Mark Burchill

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Personal information
Mark Burchill
Full name	Mark James Burchill
Date of birth	August 18, 1980 (age 26)
Place of birth	Broxburn, Scotland
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Dunfermline Athletic
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-2001 2000 2001 2001-2005 2003 2003 2003-2004 2004 2005 2005-	Celtic → Birmingham City (loan) → Ipswich Town (loan) Portsmouth → Dundee (loan) → Wigan Athletic (loan) → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) → Rotherham United (loan) Hearts Dunfermline Athletic	50 (20) 13 0(4) 07 0(1) 24 0(8) 11 0(2) 04 0(0) 05 0(0) 03 0(1) 12 0(3) 43 (12)
National team²
1999-2000	Scotland	6 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:20, 4 February 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of July 18, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Mark James Burchill (born 18 August 1980) is a Scottish professional football player. He is a striker, and currently plays for Dunfermline Athletic in Scottish Premier League.

Mark grew up in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, where 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 1997/1998 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.

However, successive managers failed to see the Scotland international as a part of the first team picture. The signing of £6million Chris Sutton further pushed Burchill down the pecking order, and in September 2000 moved to Birmingham City on a 6 month loan, making his debut in a 2-0 home win over Tranmere Rovers.

Burchill went on to score five goals in 17 games (10 as a substitute) during the spell. Birmingham wanted to complete the deal but couldn't agree personal terms with the player.

Following his loan at Birmingham, Burchill was immediately sent on another 6 month loan until the season's end at Ipswich Town.

During the off-season Burchill was signed by Portsmouth for £1 million. He showed his massive potential immediately at his new club. After making his debut against Stockport County he netted a brace in his next game against Grimsby Town.

However, he then suffered a knee injury after less than a month which put him out of action for 10 months. He recovered in time to start the 2002/03 season in fantastic form, but more injuries meant he fell down the pecking order, and was loaned out to Dundee in from February 2003 to the end of the season.

During the 2003/2004 season he was loaned out to firstly to Wigan Athletic, and then Sheffield Wednesday. However, he failed to score for either club and neither moved to make the deal permanent.

Starting the 2004/05 season as 5th choice striker, Burchill went on loan to Rotherham United, hoping to impress enough to restart his career. However, after only a month he was injured and returned to Portsmouth, where he was pushed further down the pecking order by the return to fitness of long-term injured striker Vincent Pericard.

On 28 January 2005, Burchill was allowed to leave Portsmouth on a free transfer after spending two years out of favour, he chose to sign for Hearts where he remained until the end of the season.^[1]

On 6 July 2005, he joined Dunfermline Athletic^[2] where he scored 12 league goals in 31 games in his first season, despite the club struggling at the bottom half of the table. He signed a years extension to his contract with "the Pars" in December 2006^[3]

[edit] Trivia

Burchill holds the record for scoring the fastest hat-trick in a European match; while playing for Celtic against Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg in 2000.