Marc Pugh
This article is about the Footballer. For the professional wrestler see Mark Pugh is a professional
English footballer currently playing for
Bury F.C in the English
Football League 2. He plays mainly as an
attacking midfielder but can play as a
striker and on the
wing. He has represented England in the North-West of England team and attended the All Saints High School in
Rossendale.
Youth
His footballing career began at the
Football League Championship side
Burnley F.C where he started, at a young age, as a Centre of Excellence player and gradually worked his way up through the ranks to become a footballing apprentice
. He began as a first year apprentice which involved both playing for the youth and reserve teams and taking a 'Modern Apprenticeship In Sporting Excellence' at college. This was spread out over three years and by the second year the club would either take them on as 3rd year apprentices or release them.
Due to Marc's great goalscoring record (which led him to be named on the first team bench
) they decided to keep him on for a third year.
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Marc playing on loan for Kidderminster Harriers |
As a 3rd year apprentice he scored almost 20 goals
for the clubs reserve and youth teams which led him to be sent out on loan to
Kidderminster Harriers, A
Nationwide Conference team, for real footballing experience. Whilst at the Harriers he scored one goal and made 10 appearances and also, during a match, did a smart piece of skill which involved him flicking the ball over a players head with his heel and then crossing the ball in for a team mate to score, this move was featured on
Soccer AM's showboating section as showboat of the week. Also, during a reserve match Marc had to play in
Goal after reserve keeper Mark Crossley was sent off
, they lost the game 7-1 but Marc did have a good game in the net and is high in the list of stand in goalkeepers during matches.
Unfortunately for Marc he learned that he would not get a professional contract at Burnley and would be released at the end of the season, this was partly due to the fact that both
Chris McCann and
Kyle Lafferty had both already received first team contracts and they were only 2nd year apprentices.
Professional Career
Having just been released from Burnley, Marc started looking for a new club and was eventually offered a place at
League Two side
Bury F.C. At the time when he signed the treat of relegation loomed over Bury as after losing some good players to
Preston (David Nugent and Simon Whaley) their season had slumped and the were entangled in the relegation battle. Pugh ended up playing six games in the 05/06 season for the club (3 as a sub) and scored his first goal in the 1-1 draw against
Lincoln City After these great performances and the fact Bury had survived relegation their manager
Chris Casper offered him a one year deal at Gigg Lane, his first professional contract. He will be looking no doubt to a more stable season in 06/07 in what will be his first professional season and will want to put in some good performances in order to gain a longer contract. His squad number is 31 for Bury in the 06/07 season as it was for the six games he had at the end of the season.
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Bury F.C Official site profile*
Soccer Base profile
