry City F.C. non-playing staff Coventry City F.C. managers Coventry City F.C. directors and chairmen Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff English football managers