Mark Boyd (footballer)

Mark Boyd

Boyd playing for Barrow in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Mark Edward Boyd [1]
Date of birth	(1981-10-22) 22 October 1981 (age 43) [2]
Place of birth	Carlisle, Cumbria, England [3]
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) [4]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1989–1998	Carlisle United
1998–2002	Newcastle United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2002–2004	Port Vale	42	(3)
2004	Carlisle United	9	(1)
2004–2005	Gretna	2	(0)
2005	→ Macclesfield Town (loan)	5	(0)
2006	Accrington Stanley	6	(0)
2006–2007	Southport	41	(4)
2007–2008	Sligo Rovers	3	(0)
2008–2011	Barrow	80	(7)
2011	Droylsden	22	(0)
2011–2013	Workington	70	(3)
2013–2015	Celtic Nation
2016	Penrith
2016–2017	Carlisle City
2018–201?	Penrith
Total		278	(18)
Managerial career
2014–2015	Celtic Nation (player-manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mark Edward Boyd (born 22 October 1981) is an English former football player and manager. He scored 19 goals in 298 league and cup appearances in an 11-year career in the English Football League, Scottish Football League and Conference, and also later spent six years playing non-League football below the Conference level.

Beginning his career as midfielder with Newcastle United, he never made the first team and instead signed with Port Vale in 2002. After two years with the Vale, he moved north to the Scottish side Gretna via Carlisle United. Failing to make an impact, he returned to the Football League with a Macclesfield Town loan in 2005. After a short spell with Accrington Stanley in 2006, he joined non-League side Southport. He joined the Irish club Sligo Rovers in 2007 before turning to the English non-League scene with Barrow the following year. He joined Workington via Droylsden in 2011 before switching to Celtic Nation in June 2013. He helped Celtic Nation to a second-place finish in the Northern League in 2013–14 before taking up the management position for the 2014–15 season, after which the club was folded. He later played for Penrith and Carlisle City.

Playing career

Mark was released from the Carlisle United school of excellence at the age of 14 and joined the Academy at Newcastle United after a successful trial. ^[5] He left St James' Park in May 2002 on a free transfer to League One side Port Vale after being recommended to the "Valiants" manager Brian Horton by Bobby Robson. ^{[6] [7]} However, he suffered a broken ankle with a couple of months of the season remaining. Boyd never really forced his way back into the reckoning the following season as Vale were challenging for the play-offs in League One, and he was released by mutual consent in 2004 to join Carlisle United until the end of the season. ^[8]

For the next two seasons, Boyd could not forge a longer-term deal with a club and ended up playing bit-part roles for Carlisle United, Gretna, Macclesfield Town, ^[9] and finally Accrington Stanley, ^[10] before eventually signing for Conference side Southport before the 2006–07 season. ^[11] His Southport career began disappointingly with a missed penalty in the team's first game of the season. The next year he transferred to Sligo Rovers in the Republic of Ireland.

In January 2008, he was back in England with Barrow of the Conference North. ^[12] In May 2008, Barrow beat Staylybridge Celtic 1–0 to gain promotion back into the Conference National via the Conference North play-offs. Boyd remained a key part of the Barrow squad during their first two seasons in the Conference National, culminating in the club's 2–1 victory over Stevenage in the 2009–10 FA Trophy final. In the match itself, Boyd replaced Paul Rutherford with just ten minutes of extra time remaining, Jason Walker having already scored Barrow's winning goal three minutes earlier. ^[13]

In February 2011, Boyd signed a short contract at Droylsden of the Conference North, following a one-month loan spell. In June of that year, he became Workington's first summer signing, penning a one-year deal. ^[14] The "Reds" finished 13th and 14th in the Conference North in 2011–12 and 2012–13. He quit Workington in June 2013 to join Northern League side Celtic Nation. ^[15] He helped Celtic Nation to a second-place finish in the Northern League in 2013–14. After taking a career break, he joined Penrith of the Northern League Division One in March 2016. He moved on to Northern Alliance Premier Division side Carlisle City later in the year. ^{[16] [17]}

