Mark McWalter (born 20 June 1968, in

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

) is a Scottish former

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 ...

striker. McWalter began his career with his local club

where as a teenager he became a first team regular. His form attracted the attentions of top-flight St Mirren, who signed him in June 1987. In and out of the team at

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on ''Waiting for the Sun'' (1968), its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his gir ...

, he joined

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

in June 1991 in a swap deal that saw he and George Shaw exchanged for

Chic Charnley James Callaghan "Chic" Charnley (born 11 June 1963) is a Scottish former football player and coach. Charnley's playing career lasted nearly 20 years, with spells at Hamilton Academical, St Mirren, Hibernian and Dundee, however he is perhaps b ...

and David Elliot. McWalter's spell at Partick was an unhappy one however as he failed to score. After being released by Partick McWalter moved to the

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

with

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

and became a 'cult hero' at the club.Interview on Coleraine site
/ref> He was linked with the manager's job after the departure of Felix Healy in 1994 but lost out to Kenny Shiels, a manager with whom he would later clash, resulting in McWalter moving to

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The club has been man ...

for a year. He was the club's top scorer in his sole season. McWalter returned to Scotland in 1996 to play three final seasons back at

Gayfield Park Gayfield Park, commonly known as Gayfield, is a football stadium in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League team Arbroath F.C. The club have played at Gayfield since 1880, although the pitch has ...

. Unable to cope with the rigours of full-time football due a persistent knee injury McWalter left full-time football to carry on playing in the juniors with Arbroath Victoria. He spent five seasons with the club, including two as player-manager before retiring and leaving football completely. Having retired he became a youth worker, running a project from Arbroath's old supporters' club.Smokies get in your eyes
from

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McWalter, Mark 1968 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Arbroath F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Scottish Football League players NIFL Premiership players Footballers from Arbroath Arbroath Victoria F.C. players Men's association football forwards