Mark James Duffy (born 7 October 1985) is an English

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 ...

coach and former player who is assistant manager of club

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. An

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, Duffy began his career with the academies at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

before joining non-league side

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors Limited , ;Company No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. is a British Automoti ...

. From there he went to

Prescot Cables Prescot Cables Football Club is a supporter-owned football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town. They compete in the and play their home games at Valerie Park. They ...

and

and entered the Football League with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

. He joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in January 2011, where he spent two and a half years at

Glanford Park Glanford Park, currently known as The Attis Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the home of team Scunthorpe United F.C., Scunthorpe United. Opened in 1988 at ...

and the 2013–14 season at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

. Duffy moved to

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 ...

in June 2014 but failed to establish himself in the side and was loaned out to Chesterfield and

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

with whom he helped win promotion to the Championship. Duffy signed for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in June 2016 and under the management of

Chris Wilder Christopher John Wilder (born 23 September 1967) is an English professional football manager who formerly played as a right-back. He is the manager of club Sheffield United. Wilder's extensive professional playing career saw spells at Sheff ...

the Blades won promotion from League One in 2016–17 and the Championship in 2018–19. In August 2019 Duffy joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

on loan for the first half of the 2019–20 season and then Dutch side

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

in January 2020.

Career

Early life and career

Born in

, Duffy played for the youth teams of both home-town club

(from the age of 7 to 16) and Welsh club

. Duffy began his senior career playing

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for

, where he made nine appearances (six in the league), scoring once against

Woodley Sports Stockport Sports F.C. was a football club based in Woodley, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. They were established in 1970 as Woodley Athletic, and played at the Neil Rourke Memorial Stadium. The club's name was changed to Woodley Sports ...

in the

Cheshire Senior Cup The Cheshire County Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Cheshire Senior Cup, is a football knockout tournament founded in the 1879–80 season and involves teams from Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England. I ...

. He later joined

. Duffy stated that, early in his career, he lost his love of football and began working as a scaffolder and as a sports coach for the council. Duffy moved to

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

from

in February 2007. The Sandgrounders were relegated to the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

at the end of the 2006–07 season. Duffy remained at

Haig Avenue Haig Avenue (originally known as Ash Lane) is a football stadium in Blowick, Southport, Merseyside, England, that holds 6,008 people (1,537 seated, 4,471 standing). Since its opening in 1905 it has been the home ground of Southport. Location T ...

for the 2007–08 season and mid-way through 2008–09 he was in talks to join Football League side

Morecambe

Duffy signed for League Two club

on loan in February 2009. He scored his first goal Football League goal on 18 April 2009 in a 1–0 win against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. He made the move to

Globe Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockholm ...

permanent in the summer and scored six goals in 41 games as the Shrimps reached the League Two play-offs where they lost 7–2 on aggregate to

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

. Duffy began the

2010–11 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 in good form and manager

Sammy McIlroy Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland na ...

stated that he can go on to play at a higher level.

Scunthorpe United

Duffy moved to

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

on 20 January 2011 for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut two days later, in a 0–0 draw at home to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Duffy played 22 times for Scunthorpe in

as the Iron suffered relegation to League One. He made 43 appearances in 2011–12 helping Scunthorpe avoid a second consecutive relegation. However relegation to League Two was suffered in

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 ...

despite a final day victory against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. Following relegation Scunthorpe received several bids for Duffy from

Doncaster Rovers

Duffy moved to

in July 2013 for an undisclosed fee. Duffy scored twice in 39 appearances in 2013–14 as Doncaster were relegated to League One on goal difference.

Birmingham City

Duffy signed a two-year contract with

in June 2014 after activating his relegation release clause at Doncaster Rovers. He made his debut as a second-half substitute in the opening-day defeat at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, and his first League start for the club on 27 September, in a 2–1 home defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

; Duffy was substituted at half-time, at which point Birmingham were leading. After appearing only once more in the league by the end of January 2015, he spent a month on loan to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club Chesterfield, where he made one start and two substitute appearances.

