Gary Harkins
Gary Harkins (born 2 January 1985) is a Scottish professional footballer and coach who plays as a midfielder. Having come through the youth academies at Celtic and Blackburn Rovers he would notably play in the Scottish Premiership for Kilmarnock, Dundee and St. Mirren. He also played in the English Football League for Huddersfield Town, Bury, Blackpool, Grimsby Town and Oldham Athletic, and in the Scottish Football League for Partick Thistle, Ayr United, Greenock Morton, Queen of the South, Stenhousemuir and Forfar Athletic. While at Forfar, he would also perform the role of first team coach, and later assistant manager. Club career Blackburn Rovers Born in Greenock, Scotland, Harkins started out as a schoolboy player with Celtic where he spent three years there. Harkins was offered a move to Bolton Wanderers or stay at Celtic but opted to join Blackburn Rovers as a YTS player instead when he was sixteen years old. While progressing through the club’s academy, Harkins pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Greenock
Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east. The 2011 UK Census showed that Greenock had a population of 44,248, a decrease from the 46,861 recorded in the 2001 UK Census. It lies on the south bank of the Clyde at the " Tail of the Bank" where the River Clyde deepens into the Firth of Clyde. History Name Place-name scholar William J. Watson wrote that "Greenock is well known in Gaelic as , dative of , 'a sunny knoll. The Scottish Gaelic place-name is relatively common, with another Greenock near Callander in Menteith (formerly in Perthshire) and yet another at Muirkirk in Kyle, now in East Ayrshire. R. M. Smith in (1921) described the alternative derivation from Common Brittonic *, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Defender (association Football)
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers, and wing-backs. The centre-back and full-back positions are most common in modern formations. The sweeper and wing-back roles are more specialised, often limited to certain formations dependent on the manager's style of play and tactics. Centre-back The centre-back (also known as a central defender or centre-half, as the modern role of the centre-back arose from the centre-half position) defends in the area directly in front of the goal and tries to prevent opposing players, particularly centre-forwards, from scoring. Centre-backs accomplish this by blocking shots, tackling, intercepting passes, contesting headers and marking forwards to discourage the opposing team from passing to them. Centre-backs are often tall and positioned ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (association football), forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, and also played for FC Barcelona, Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, as well as the English clubs Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Southampton F.C., Southampton, Everton F.C., Everton and finally Blackburn Rovers F.C., Blackburn Rovers. He made 72 appearances for Wales national football team, Wales scoring 16 goals. He won a host of winners' medals during his playing career, including two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three EFL Cup, League Cups and two UEFA Cup Winners' Cups. He also collected an FA Cup runners-up medal and a League Cup runners-up medal. Hughes was the first player to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year awa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ewood Park
Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facility with a capacity of 31,367, and four sections: the Bryan Douglas Darwen End, The Ronnie Clayton (footballer, born 1934), Ronnie Clayton Blackburn End, the Riverside Stand, and Jack Walker Stand, named after Blackburn industrialist and club supporter, Jack Walker. The football pitch within the stadium measures The "old" Ewood Football had been played on the site since at least 1881; Rovers played four matches there when it was known as Ewood Bridge and was most likely little more than a field. Their first match was against Sheffield Wednesday F.C., Sheffield Wednesday on 9 April 1881. Ewood Park was officially opened in April 1882 and during the 1880s staged football, athletics and some for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aston Villa F
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately from Birmingham city centre, Birmingham City Centre. History Aston was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as "Estone", having a mill, a priest and therefore probably a church, woodland and ploughland. The Church of SS Peter & Paul, Aston, Church of Saints Peter and Paul was built in medieval times to replace an earlier church. The body of the church was rebuilt by J. A. Chatwin during the period 1879 to 1890; the 15th-century tower and spire, which was partly rebuilt in 1776, being the only survivors of the medieval building. The ancient parish of Aston (known as Aston juxta Birmingham) was large. It was separated from the parish of Birmingham by AB Row, which currently e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bolton Wanderers F
Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and villages that form the wider Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, borough, of which Bolton is the administrative centre. The town is within the Historic counties of England, historic county boundaries of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a centre for textile production since the 14th century when Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area, introducing a wool and cotton-weaving tradition. It was a 19th-century boomtown, development largely coincided with the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. At its peak in 1929, its 216 cotton mills and 26 bleaching and dyeing works made it one of the largest and most productive centres of Spinning (textiles), cotton spinning in the world. The Brit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south of the Anglo-Scottish border. From its foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League (SPL) was formed in 1998, the SFL was the top level of football in Scotland. After 1998, the SFL represented levels 2 to 4 of the Scottish football league system. In June 2013, the SFL merged with the SPL to form the Scottish Professional Football League. The SFL was associated with a title sponsor from the 1985–86 season. As this sponsor changed over the years the league was known in turn as the Fine Fare League, B&Q League, Bell's Scottish Football League and finally as the Irn-Bru Scottish Football League. The SFL also organised two knock-out cup competitions, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Challenge Cup. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the world, and was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) starting with the 2016–17 season. The EFL is divided into the EFL Championship, Championship, EFL League One, League One and EFL League Two, League Two, with 24 clubs in each division, 72 in total, with promotion and relegation between them; the top Championship division clubs change places with the lowest-placed clubs in the Premier League, and the bottom clubs of League Two with the top clubs of the National League (division), National League. Currently four of the EFL clubs are from Wales – Cardiff City F.C., Car ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. The top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the Scottish Premiership was established in July 2013, after the SPFL was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. There are 12 teams in this division, with each team playing 38 matches per season. Sixteen clubs have played in the Scottish Premiership since its creation in the 2013–14 Scottish Premiership, 2013–14 season. Celtic F.C., Celtic are the current league champions, having won the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership. Competition format Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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. As #Central midfielder, central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments. The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on which Formation (association football), formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the midfield. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the Defender (association football), defensive units and Forward (association football), forward units of a F ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Association Football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular field called a Football pitch, pitch. The objective of the game is to Scoring in association football, score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed Goal (sport), goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport. Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the International Football Association Board, IFAB since 1886. The game is pla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |