M25 Mark Hateley

Biography

Highly decorated international striker Hateley joined City as player-manager in July 1997, heralding a new era of goals, promotion and success fuelled by the 35 year old’s inevitable twenty goals per season and David Lloyd’s multi-million investment. Erm. Well not quite. His first senior game saw the Tiger Faithful turn out en masse at Mansfield Town, only for Iseyden Christie to burst Hateley’s bubble. And while the big man was able to attract some truly marquee signings to lowly Hull City – David Rocastle, Glyn Hodges, David Brown – his management style could best be described as stand-offish while his form on the pitch was erratic and ineffective.

Hateley played only a supporting role as a player, keen to focus on his management tasks amongst other things. The Tigers beat Swansea City 7-4 in Hateley’s fourth League game in charge, lifting the side off the bottom of the table, but such results were rare false dawns. City were hovering perilously in the bottom two as the closing weeks of the season approached, suffering a horrid defeat at already relegated Doncaster Rovers, but Hateley’s side won three of the last five games to secure League survival.

Retained for the 1998/99 season, the story remained the same. Hateley scored the first of his three goals for the club in August 1998 against Chester City, but by early October 1998 the Tigers were rock bottom of the League Division 3 table and hurtling inexorably towards the Conference National League. He was sacked in November 1998 by chairman David Lloyd, initiating one of the club’s most famous six month periods in its history, the Warren Joyce Great Escape.

Mark Wayne Hateley was born in Derby, his father Tony was a professional footballer who played up front for Notts County at the time. Tony’s career took him to Chelsea, Liverpool, Coventry City and Birmingham City but his family remained in the Derby area. As a schoolboy Mark was involved with the Nottingham Forest youth team setup but was not handed a contract by Forest manager Brian Clough. Cowed by this rejection, Hateley joined Division One side Coventry City when he left school in 1978 and made his first team debut in May 1979, the final day of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Hateley made a handful of further appearances in the 1979/80 season and spent the summer of 1980 honing his skills in the North American Soccer League, scoring twice in 19 appearances for Detriot Express and playing alongside several of his younger Coventry City team mates. He won a more regular first team place in the 1980/81 season, scoring his first senior goal in a December 1980 League Cup tie against Watford and ending the season with five goals. The 1981/82 season saw Hateley become of Division One’s prominent goalscorers, netting eighteen times including a May 1982 hattrick against Southampton in a match that ended a 5-5 draw. He added another eleven goals in the 1982/83 season and broke into the England under-21 team, by May 1983 Hateley had scored 34 goals for the Sky Blues in 111 appearances.

Now standing at six foot three inches with equal prowess with the ball at his feet or in the air, Mark had become hot property yet in May 1983 he made a less-than-expected move to Division Two side Portsmouth, the £300,000 transfer fee being decided by a tribunal. He thrived at the lower level of football and despite Pompey finishing in mid-table Hateley notched 25 goals in all competitions including two hattricks in four November 1983 days against Cambridge United and Grimsby Town. His stock had grown further and he was starting to attract attention from England senior manager Bobby Robson. Four weeks after winning his first England cap Mark was sold to Italian giants AC Milan for a £1 million fee – he was now a striker of international standing.

He quickly ingratiated himself with the Milan supporters by scoring an October 1984 winner in the derby match against arch city rivals Internazionale, for two seasons he scored regularly in domestic football and also netted twice in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup. His third season at Milan saw Mark score only two goals, taking his tally domestically to 21 goals in 86 appearances. In July 1987 a fee of over £2 million was paid by French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco, whose new manager Arsene Wenger made Hateley his first signing. Living in the same apartment block as Ayrton Senna and Boris Becker, Hateley lived the high life on the Mediterrenean coast and scored handsomely in both the French League and the European Cup after Monaco won the Ligue 1 title in the 1987/88 season. In three seasons Mark netted 24 times in 68 appearances.

In July 1990 Hateley took a significant pay cut when he returned to the British Isles and signed for Scottish Premier League giants Glasgow Rangers, a £1 million fee being paid. Hateley found his footballing home at Ibrox and became a fans’ hero thanks to his goals and his robust playing style. He formed key partnerships with high quality teammates such as Ally McCoist, Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne, scoring relentlessly and winning a flurry of medals – in five seasons he won five Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish Cup winners medals and three Scottish League Cup winners medals. He also contributed to five campaigns in the European Cup/Champions League – over five seasons Hateley scored 112 goals in 218 appearances for Glasgow Rangers.

Hateley made only four appearances in the opening months of the 1995/96 season and in November 1995 he transferred to English Premier League side Queens Park Rangers for a fee of £1.5 million. But the injuries that had started to limit his playing time at Glasgow Rangers had a similar impact at Loftus Road and Mark made just 33 appearances over two seasons, scoring five goals. In August 1996 he returned briefly to the Premier League when he joined Leeds United on loan, but after two months and only six appearances he went back to QPR. Hateley’s final game for QPR came against Reading in March 1997, four days later he headed north and rejoined Rangers on a short term deal – his second Rangers debut against Glasgow Celtic ended early and unsatisfactorily, a naughty head butt on Celtic goalkeeper Stewart Kerr leading to an Auld Firm red card. Hateley made four more appearances for Rangers in this second spell and scored one goal ahead of joining Hull City in July 1997.

Hateley had a brief spell playing for Scottish Second Division side Ross County in September 1999 but after just two appearances he hung up his boots for the final time. He never returned to management, choosing instead for follow a second career in the media, often acting as pundit for big matches featuring his former clubs, principally Glasgow Rangers.

Hateley was a decorated international striker throughout the peak of his career. He announced himself in the grand style, scoring twice in his April 1982 England Under-21 debut against Poland. He made his 10th appearance for the Under-21s in May 1984, having scored four goals against France three months earlier – in total he scored eight goals. By this time Hateley had attracted the attention of England’s senior team boss Bobby Robson who handed him a debut in June 1984 against USSR. His first international goal came eight days later against Brazil, a match more widely remembered for John Barnes’ remarkable slaloming opening goal. He was a regular pick for the next four years, making three appearances in the Mexico 1986 World Cup finals and adding another three appearances off the bench in the West Germany 1988 European Championships. Hateley scored nine goals for his country and won his 31st England cap in June 1988 against USSR, neatly completing the circle – however four years later in March 1992, while in his Glasgow Rangers pomp, he won a 32nd cap against Czechoslovakia.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 7 November 1961, Derby, England

Appointed by Hull City: 15 July 1997; 35 years, 250 days old
Left Hull City: 10 November 1998; 37 years, 3 days old
Tenure: 483 days

Clubs Managed

Hull City (1997-1998)

Hull City Record

Playing Record: Played 76, Won 17, Drawn 14, Lost 45, Goals For 82, Goals Against 133
Achievements: 22nd in League Division 3, 1997/98 season

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