Mark Howard (defender)

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Mark Howard
Personal information
Date of birth January 29, 1986 (1986-01-29) (age 22)
Place of birth    Salford, England
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Brøndby IF
Number 5
Youth clubs
 ?–2006 Manchester United
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2006– Brøndby IF 044 0(1)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Mark Howard (born 29 January 1986) is an English football player, who plays as a defender for Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga.

[edit] Biography

Born in Salford, Greater Manchester, Howard attended Hope High School, Salford, with fellow Manchester United youth player, Phil Bardsley. Howard began his career playing for the Barr Hill Lads Club in Salford, Manchester. He signed for professional club Manchester United as a junior player, and played a number of years in the youth and reserve teams of the club. Having failed to make an impact in the first team of Manchester United, Howard was amongst seven United players given a free transfer at the end of the 2005-06 season.[1]

Mark moved to multiple Danish Superliga champions Brøndby IF. Brondby had recently hired Manchester United reserve team coach René Meulensteen as manager. Howard participated in training sessions and played a friendly match against German team FC Nürnberg, before signing a three-year contract with Brøndby on 28 July 2006.[2] He made his senior debut for Brøndby in August 2006, and played 13 of 18 league games as Brøndby finished in seventh place after the first half of the 2006-07 Superliga season.

When Meulensteen left the club in January 2007, new manager Tom Køhlert brought in Danish defender Mikkel Bischoff in contention for Howard's place in the central defence. When Bischoff suffered an injury, Howard proved himself once again and continued in the starting 11 for the rest of the season. He was also a part of the Brøndby team which won the 2006-07 Royal League cup on March 15, 2007. In the final match of the cup, Howard received a penalty kick, which Martin Ericsson converted to a goal, securing Brøndby a 1-0 win over F.C. Copenhagen.

Having secured his place in the starting eleven during the first half of the 2007-08 season, Howard was awarded the player of the year in Brøndby on 1 December 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Released by Manchester United, ManUtd.com, 24/5/06.
  2. ^ (Danish) Howard er nu Brøndbyspiller, Brondby.com, 27/7/06.

[edit] External links

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Brøndby IF – current squad

2 T. Andersen • 4 Nielsen • 5 Howard • 6 Holmén • 7 Lorentzen • 8 Daugaard • 9 Retov • 10 Ericsson • 13 Madsen • 16 S. Andersen • 17 Duncan • 18 von Schlebrügge • 19 Peguero • 20 Gíslason • 21 T. Rasmussen • 22 M. Rasmussen • 23 Spelmann • 24 Bischoff • 25 Mikkelsen • 26 Jensen • 28 Katongo • 30 Tørnes • 31 Williams • 32 Randrup • 33 Berthelsen • 40 Cramer • 41 Agger • Manager: Køhlert