Loan to Burton Albion

Before the start of the 2015–16 season, Duffy joined

, newly promoted to League One, on loan until 2 January 2016. In pre-season, Burton manager Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink used him in a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

role, and he began the league season as a regular selection in the starting eleven. In the opening match, Scunthorpe goalkeeper

Luke Daniels Luke Matthew Daniels (born 5 January 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Barrow, where he also serves as goalkeeper coach. Daniels is product of the Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion academ ...

was sent off for elbowing Duffy in the head; the resulting penalty gave Burton a 2–1 win. After the initial loan period expired, it was extended to the end of the season. Duffy completed the season having missed only one league match, against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in February after twisting his ankle in training. He scored eight goals and provided numerous assists as Burton were promoted to the Championship as League One runners-up. His performances earned him selection in the PFA League One Team of the Year.

Sheffield United

Duffy was released by Birmingham at the end of the season, and signed a two-year contract with League One club

. Duffy won promotion from League One for a second successive year in 2017, and was also named in the PFA Team of the Year for a second time. Duffy was converted to an

attacking midfield In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

role under the management of

as the Blades had a solid return to the Championship finishing in 10th place. He signed a new contract with Sheffield United in January 2018. Duffy scored six goals in 38 matches in 2018–19 as Sheffield United had a very successful campaign finishing as runners-up and were promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. However, in pre-season Duffy's request for a new contract was turned down by Wilder who made him available for a move away from

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

Loan to Stoke City

On 8 August 2019, Duffy joined

on loan for the 2019–20 season. Duffy struggled for game time at Stoke making just nine appearances under Nathan Jones and didn't feature at all under Michael O'Neill.

Loan at ADO Den Haag

On 31 January 2020 Duffy's loan at Stoke was cut short and he moved on a six-month loan to Dutch side

. He was released by Sheffield United at the end of the 2019–20 season.

Fleetwood Town

On 4 September 2020 he signed a one-year contract with

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

. He scored his first goal for Fleetwood in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

tie against Everton on 23 September 2020. At the end of the 2020–21 season, he was released by Fleetwood Town.

Tranmere Rovers

On 31 August 2021, Duffy joined League Two club

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

on a short-term deal until January 2022.

Macclesfield

On 7 January 2022, Duffy signed for

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

Premier Division side

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

. During his time at the club, he helped them achieve back-to-back league titles and promotions as they went from the ninth to the seventh tier, as well as acting as first-team coach. After the departure of Neil Danns on 5 May 2023, Duffy was named as the head coach of

. He was sacked in October 2023 following a run of four defeats in five matches.

Warrington Rylands

In February 2024, Duffy returned to playing when he joined Warrington Rylands. He made nine appearances, mainly as a substitute, and, after Rylands' manager was sacked in mid-April, took charge of the team alongside Dean Furman took charge of the team for the last three matches of the season, which included a play-off semifinal defeat. On 24 May, Duffy was appointed manager of Warrington Rylands. Following a poor start to the season, he was sacked in September 2024.

Southport

In May 2025, Duffy was appointed assistant manager of former side Southport, assisting the newly appointed Neil Danns.

Career statistics

Honours

Southport * Lancashire Junior Cup: 2007–08 Burton Albion *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2015–16 Sheffield United *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2016–17 *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Macclesfield *

North West Counties Football League The North West Counties Football League is a association football, football league in the North West England, North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, ...

Premier Division: 2021–22 * Northern Premier League Division One West:

2022–23 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 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2015–16 League One, 2016–17 League One

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Mark 1985 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Liverpool F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Vauxhall Motors F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players Southport F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Macclesfield F.C. players Warrington Rylands 1906 F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Eredivisie players Northern Premier League players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriates in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands English football managers Macclesfield F.C. managers Warrington Rylands 1906 F.C. managers Northern Premier League managers Southport F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen