Mark Bradley (footballer, born 1988)


Mark Simon Bradley is a Welsh international former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Walsall and Rotherham United. He is currently employed as the strength and conditioning coach at Walsall.

Club career

Walsall

Bradley made his Walsall and career debut on the final day of the 2004–05 season in the match at home to Stockport County. He made a few appearances in the following two seasons before breaking into the first team in 2007–08. He scored his first career goal in Walsall's 3–2 victory at Doncaster Rovers on 2 October 2007 and his second came in Walsall's 4–0 victory at Huddersfield Town the next game. His third came in Walsall's 2–0 victory at Northampton Town and set up a goal for Ishmel Demontagnac on 24 November 2007. One day before the January transfer window, Bradley, along with Troy Deeney and Anthony Gerrard, signed a new contract, keeping them until 2010. At the end of the season, Bradley was named the Saddlers' young player of the year.
The following season, Bradley maintain his first team at Walsall. In the second half of the season, he scored against Brighton & Hove Albion in a 3–0 win on 17 March 2009 and four days later, he scored again in a 1–0 win over Leyton Orient. The following season, Bradley once again maintain his first team at Walsall. Between the 2008–09 season and 2009–10 season, he made 28 appearances.
He was released by Walsall on 10 May 2010 along with six other players.

Rotherham United

On 7 July 2010, he joined League Two side Rotherham United on a two-year contract after Ronnie Moore confirmed his interests signing him. On the opening game of the season, he made his debut, coming on as a substitute, in a 2–1 win over Lincoln City. With eighteen appearance, Bradley struggled in the first team and was placed on the loan listed However, the move never happened and made a few appearance later on. On the last game of the season, he provided an assist for Ryan Taylor in a 3–1 win over Torquay United.
Shortly after, the club placed Bradley on the transfer list. Manager Andy Scott explained his actions on selling Bradley, stating that he's keen to sell him in the summer. Eventually, he made four appearance at the start of the season, before suffering dislocated shoulder during a match against Sheffield United in the Football League Trophy and expected to be out for four-months and prior the surgery, he needs a surgery by using a knife to repair his shoulder injury Despite the injury, Scott praised Bradley for his comeback, proving Scott wrong. After appearing twice on the substitute bench being un-used, Bradley made his return from injury, where he scored an own-goal in a 3–2 loss against Dagenham & Redbridge on 28 January 2012. After the match, manager Scott felt the club's defence cost them the match as the main reason. His performance led Scott changing his mind about him, that he has a big future at Rotherham United and still has a big role at the club. On 20 March 2012, he scored his first goal for the club in a 4–2 victory over Macclesfield Town. During the season, Bradley would play in three different roles – centre defence, midfield and right-back.
At the start of the 2012–13 season, Bradley continued his first team role, under new manager Steve Evans, who started as Rotherham United manager in April succeeding Andy Scott, just one month left until the end of the season. In the first round of League Cup, Bradley missed the penalty in a shoot-out, allowing Hull City to go through to the next round after the match was played all the way to penalty shoot-out. In the first round of FA Cup, Bradley scored in a 3–2 win over Stevenage and scored again in the FA Cup in a second round replay win over Notts County after a draw earlier. Bradley scored his first league goal of the season in a 3–2 loss against Wycombe Wanderers. Shortly after the end of the season, on 2 May 2013, Bradley was offered and accepted a new contract by Rotherham United.
At the start of the 2013–14 season, Bradley found himself in the competitions with Richard Brindley over first-choice right-back and managed to dispatch until the arrival of James Tavernier. Bradley scored his first goal of the season, on 5 October 2013, with a header in the first half, in a 1–0 win over Brentford. Bradley have praised his teammates for their good display in recent games. Bradley then scored his second goal of the season on 11 March 2014, but then twisted his knee and was substituted, as Rotherham United beat Oldham Athletic. After this, Manager Steven Evans remained optimistic that Bradley's injury wasn't serious. However, it was announced that Bradley would be out of the 2013–14 season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, in which Rotherham United were promoted to League, Bradley was offered a new contract for a new season.
However, in the 2014–15 season Bradley made no single appearance for the club in all competitions throughout the season due to his failure to recover from injury. As a result, Manager Steve Evans was keen to loan out Bradley to get first team experience, but this never happened. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Bradley was one of five players released, later retiring through injury.

International career

Bradley has been a regular for the Wales National football Team at various youth levels. He was called into the senior national squad for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein on 14 October 2009, in which Wales won 2–0, and Bradley was an unused substitute. Bradley made his debut for the Wales national football team on 23 May 2010 against Croatia at the Stadion Gradski.

Coaching

After his retirement from playing, Bradley spent two years out of the professional game before rejoining Walsall as strength and conditioning coach in May 2017.

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United