BOTD: MARK PROCTOR

Former Sunderland midfielder Mark Proctor (the first person pictured in the front row) was born on this day in Middlesbrough in 1961. He played 136 games for us in total, scoring 23 times.

Proctor was seen as a gifted midfielder with good technical ability and close control. In his youth he had a brief trial with Leeds before signing for his hometown club Boro in 1975. Initially a schoolboy, he turned pro in ‘78. He played regularly for three seasons, making over 100 appearances, before transferring to Nottingham Forest in 1981 where he won two of his five England under-21 caps.

Mark’s return to the North East came in ‘83, initially signing for Sunderland on loan under Alan Durban. He made his first appearance for us in a 1-1 draw against Swansea and was involved in the build-up to Gary Rowell’s late equaliser. His ability to switch the direction of play with a quick pass was something the crowd appreciated, and it certainly made the difference in a few games. It was said that when Proctor’s loan was coming to an end, Sunderland were keen to make the move permanent but money was tight.

The ball-playing midfielder had to return to Forest for the rest of the season, but at the end of 82/83 Durban was able to negotiate with Proctor’s manager, Brian Clough, and pay £115,000 to secure his services. The following season, he became one of the first names on the teamsheet due to his consistency featuring in all but one match. It was a good season for Proctor on a personal level, netting against Watford and Arsenal - plus Cambridge United in the League Cup.

However, having remained a regular in the side under Durban’s replacement Len Ashurst, the midfielder sustained a big injury at Newcastle on New Year’s Day 1985 which kept him out of action for almost a year. It also meant he would miss the latter stages of our Milk Cup run and was unable to play at Wembley against Norwich. Who knows, if he’d been available we might have just had the edge over the Canaries.

By the time Mark returned to fitness, Lawrie McMenemy was in charge and things had turned sour. It says a lot that despite playing in less than half of the games in 85/86, Proctor was named Player of the Year with seven goals to his name. The following year, he played an unhappy role in Sunderland’s struggles, missing a vital penalty in a 2-3 home defeat to Barnsley which condemned the Lads to the relegation play-offs, and then missing another in the second leg of the play-off with Gillingham. However, he could still hold his head high having contributed to that season more than most - he had even scored twice in the first leg, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.

Clearly too good to play in the Third Division, Mark was sold for decent money to Sheffield Wednesday in Division One in September 1987. Despite our failure on the pitch he was sold for twice the amount he was bought for, having been involved in the opening weeks of Denis Smith’s tenure as we aimed to escape the Third Division at the first time of asking.

The former England youth international made a homecoming to Boro in March 1989, for £300,000, which came too late to save them from relegation but he returned to the top flight following their promotion in 1991/92. A year later he was off to Tranmere for a couple of seasons before moving north of the border for a year at St Johnstone that preceded spells at South Shields and Hartlepool before hanging up his boots in 1998 and setting about getting his coaching badges.

Along with Dave Parnaby, he developed Boro’s academy and helping them to win the FA Youth Cup in 2004 before becoming reserve team manager. After a spell assisting at Darlo, Tony Mowbray took him to Hibs as a coach, and when Uncle Tony was sacked in 2006, Proc took the reins for a while. He managed Livingston for the 2007-8 season, but got the boot in the summer and moved back to Teesside to coach the under 18s. His old mate Tony went back to the Boro in 2010 and promoted Proc to first team coach, but when he was sacked three years later, Proc also left.

Since then there’s been the MP Academy on Teesside, which is “grass roots football with the aim of inspiring motivated and talented footballers to achieve their goals” and works to support the work done by local clubs. Basically, helping kids make the most of what they have football-wise.