Mark Dale Thomas McGregor (born 16 February 1977) is an English former

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 ...

who played as a defender who is the assistant

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 ...

of Runcorn Town. He played 498 games in a 13-year career 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 ...

, mostly in the third tier. He started his career at

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 ...

in 1995 and made 288 league and cup appearances in his six years for the Welsh club before he signed with

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 ...

. In July 2004, he moved from Burnley to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. In January 2006 he

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

red to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

, before joining

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

in August 2008. He stayed in Altrincham for one season before becoming player-manager at Gap Connah's Quay. He led the club to the Cymru Alliance title for two consecutive seasons. He returned to playing football with Cefn Druids in January 2015. He was appointed player-assistant manager of Runcorn Town in April 2016.

Playing career

McGregor started as a trainee for

, signing a professional

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

for the first time in July 1995. He first came to prominence in the 1995–96 season, making 33 appearances in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He continued to be a regular feature at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

, making 44 appearances in 1996–97. The youngster was a consistent first-team player for the "Dragons" by 1997–98, hitting 48 appearances in league and cup competitions. He missed just a handful of games in 1998–99, making 56 appearances. On the last day of the 1999–2000 season, he put a speculative long-range effort past Gillingham's

Vince Bartram Vincent Lee Bartram (born 7 August 1968) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently the 1st team Goalkeeper Coach at National League side Eastleigh FC. He is also a Casual Goalkeeper scout for the City Footb ...

, costing the "Gills" an automatic

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

place, to the benefit of

; this was the only goal of his 52 appearances that season. He was voted Wrexham's Player of the Year in 2000–01 for his performances during his 47 appearances throughout the campaign. In total, he played 288 league and cup games for Brian Flynn's side. Despite verbally agreeing a new contract with Wrexham, he moved to

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

club Burnley on a free transfer in July 2001. He made just two appearances in the 2001–02 season under

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won ...

, though he went on to play 37 games in 2002–03. He had surgery on his knee at the start of the 2003–04 campaign before recovering to post 26 appearances He moved on to League One side

in July 2004, after

Colin Hendry Edward Colin James Hendry (born 7 December 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. Hendry, who played as a defender, notably played in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers, with whom he was part of the title- ...

offered him a twelve-month deal. He played 44 games in 2004–05 and made 25 appearances in 2005–06, scoring once in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

against former club Wrexham, before leaving

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

after

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is head coach of National League (division), National League club Hartlepool ...

took charge. In January 2006, McGregor decided to move on to

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club Carlisle United. In his 20-year playing career, he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, h ...

. He played 14 League One games throughout the rest of the season, before featuring 35 times in an unsettled defence in 2006–07. He featured just 23 times in 2007–08, and was

listed by new manager Lee Sinnott in January 2008, before Sinnott released him from the club three months later, as the "Valiants" were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

into League Two. McGregor had an unsuccessful trial with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

in July 2008 before he eventually dropped out of the Football League to sign for

club

on 27 July. Handed the number four shirt at the club, he found himself a key feature of the back four and an occasional

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, featuring 44 times for the Robins" in the 2008–09 campaign. In January 2015, McGregor left as manager of the Nomads and just a few days later joined

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

side Cefn Druids as a player. The "Druids" were relegated out of the division at the end of the 2014–15 season. He was appointed player-assistant manager of

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 club Runcorn Town in April 2016.

Management career

In August 2009, he was appointed

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

side Gap Connah's Quay. The 2009–10 season ended in relegation to the

Cymru Alliance The Cymru Alliance League (known for sponsorship reasons as Huws Gray Alliance) was a association football, football league in North Wales, north and Mid Wales, central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. Fro ...

in 14th place, as a restructuring of the

Welsh league The Welsh League was the first club rugby league competition in Wales.Lush (1998), pg. 19 Its inaugural season was in 1908/09 when four additional teams were formed to join Ebbw Vale RLFC and Merthyr Tydfil RLFC, which allowed a league tournam ...

meant six places were cut from the Premier League from 18 to 12. They finished level on points with Newtown (who avoided relegation), who finished above them on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. Making 26 league and 6 cup appearances in 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, he managed his side to the Cymru Alliance title. However, they were not granted a promotion back to the top flight. They retained their title in 2011–12 and were promoted into the

. The following season saw the "Nomads" finish eighth in the Welsh Premier League, losing out in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

play-off to eventual qualifiers

Bala Town Bala Town Football Club () is a Welsh professional football club from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the . They play their home games at Maes Tegid. History For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Although the current Bala Tow ...

. The "Nomads" finished tenth in 2013–14.

Career statistics

Honours

Wrexham *

Wrexham A.F.C. Wrexham Association Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. Formed in 1864, it is the oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. The club compe ...

Player of the Year:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Connah's Quay Nomads *

& 2011–12

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGregor, Mark 1977 births Living people Footballers from Chester English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Wrexham A.F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. players Cefn Druids A.F.C. players Runcorn Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Cymru Premier players English football coaches Men's association football player-managers English football managers Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers