Michael Bird (born 7 November 1983) is an English 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 ...

who played at schoolboy level for Wales. He played for clubs in all four constituent countries of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. He is a coach at

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 ...

's Centre of Excellence.

Career

Playing career

Bird started his career 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 ...

where he was a graduate of their Youth Academy. After impressing in a trial, he signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

on 15 May 2003 on a free transfer where he made two league appearances, both as a substitute, and one League Cup appearance, also as a sub. After being made available for transfer in the

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, he moved to Northern Ireland to play for Irish Premier League club Glenavon in February 2004. In June 2004 he moved back to England into

non-league football 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 ...

with

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

, before signing for local rivals Witton Albion. He then moved to Wales in December 2004 to play for

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 ...

club

Caernarfon Town Caernarfon Town Football Club () is a professional Welsh football club based in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. They play in the . They are nicknamed "the Canaries" because of the club's yellow and green strip, a nickname that dates from 1895. Caernarfon ...

where he spent the rest of the 2004-05 season. He had a brief spell at the start of the 2005-06 season with Warrington Town before signing for

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

on 2 September 2005. Michael had a brief spell playing for

North Leigh North Leigh is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about northeast of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlet of East End and since 1932 has also included the hamlet of Wilcote. The United Kingd ...

in 2014.

Coaching career

Bird used to be a qualified coach, having obtained the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

B coaching licence. He was the coach of the Under-11 team at

's Centre of Excellence.

Teaching career

Bird used to be a teacher, head of year, assistant headteacher, and deputy headteacher in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. He is currently a deputy head teacher at Ellesmere Park High School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Michael Living people 1983 births English men's footballers Footballers from Chester Men's association football forwards Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Caernarfon Town F.C. players Warrington Town F.C. players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Central United F.C. players North Leigh F.C. players Scottish Premier League players NIFL Premiership players 21st-century English sportsmen