Coaching career

Boyd was appointed Celtic Nation player-manager in July 2014; at the time of his appointment, the club were undergoing a crisis after a moneyed investor withdrew his support for the club. ^[18] The club finished second-from-bottom in the 2014–15 campaign, before folding in the summer. ^[19] He joined Northern League side Shildon as a coach in May 2017, but left after four months. ^[20] He returned to Penrith as a player-coach in July 2018. ^[21]

Later life

After retiring as a player, Boyd went on to commentate on Barrow games for BBC Radio Cumbria. ^[5]

Career statistics

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Port Vale	2002–03 [22]	Second Division	20	3	1	0	3 [a] [b]	1 [b]	24	4
	2003–04 [23]	Second Division	22	0	3	0	1 [b]	0	26	0
	Total		42	3	4	0	4	1	50	4
Carlisle United	2003–04 [23]	Third Division	9	1	0	0	0	0	9	1
Gretna	2004–05 [24]	Scottish Third Division	2	0	0	0	1 [c]	0	3	0
	2005–06 [25]	Scottish Second Division	1	0	0	0	1 [c]	0	2	0
	Total		3	0	0	0	2	0	5	0
Macclesfield Town (loan)	2004–05 [24]	League Two	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Accrington Stanley	2005–06 [25]	Conference National	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Southport	2006–07 [26]	Conference National	41	4	0	0	0	0	41	4
Barrow	2008–09 [27]	Conference National	38	5	4	0	0	0	42	5
	2009–10 [28]	Conference National	29	1	2	0	0	0	31	1
	2010–11 [29]	Conference National	13	1	0	0	0	0	13	1
	Total		80	7	6	0	0	0	86	7
Droylsden	2010–11 [30]	Conference North	22	0	0	0	3 [d]	1 [d]	25	1
Workington	2011–12 [30]	Conference North	39	3	0	0	0	0	39	3
	2012–13 [30]	Conference North	31	0	1	0	0	0	32	0
	Total		70	3	0	0	0	0	70	3
Career total [e]			278	18	11	0	9	2	298	13

1. Appearance/s in the EFL Cup.
2. Appearance/s and goal/s in the EFL Trophy.
3. Appearance/s in the Scottish Challenge Cup.
4. Appearance/s and goal/s in the FA Trophy.
5. Statistics for Sligo Rovers, Celtic Nation, Penrith, and Carlisle City not known.

Honours

Barrow

• Conference North play-offs: 2008
• FA Trophy: 2010 ^[13]

Celtic Nation

• Northern Football League Division One second-place promotion: 2013–14

References

1. "Mark Boyd". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
2. "8. Mark Boyd". barrowafc.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
3. "Player Details". SFC FPA. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
4. "FootballSquads – Port Vale – 2002/03". footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
5. "Mark Boyd: From Magpies to Sligo and back again". News and Star. 7 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
6. "Boyd joins Vale". BBC Sport. 27 May 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
7. "Mark Boyd: My brother was the reason why I played football". News & Star. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
8. "Simpson swoops for Boyd". BBC Sport. 18 March 2004. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
9. "Boyd completes Silkmen loan move". BBC Sport. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
10. "Accrington complete Boyd transfer". BBC Sport. 22 February 2006. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
11. "Boyd completes Southport switch". BBC Sport. 4 July 2006. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
12. "Boyd puts seal on Bluebirds deal". BBC Sport. 18 January 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
13. "Barrow 2–1 Stevenage (aet)". BBC Sport. 8 May 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
14. Fuller, John (18 June 2011). "Former Newcastle prodigy set to sign for Workington Reds". Times & Star. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
15. "Workington Reds rocked as Celtic Nation swoop". News & Star. 26 June 2013. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
16. Collinson, Karl. "Boyd joins Bonny Blues". pitchero.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
17. "Manager James Tose and former Carlisle United man Jonny Allan could take to the Carlisle City substitutes bench". News and Star. 24 September 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
18. Little, Amanda (1 August 2014). "Celtic Nation appoint new manager". News & Star. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
19. "Celtic Nation dream ends as club prepares to fold". nonleaguedaily.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
20. "Mark Boyd joins the management team –". shildonafc.com. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
21. "Familiar face Mark Boyd returns to Penrith AFC". News and Star. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
22. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
23. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
24. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
25. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
26. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
27. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
28. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
29. "Games played by Mark Boyd in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
30. Mark Boyd at Soccerway