Michael John Meaker (born 18 August 1971) is a Welsh retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

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and currently football coach.

Club career

He began his career at Queens Park Rangers, where he played in the

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. While at QPR, he had a loan spell at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. In July 1995

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paid £550,000 for his services, and he went on to make 67 appearances for the club before moving to Bristol Rovers in the summer of 1998. He had a loan spell at Swindon Town in 2000, before returning to Plymouth in 2001. He has also played for

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, Henley Town, Southall Town, Mangotsfield United and Hounslow Borough, and in the summer of 2006 he re-joined Mangotsfield for a second spell at the club.Mangotsfield United player profiles
Retrieved 18 October 2006 Although not a prolific goalscorer for most of his career, during the 2005–06 season at Hounslow he broke the club record for most league goals in a season (41), and scored a total of 44 in all competitions. He is a Masters Football Legend helping QPR win the London Masters in 2009 and 2010. Employed as a coach at Taunton Town since 2019, Meaker also remains registered as a player at the club, making his most recent appearance in a 4–1 win over

Paulton Rovers Paulton Rovers Football Club is an English football club based at the First 4 Pools Stadium on Winterfield Road in the growing village of Paulton near Bristol. They were established in 1881 and currently play in the Southern Football League Div ...

in the semi-finals of the Southern League Cup in January 2022, aged 50.

International career

Meaker was capped twice for the Wales under-21 national team, and made one appearance for the country's B team. He was also called up to the senior national team in 1995 for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

qualifying matches against

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on 29 March and Georgia on 7 June.

Coaching

He now runs the No.1 Football Academy at the David Lloyd Westbury Health Club in Bristol. In his time at Yate Town, Meaker was both registered as a player and was also assistant manager for the first team. From 2015 to 2018, he had the same role at Taunton Town. As of season 2021-22 is still a player-coach at the same club. In September 2018, Meaker joined

Truro City Truro City Football Club ( kw, Klub Peldroes Truru) is an English football club based in Truro, Cornwall. They currently play in the Southern League, at the seventh tier of the English football league system. They are the highest ranked clu ...

as assistant manager to Leigh Robinson; he was also registered as a player, being listed as a substitute for the 5–0 defeat to Stockport County in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

on 12 January 2019. Both Robinson and Meaker departed the club in March 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meaker, Michael 1971 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Ealing People from Ealing Welsh men's footballers Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Reading F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Mangotsfield United F.C. players Premier League players Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's B international footballers Hounslow Borough F.C. players Yate Town F.C. players Henley Town F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Northwich Victoria F.C. players