Mark Bonner (born 23 November 1985) is an English

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

who is currently director of football of

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

Coaching career

Bonner first joined

in 2002, working at Cambridge's centre of excellence, before the club entered administration, causing Cambridge to close their academy. In 2005, Bonner joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

as a coach in the academy. Bonner returned to Cambridge United in June 2011, working in a number of positions in the club's academy, including being manager of Cambridge's reserve and feeder club

Cambridge Regional College Cambridge Regional College is a mixed further education college in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. College profile The college offers courses in a wide range of subjects from hair and beauty and mechanics to media studies and science, as ...

. In January 2018, Bonner was named as first team coach, working under manager Shaun Derry and assistant

Joe Dunne Joseph John Dunne (born 25 May 1973) is an Irish Manager (association football), football manager and former association football, footballer. He is youth team manager at Gillingham F.C., Gillingham. Dunne played as a defender (association fo ...

, taking over the role from

Mick Halsall Michael Halsall (born 21 July 1961) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He scored 42 goals in 389 appearances in the Football League, playing for Birmingham City, Carlisle United, Grimsby Town and Peterboroug ...

. Following the departure of Derry in February 2018, Dunne took over as interim head coach with Bonner serving as his assistant head coach. Dunne and Bonner's roles were made permanent in May of that year following a successful interim spell. As results declined in the first half of the 2018–19 season, Dunne departed the club in December 2018 with Bonner taking over temporary charge of the first team, overseeing a defeat and a draw before

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a centre-back who played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa and in the Football League for Mansfi ...

was appointed later that month, with Bonner returning to his role as assistant head coach. Calderwood's departure in January 2020 again saw Bonner take temporary charge of first team duties, overseeing four wins in his first four matches in charge.

Cambridge United manager

In March 2020, Bonner was named permanent head coach of

on a two-year contract until the end of the 2021–22 season. Due to the curtailing of the 2019–20 season caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Bonner's first match as permanent head coach did not come for six months until Cambridge United knocked

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

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. The team compete in the ...

out of the first round of the

2020–21 EFL Cup The 2020–21 EFL Cup was the 61st season of the EFL Cup (known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons), the competition is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League. Manchester City F.C., Manchester ...

. Bonner's first full season as a manager was hugely successful for Cambridge United, both in team and personal honours. In September, he was named League Two Manager of the Month after an unbeaten start saw Cambridge United top of the league with seven points and without conceding a goal. He won his second monthly award in January after an unbeaten month of three wins and two draws saw the U's return to the top of the table. Cambridge United continued their encouraging form into the final stretch of the season and, after spurning two chances to secure promotion with surprise losses to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

and Harrogate Town, a 3–0 win at home to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

saw them confirm a second placed finish, and promotion to League One for the first time since 2002. On 10 May 2021, Bonner signed a new three-year contract with the club. Bonner led Cambridge to a 1–0 away win to Premier League

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in the FA Cup third round in January 2022. On 14 September 2023, Bonner signed a new "long term" contract with the club, but two months later he was sacked with the club sitting in 18th position, four points above the relegation zone. A 3–0 defeat to Lincoln City was the club's third defeat in a row, and they had picked up just one win in the previous thirteen league matches at the time of his departure.

Gillingham manager

In May 2024, Bonner was appointed manager of Gillingham. An unbeaten start to the season saw Bonner named the League Two Manager of the Month for August 2024. Bonner was dismissed from his role on 5 January 2025.

Return to Cambridge United

On 19 February 2025, Bonner returned to Cambridge United as director of football.

Managerial statistics

a. Initially caretaker and appointed permanently on 9 March 2020

Honours

Manager

Cambridge United *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual * League Two Manager of the Month: September 2020, January 2021, August 2024

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, Mark 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Cambridge English football coaches English football managers Cambridge United F.C. managers Gillingham F.C. managers English Football League managers Cambridge Regional College F.C. managers Cambridge United F.C. non-playing staff Southend United F.C. non-playing staff