Mark Westhead (born 19 July 1975) is an English 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 ...

. He is currently the Youth Department goalkeeping coach with

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 ...

and is also playing for Warrington Town.

Career

Playing career

Westhead started his career as a 17-year-old goalkeeper at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

after initially being spotted whilst playing for

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

side Blackpool Mechanics. During his four years there Bolton were promoted from the Second Division to the Premier League but the nearest Westhead got to any playing time was as an unused substitute in a game against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in 1994. On his release from Bolton a brief spell in Ireland playing for

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. He returned to England to Telford United and then

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

. Later that season good performances saw a return to League football with

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

where the highlight of his three-year spell was reaching the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

semi-final against

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 ...

. Westhead returned to his native

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

with a year spell at

Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich RMI (Railway Mechanics Institute) and Leigh RMI, is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancashire Counties Football League. The semi-professional ...

. He them moved to

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the Engli ...

with whom he spent three years ending with a Play-off final defeat to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

. A spell at

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, formed in 1919. The team's strip is red shirts and black shorts and their home ground is the 4,250 capacity Ewen Fields. Hyde United's record ...

was followed by a brief spell at

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

until a knee injury brought a premature end to his career. Mark Westhead is now a teacher at Blackpool and Fylde college where he teaches sport the bulb He came out of retirement on 2 September 2011 to sign a playing contract with Warrington Town after they lost their goalkeeper David Stephenson.

Coaching career

Westhead is now a fully qualified coach and is currently the Youth Department goalkeeping coach at his hometown club,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westhead, Mark 1975 births Living people Footballers from Blackpool Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers A.F.C. Blackpool players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Leigh Genesis F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Warrington Town F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players