Leon Mike (born 4 September 1981) 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former professional player, who is the under-23 manager and joint interim manager at Bury in the

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.

Playing career

Mike began his career with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. As a youngster he played for England Schoolboys against Germany in 1997. His first senior experience came in loan spells at

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

and

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

in the 2000–01 season. In the 2001–02 season he was part of a group of young players selected to train as part of the senior Manchester City squad. Following a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for the reserve team in November 2001, he was included in the squad for a match against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, and made his debut as a substitute following an injury to

Shaun Goater Leonard Shaun Goater (born 25 February 1970) is a Bermudian former professional Association football, footballer, coach and pundit who is currently part of the coaching staff at Aston Villa W.F.C., Aston Villa Women. As a player he was a Forwa ...

. In the following match, against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

, Mike made his first and only start for Manchester City. Mike's performances for the Manchester City reserve team attracted the attention of scouts from

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, who had attended with the original intention of watching Scotland international

Paul Dickov Paul Dickov (born 1 November 1972) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player who works as a television pundit for Manchester City TV. Dickov played as a forward from 1990 to 2011, starting his career with Arsenal. He won ...

. Mike moved to Aberdeen in February 2002, but was released from the ''Dons'' fifteen months later. and ended up with

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

, where he scored 37 goals in 71 games. Mike joined

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

in December 2005, before leaving a year later and leaving football altogether.

Coaching career

He became manager of

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of West Lancashire, Lancashire, England. The town is located approximately north-northeast of Liverpool and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Its north ...

in May 2022. In the summer of 2023 he became the under-23 manager of Bury, later taking over the side on an interim basis in September 2023 following the departure of Andy Welsh.

Personal life

He appeared as an extra in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

soap ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. He began a law degree in September 2007 at a

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 ...

college. His cousin is

Adie Mike Adrian Roosevelt Mike (born 16 November 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1992 to 2004. He notably played in the Premier League for Manchester City, and in the Football League for Bury, Stockport C ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mike, Leon 1981 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Manchester City F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Men's association football forwards English football managers Burscough F.C. managers Bury F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen