Mark Anthony Pembridge (born 29 November 1970) is a Welsh retired

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

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 ...

, and a current coach at the academy for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. He played 333 matches in England's top division for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, Everton and

, scoring 25 goals. He also played for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, and spent the 1998–99 season at Benfica in Portugal. Pembridge won 54 caps for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and scored six goals, in a 13-year international career.

Club career

Early career

Pembridge began his career at

in the

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 ...

. He joined as a trainee in 1989.

Derby County

Having established as a

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an 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. ...

, 21-year old Pembridge was signed for second-tier

by manager Arthur Cox in the summer of 1992 for a fee of £1.25 million. He racked up 140 appearances and netted 37 goals over his time with Derby and played at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

twice – once in a 3–1 defeat to

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

in 1993 and then in a 2–1 defeat to

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 ...

in the 1994 Football League First Division play-off final. Pembridge left to move up a division to

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 a fee of £900,000 in the summer of 1995.

Sheffield Wednesday

Pembridge played for Wednesday in the

until 1998, when he left for Portuguese side Benfica on a free transfer after Wednesday finished 16th in the season.

Everton

Pembridge struggled to settle in Portugal and returned to England after one season, signing a contract with top-flight side Everton for £800,000. Pembridge had a good first two seasons at Everton, with his tenacious approach and thrusting runs from deep establishing the Welshman as an integral part of Everton's squad, thus securing him an excellent rapport with the

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

faithful. However, testing times were around the corner for Pembridge, with a persistent calf injury meaning he only played 13 games in the 2001–02 season. The injury still bothered him during the 2002–03 season, but Pembridge still played a part in a dramatic season, which ended with Everton failing to qualify for a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

place.

Fulham

Pembridge looked set to stay at Everton for the 2003–04 campaign, but on the transfer deadline day in August 2003, he was signed by

for £750,000 after four years at Everton. He had an injury-free first season at Fulham, during which he scored his first goal for the club against rivals Chelsea, and this was followed by a successful second season in which he played 37 games overall, scoring once in the League Cup against Birmingham. Pembridge missed most of Fulham's 2005–06 season through injury, and only played 5 games. Manager Chris Coleman deemed him surplus to requirements, and he did not play a single game during the 2006–07 season. He was released by new manager

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a football manager and former international footballer for Northern Ireland. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon aga ...

at the end of the season. After this, Pembridge announced he was retiring. Reflecting on his retirement, Pembridge quoted:

International career

Pembridge was called up to play for

while at Luton in 1991. He had several highlights while playing for Wales, including scoring arguably his best career goal against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in 2001 and reaching the qualifying playoffs for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

, despite narrowly losing to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Pembridge quit the national team in 2004 shortly after

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

was named as the new Wales manager. He announced his international retirement in 2005, ending speculation that he might return to play for Wales. He played 54 times for Wales, scoring 6 goals.

Coaching career

On 4 September 2007, Fulham confirmed that Pembridge had stayed on at the club as a coach for the academy. He would later become Under-15s and U16s Coordinator for the club. He left Fulham in October 2021. On 11 May he featured as a commentator for BBC Radio Merseyside for Everton's match against Watford

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pembridge, Mark 1970 births Living people Welsh men's footballers Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil Men's association football midfielders Wales men's international footballers Premier League players Primeira Liga players Luton Town F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers Everton F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Welsh expatriate men's footballers British expatriates in Portugal Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Fulham F.C. non-playing staff