Hateley: Mark Wayne (Mark)

1996-1996 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Wallesey, Liverpool: 07-11-1961

Debut: v Sheffield Wednesday (h): 20-08-1996

6’2” 13st (1998)

Son of former Liverpool and Chelsea striker, Tony Hateley, Mark started his professional career with First Division Coventry City in December 1978, aged seventeen. After a handful of games in the first two seasons he broke into the Sky Blue’s first team, under Gordon Milne, becoming a regular in the latter part of the 1980-81 season, after he had had a short loan period with Detroit Express where he got two goals in nineteen appearances. He made eighty-six starts and six from the bench in League matches scoring twenty-five goals at Highfield Road before Bobby Campbell took him to Second Division Portsmouth for £190,000 in June 1983 and his career really blossomed, as he was selected for the England under-twenty-ones and then a substitute appearance for England against Russia in a friendly. He was only with Pompey for one season, scoring twenty-two goals in thirty eight games, before AC Milan secured his services for £1 million and he joined Ray Wilkins at the San Siro, effectively replacing another England player Luther Blissett, who had returned to Watford. Highly respected in Italy, Hateley played sixty-six times and scored seventeen goals during his three year stay with AC Milan, but in the final season he was used mainly from the bench and only scored twice. French club, AS Monaco, had to part with £2 million to bring Hateley to the principality where he enjoyed a two year stint under Arsene Wenger and alongside his England teammate Glenn Hoddle. With regular football he quickly found his scoring touch once more, scoring twenty-two times in fifty-nine appearances, but he could not regain his England place as the Lineker/Beardsley combination was too potent. He joined Rangers for £500,000 in June 1990 and had his most happy and productive part of his career there, becoming the first non-Scottish player to win the country’s Player of the Year award in the 1993-94 season. He formed a striking partnership with Ally McCoist which was deadly in Scottish football. He scored eighty-five goals in one hundred and sixty-five League games, including seven substitute appearances, and a total of one hundred and eleven in two hundred and five starts and ten substitute appearances and was revered by the Rangers fans as one of there best ever strikers. Hateley didn't receive the warmest of welcomes when he joined Rangers from Monaco in 1990. It was amazing that fans questioned the ability of a man who had spent three years with AC Milan, won thirty-two England caps and played regularly at the highest level. The fans doubts were ended when Hateley scored two goals against Aberdeen at Ibrox delivering the championship to Rangers in his first season. His greatest season at Ibrox was the 1992-93 season when he provided a seemingly endless list of highlights for the Rangers faithful. Perhaps the most remembered was his outstanding display against Leeds in the European Cup. Hateley scored with a magnificent twenty-five-yard left foot volley and then set up Ally McCoist's diving header with an inch perfect cross making it 2-0. This was something that Leeds fans found hard to forget. He left Rangers to join his ex-England, Rangers and AC Milan teammate, Ray Wilkins, at Queens Park Rangers in November 1995, for £1,500,000 but failed to fire in the EPL in a struggling QPR team which were duly relegated. A short loan spell with Leeds was not a success and he returned to QPR to finish his time there with only three goals from twenty-seven league appearances, nine of which were from the bench. However, in 1997, with Rangers trying to win their ninth title in a row, and with a huge injury list, manager Walter Smith desperately needed a striker, and re-signed Hateley for £300,000 for the vital game against Rangers' biggest rivals, Celtic. Rangers won the game 1-0, but Hateley was sent off. However, most commentators thought that the mere presence of Hateley had given Rangers a psychological advantage and that it was a signing that had paid off. Rangers eventually won the league, with the game versus Celtic seen as the unofficial clincher. After just one goal from four appearances Hateley bid farewell once more to Ibrox and joined Hull City as player-manager on a free transfer. Hull struggled in the lower reaches of the English League in his less than two year stay and after playing a total of twenty-nine times including twelve from the bench he was forced to leave with Hull close to extinction. He had two games for Ross County in the lower Scottish League but called time on his football career in September 1999. He worked as a commentator for Setanta on Scottish League games and also worked in an ambassadorial role for Rangers. He played thirty two times for England of which twelve were as substitute and scored eight times, while at Under-Twenty-one level he scored eight times in ten starts.