Michael Anthony Proctor (born 3 October 1980) 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 as a striker. He is currently first-team coach at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Career

Sunderland

Born in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, Proctor started his career with his hometown club

in their

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

and signed a professional contract with them on 29 October 1997. He made his

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut for Sunderland against Everton in the League Cup on 11 November 1998, which finished as a 1–1 draw. He was loaned to Danish side

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

in 2000 to recuperate from a cruciate ligament injury. He joined Halifax Town on loan in March 2001, making his debut against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

, in which he scored in a 4–2 win. He finished this loan spell with four goals in 12 appearances. He played at

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on loan during the 2001–02 season, making his debut in a 1–0 defeat against

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ket ...

. He finished this spell with 49 appearances and 14 goals, making him York's top scorer for the season. He joined

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

on loan in August 2002. He scored the winning goal on his debut as Bradford defeated

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

2–1, and became a favourite among fans, players, and the board. He scored a total of four goals in 12 games during his two-month spell, including a late equaliser as nine-man City drew 2–2 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 ...

, but he returned to Sunderland when manager

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

blocked another month's extension to the loan. He scored the winner for Sunderland in their 2–1 win over

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 ...

on 15 December 2002. One unfortunate claim to fame occurred whilst playing for Sunderland in 2003, in a 3–1 defeat to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, where Proctor scored two own goals within just five minutes.

Rotherham United and Hartlepool United

Proctor left Sunderland in February 2004, joining

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in a swap deal for

Darren Byfield Darren Asherton Byfield (born 29 September 1976) is a former professional footballer. He is currently a first-team coach at Walsall. Byfield won six caps for Jamaica in 2003, and has scored 110 goals in 484 appearances across all domestic compet ...

. He joined

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on a month's loan deal in February 2005. Swindon could not afford to extend his loan at the club and he returned to Rotherham in March. He later moved to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

on a free transfer in July 2005. He was best remembered by Hartlepool fans for scoring twice in a 3–1 over local rivals

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in a League Cup tie early in his Pools' career. He played just 32 games in two seasons for Hartlepool, scoring ten goals, before he was one of ten players released by Danny Wilson.

Wrexham

Proctor joined League Two club

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 ...

on a month's loan in March 2007. This loan was extended until the end of the 2006–07 season in April. During this spell he scored two vital goals for Wrexham in their eventually successful survival bid. These were the winning goal in the 1–0 victory at local rivals

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

and the third goal in the Welsh club's 3–1 victory over

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

which preserved the club's

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 ...

status. He was released by Hartlepool in May 2007 and expressed an interest in joining Wrexham permanently. This move was confirmed in May 2007. He was transfer listed by Wrexham in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

, despite finishing the season as the club's top scorer with 12 goals. In the summer of 2009 after talks with manager Dean Saunders, Proctor left the club by mutual consent.

Media career

From the start of the 2014–15 season, Michael began to work as a co-host for

Sun FM Sun FM may refer to: * Nation Radio North East's previous name * Sun FM (Sri Lanka), an English language radio station based in Sri Lanka * CICF-FM, a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 105.7 FM in Vernon, British Columbia, using the on-air br ...

's into The Light football show, discussing all things

with the duo of Stephen Goldsmith and Gareth Barker of the Wise Men Say podcast; Proctor added expert opinion to the comments of Goldsmith and Barker. This isn't an area of work Michael had intentionally planned on getting into after retiring, as he had previously been involved in coaching at East Durham College. Since becoming a frequent visitor to the Stadium of Light to undergo his media duties, Michael has begun to work closer with the

media team, most notably interviewing

Jermain Defoe Jermain Colin Defoe (born 7 October 1982) is an English football coach and former professional player. He was most recently the under-18s coach at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Defoe was a striker and began his career with Charlto ...

about his winning goal in a game against fierce rivals

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Coaching career

In July 2022, Proctor moved from his coaching role in Sunderland's academy to join the first-team coaching staff.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Michael 1980 births Living people Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark English expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Men's association football forwards Sunderland A.F.C. players Hvidovre IF players Halifax Town A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Wrexham A.F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen