Mark Roberts (born 29 October 1975 in Irvine) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. Roberts' playing career was mainly based in Scottish football, with spells at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, Airdrieonians,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

, St Mirren,

Airdrie United Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Clu ...

and Ayr United. He also had a spell at Shelbourne in the Republic of Ireland. In 2012, Roberts was appointed player/manager of Ayr United, a position he held until his departure from the club in 2014. He then had a stint as head coach of Queen's Park.

Playing career

Roberts spent his youth career with Bellfield Boys Club in

during the 1991–92 season. He signed for Kilmarnock F.C. at the start of the 1992–93 season and stayed for 8 seasons. Roberts made 101 league appearances and scored 15 league goals. During 1999, Roberts was loaned out to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

by Kilmarnock, where he made 3 league appearances and scored one league goal. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2000–01 season and stayed for one season, where he made 25 league appearances and scored 9 league goals. He then signed for Airdrieonians at the start of the 2001–02 season and made 36 league appearances and scored 12 league goals. Airdrieonians went out of business at the end of the season. He then signed for

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

club Shelbourne. He played in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

in the summer of 2002. Roberts signed for Paisley club St Mirren in the January 2003 transfer window for the remainder of the 2002–03 season. He made 13 league appearances and scored 3 league goals for the Paisley club. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2003–04 season and stayed for two seasons, where he made 62 league appearances and scored 3 league goals. Roberts signed for

at the start of the 2005–06 season. Roberts scored a brace in his first game against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

. Roberts scored 22 goals during his first season at Firhill, as Partick Thistle gained promotion to the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

via the play-offs. Roberts was one of 5 nominees for the Scottish First Division Player of the Year Award for the 2006–07 season. Roberts made 104 league appearances for Partick Thistle in his 4 seasons at the club and scored 30 league goals, as well as 17 goals in other competitions. His 47 goals for Thistle ensured that the Jags fans would hold him in high regard long after he left the club, particularly as many saw him as the player that led Thistle to promotion to the First Division. Roberts signed for Ayr United in January 2009. On 18 September 2010, Roberts made history when he scored three

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s for Ayr in a league fixture with East Fife. Roberts was sent off after a confrontation whilst celebrating his third. On 18 January 2011, Roberts scored the goal that sent SPL side Hibernian out of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

club Clyde, having already played three times for the club as a trialist. After leaving a coaching role with Clyde in August 2016, Roberts resumed his playing career at Junior side Hurlford United. He left the club in August 2018 to become assistant manager at Queen's Park. On 5 February 2020, Roberts rejoined Hurlford United before departing upon the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2020. Roberts signed for

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

ahead of their debut in senior football in September 2020.

Coaching career

Ayr United

On 15 May 2012, it was announced that Ayr would not renew the contract of Brian Reid, and that Roberts would replace him as manager for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. Despite, winning the League 1 manager of the month award in August of the same year, Roberts was sacked by Ayr United in December 2014, with the club sitting in ninth place out of 10 clubs in

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

Queen's Park

Roberts joined Queen's Park in August 2018 as an assistant to

Gus MacPherson Angus Ian MacPherson (born 11 October 1968) is a Scottish football coach and former player. MacPherson's playing career saw spells at Rangers, Exeter City, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline Athletic and St Mirren. His management career began at his f ...

. After MacPherson left the club to join St. Mirren in September 2018 he took caretaker charge and was then appointed

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

on 12 October. Roberts left Queen's Park by mutual consent in December 2019.

Honours

;Kilmarnock *

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

promotion 1992–93 ;Airdrieonians *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2001–02 ;Shelbourne *

champions 2001–02 ;Partick Thistle *

play-off winners 2005–06 ;Ayr United *

play-off winners 2010–11

Statistics

Manager

:'A defeat to Peterhead on 15 November 2014 was invalidated due to Peterhead fielding an ineligible player

/ref> * Spell at Queen's Park was initially caretaker until permanent appointment on 12 October 2018.

References

External links

* (Partick Thistle & Ayr United) * (Kilmarnock to Airdrie United) {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Mark 1975 births Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Airdrieonians F.C. players Men's association football forwards Ayr United F.C. managers Ayr United F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players League of Ireland players Living people Partick Thistle F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Hurlford United F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Premier League players Shelbourne F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Queen's Park F.C. non-playing staff Queen's Park F.C. managers Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland