Mark James Burchill (born 18 August 1980) is a Scottish professional football player who plays as a striker for Scottish Premier League club Kilmarnock. He previously played for Scottish clubs Celtic, Dundee, Hearts and Dunfermline Athletic, and in England for Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United. He has been capped six times for the Scotland national team.

[edit] Career

[edit] Celtic

Burchill was born in Broxburn and grew up in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. He attended St Mary's Academy, Bathgate followed by St. Margaret's Academy, Livingston, where his footballing ability became apparent.

Burchill began his career at Scottish club Celtic for the 1997–98 season. In his first three seasons with the club he scored 20 Scottish Premier League goals in only 17 starts, with 33 appearances as a substitute. This prolific return saw him gain a place in the Scotland national football team, making his debut against Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1999. While playing for Celtic against Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg in the qualifying round of the 2001 UEFA Cup, Burchill scored the fastest-ever hat-trick in a European club match.^[1]

However, successive managers failed to see the Scotland international as a part of the first team picture. The signing of £6 million Chris Sutton further pushed Burchill down the pecking order, and in September 2000 he moved to Birmingham City on a three-month loan, making his debut in a 2–0 home win over Tranmere Rovers.^[2][3] Burchill went on to score five goals in 17 games (10 as a substitute) during the spell.^[4] Birmingham wanted to complete the deal but were unable to agree personal terms with the player.^[5]

In February 2001, Burchill was sent on another three-month loan until the season's end at Ipswich Town,^[6] scoring once against Bradford City.^[7]

[edit] Portsmouth

During the off-season Burchill was signed by Portsmouth for an initial fee of £600,000. He showed his potential immediately at his new club. After making his debut against Stockport County he netted a brace in his next game against Grimsby Town.^[8] However, he then suffered a knee injury after less than a month which put him out of action for 10 months.^[9] He recovered in time to start the 2002–03 season in fantastic form,^{[citation needed]} but under new manager Harry Redknapp he fell down the pecking order and was made available for transfer.^[10] He was loaned out to Dundee from February 2003 to the end of the season.^[11]. At Dundee he managed to make it to the 2003 Scottish Cup Final, where Dundee where narrowly beaten by Rangers.

During the 2003–04 season he was loaned out to firstly to Wigan Athletic, and then Sheffield Wednesday.^[12][13] However, he failed to score for either club and neither moved to make the deal permanent.^[14][15] Starting the 2004–05 season as fifth-choice striker,^{[citation needed]} Burchill went on loan to Rotherham United, hoping to impress enough to restart his career. However, after only a month and one goal against Crewe Alexandra^[16] he was injured and returned to Portsmouth,^[17] where he was pushed further down the pecking order by the return to fitness of long-term injured striker Vincent Péricard.^[18]

[edit] Hearts

On 28 January 2005, Burchill was allowed to leave Portsmouth on a free transfer after spending two years out of favour. He chose to return to Scotland and sign for Hearts, where he remained until the end of the season.^[19]

[edit] Dunfermline Athletic

On 6 July 2005, he joined Dunfermline Athletic^[20] where he scored 12 league goals in 31 games in his first season, despite the club struggling in the bottom half of the table. He signed a year's extension to his contract with "the Pars" in December 2006.^[21] In April 2008, Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre announced that Burchill had been offered a new contract but had decided to leave the Scottish First Division side in order to "pursue other avenues".^[22]

[edit] Rotherham United

On 11 June 2008, Burchill signed a two-year deal with Rotherham United, where he previously enjoyed a loan spell during their Championship campaign.^[23][24] He scored his first goal for the Millers in the 1–1 draw away at Dagenham & Redbridge.^[25] However, Burchill was unable to find a ergular place in the starting eleven, and his contract was terminated after the 2008–09 season.^[26]

[edit] Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies had tried to sign Burchill in 2008 when the player chose to join Rotherham. In July 2009 Burchill joined the Scottish Premier League team in Italy for pre-season training, was reported to be "looking very sharp",^[27] and signed a one-year deal with the club in August.^[28] He injured his Achilles tendon in a friendly match against Burnley, an injury which eventually required surgery,^[29] and resumed training in mid-October.^[30]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mark Burchill career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at londonhearts.com