Mark Andrew Draper (born 11 November 1970) is an English football coach and former professional

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 lea ...

. As a player, he was a

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 t ...

from 1988 to 2003, notably in 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 ...

for

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He also played in Spain for

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

and in the

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 w ...

with

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 represented England at under-21 level. In 2009, he briefly came out of retirement for non-league side

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

. Since retiring Draper had a spell as

kit man An equipment manager is responsible for the procurement, maintenance, repair, inventory, transportation, storage, cleaning, and disposal of equipment used by a business or organization. They ensure that appropriate equipment is available and func ...

for former side Notts County but has since moved into coaching and runs a football training centre for children in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Playing career

Draper began his career as a product of the youth system at

, making his professional debut in December 1988. A talented midfielder, he became recognised by County supporters as one of the most gifted young players ever developed at the club. After attracting the attention of a number of bigger clubs, Draper was finally sold during the 1994 close season to

for £1.25 million – a record fee for the club at the time. Draper spent the entire 1994–95 season at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

, playing 39 times in the

(to which they had just been promoted) and scoring five goals, although it was not enough to prevent relegation for a side who were never out of the bottom two after November. Despite this he was called up to the England squad by

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (6 January 1943 – 25 November 2023), often referred to as El Tel, was an English football player and manager who played for clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers and won two caps for E ...

. His form attracted the attention of

, who paid £3.25 million to keep him in the

. Over the next four seasons Draper became a regular in the Aston Villa starting line-up, helping them to a League Cup win in 1996. He received another call up to the England squad, this time by

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and TNT Sports. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifier against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. However, he stayed on the bench and was ultimately never capped for the senior team. Draper fell out of favour in the 1999–2000 season, appearing in only one game to bring his Villa total up to 120 league appearances (7 goals), and was loaned to

in Spain. He was sold during that close season to

for £1.5 million. By then approaching veteran stage, Draper added another 24 top flight appearances (with one goal against Middlesbrough) for the Saints before leaving the game.

Later career in non-league football

Draper made a brief playing comeback in 2009, signing for non-league side

. Draper was enticed back into the local non league game by Paul Rawden who took Draper to

East Midlands Counties Football League The East Midlands Counties Football League was an English association football, football league that operated from 2008 to 2021, covering the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands. The league had one divi ...

side Radford as coach and the pair saved the club from relegation, Draper then followed Rawden to Arnold Town for the 2012–13 season for a brief spell before they both left the club.

Personal life

He is currently involved in property development. In 2009, he rejoined his old club

as their kit man. He currently works with ex-Aston Villa footballer

Dave Norton David Wayne Norton (born 3 March 1965) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. His career started at Aston Villa, where he began as an apprentice on leaving school in the summer of 1981, turning professional two years ...

at their soccer school "Draper Norton Football", based in Nottingham.

Career statistics

Notes

Honours

Aston Villa *

Football League 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 ...

: 1995–96 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 ...

: 1993–94 First Division

References

External links

*
ESPN Soccernet profile

Aston Villa fan site profile

Southampton fan site profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Mark 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Long Eaton Footballers from Derbyshire English men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Spain England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Notts County F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Rayo Vallecano players Southampton F.C. players Dunkirk F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players La Liga players