Mark Draper
{{short description|English footballer (born 1970)}}
{{about|the English footballer|other people}}
{{use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Mark Draper
| image =
| fullname = Mark Andrew Draper{{Hugman|5439|accessdate=23 October 2016}}
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=10}}{{cite book |last1=Chalk |first1=Gary |last2=Holley |first2=Duncan |last3=Bull |first3 =David |title=All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC| year=2013| location=Southampton |publisher=Hagiology Publishing|isbn=978-0-9926-8640-6|page=303}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|11|11|df=y}}
| birth_place = Long Eaton, England
| currentclub =
| position = Midfielder
| youthyears1=
| youthclubs1=
| years1 = 1988–1994 | clubs1 = Notts County | caps1 = 222 | goals1 = 41
| years2 = 1994–1995 | clubs2 = Leicester City | caps2 = 39 | goals2 = 5
| years3 = 1995–2000 | clubs3 = Aston Villa | caps3 = 120 | goals3 = 7
| years4 = 2000 | clubs4 = → Rayo Vallecano (loan) | caps4 = 4 | goals4 = 0
| years5 = 2000–2003 | clubs5 = Southampton | caps5 = 24 | goals5 = 1
| years6 = 2009 | clubs6 = Dunkirk | caps6 = | goals6 =
| totalcaps = 409 | totalgoals = 54
| nationalyears1 = 1991
| nationalteam1 = England U21
| nationalcaps1 = 3 | nationalgoals1 = 0
}}
Mark Andrew Draper (born 11 November 1970) is an English football coach and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a midfielder from 1988 to 2003, notably in the Premier League for Leicester City, Aston Villa and Southampton. He also played in Spain for Rayo Vallecano and in the Football League with Notts County. He represented England at under-21 level. In 2009, he briefly came out of retirement for non-league side Dunkirk.
Since retiring Draper had a spell as kit man for former side Notts County but has since moved into coaching and runs a football training centre for children in Nottingham.
Playing career
Draper began his career as a product of the youth system at Notts County, making his professional debut in December 1988. A talented midfielder, he became recognised by County supporters as one of the most gifted young players ever developed at the club.{{cite web|url=http://www.nottscounty-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=EDZ3&id=102515 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030911015235/http://www.nottscounty-mad.co.uk/news/loadfeat.asp?cid=EDZ3&id=102515 |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 September 2003 |title=Former Greats – Notts. County FC – Notts County Mad Index |website=Nottscounty-mad.co.uk |access-date=13 January 2016}} After attracting the attention of a number of bigger clubs, Draper was finally sold during the 1994 close season to Leicester City for £1.25 million – a record fee for the club at the time.
Draper spent the entire 1994–95 season at Filbert Street, playing 39 times in the Premier League (to which they had just been promoted) and scoring five goals, although it was not enough to prevent relegation for a side who were never out of the bottom two after November. Despite this he was called up to the England squad by Terry Venables.{{cite news
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-venables-places-emphasis-on-youth-1616294.html
|title=Venables places emphasis on youth
|work=The Independent
|date=19 April 1995 |access-date=22 October 2014}}
His form attracted the attention of Aston Villa, who paid £3.25 million to keep him in the Premier League. Over the next four seasons Draper became a regular in the Aston Villa starting line-up, helping them to a League Cup win in 1996. He received another call up to the England squad, this time by Glenn Hoddle for a World Cup qualifier against Moldova.{{cite news
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-le-tissier-has-goals-to-achieve-under-hoddle-1311729.html
|title=Football: Le Tissier has goals to achieve under Hoddle
|work=The Independent
|date=27 August 1996 |access-date=28 October 2014}} However, he stayed on the bench and was ultimately never capped for the senior team.
Draper fell out of favour in the 1999–2000 season, appearing in only one game to bring his Villa total up to 120 league appearances (7 goals), and was loaned to Rayo Vallecano in Spain. He was sold during that close season to Southampton for £1.5 million. By then approaching veteran stage, Draper added another 24 top flight appearances (with one goal against Middlesbrough){{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1186191.stm
|title=Boro downed by Saints
|publisher=BBC Sport
|date=24 February 2001 |access-date=7 November 2009}} for the Saints before leaving the game.
Later career in non-league football
Draper made a brief playing comeback in 2009, signing for non-league side Dunkirk.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Notts-legend-Draper-signs-Dunkirk/article-638575-detail/article.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505125758/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Notts-legend-Draper-signs-Dunkirk/article-638575-detail/article.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |title=Notts County legend Mark Draper signs for Dunkirk |website=Thisisnottingham.co.uk |date=24 January 2009 |access-date=13 January 2016 }}
Draper was enticed back into the local non league game by Paul Rawden who took Draper to East Midlands Counties Football League side Radford as coach and the pair saved the club from relegation, Draper then followed Rawden to Arnold Town for the 2012–13 season for a brief spell before they both left the club.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Personal life
He is currently involved in property development.[http://www.truegreats.com/player.asp?p=171&c=106] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501214618/http://www.truegreats.com/player.asp?p=171&c=106 |date=1 May 2006 }} In 2009, he rejoined his old club Notts County as their kit man.{{cite web |url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/sport/Notts-boss-McParland-Relax/article-1324367-detail/article.html |title=Notts County boss Ian McParland has told his players to stay calm in the face of huge expectation |website=Thisisnottingham.co.uk |date=10 September 2009 |access-date=13 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091024094804/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/sport/Notts-boss-McParland-Relax/article-1324367-detail/article.html |archive-date=24 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}
He currently works with ex-Aston Villa footballer Dave Norton at their soccer school "Draper Norton Football", based in Nottingham.{{cite web|title=What is Mark Draper doing now|url=http://premierleagueheroes.moonfruit.com/mark-draper/4553951565|website=Prenier League Heroes|access-date=13 January 2016}}{{cite web|title=Who we are|url=http://www.dnfcoaching.com/#!draper-norton-football/component_14104|publisher=DNF Coaching|access-date=13 January 2016}}
Career statistics
| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | ||||||||||
| rowspan=2|Club
!rowspan=2|Season !colspan=3|League !colspan=2|FA Cup !colspan=2|League Cup !colspan=2|Other !colspan=2|Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| rowspan=8|Notts County | ||||||||||
| 1988–89{{cite web |url=http://www.enfa.co.uk/playersearch.php |title=Player search: Richards, DI (Dean) |website=English National Football Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 October 2022}}
|20 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3{{efn|name=FLT|Appearances in Associate Members' Cup}} | 0 | 24 | 3 | |
| 1989–90
|Third Division |34 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3{{efn|name=FLT|Appearances in Associate Members' Cup}} | 1 | 40 | 4 | |
| 1990–91
|45 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5{{efn|name=FMC+PO-1991|Appearances in Full Members' Cup (2 appearances, 1 goal) and play-offs (3 appearances)}} | 1 | 58 | 10 | |
| 1991–92
|35 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2{{efn|name=FMC|Appearances in Full Members' Cup}} | 1 | 40 | 3 | |
| 1992–93
|44 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2{{efn|name=AIC|Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup}} | 0 | 49 | 12 | |
| 1993–94
|44 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8{{efn|name=AIC|Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup}} | 2 | 59 | 18 | |
| colspan=2|Total
!222||41||10||2||15||2||23||5||270||50 | ||||||||||
| Leicester City
|39 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | colspan=2|— | 43 | 5 | ||
| rowspan=7|Aston Villa | ||||||||||
| 1995–96
|Premier League |36 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | colspan=2|— | 49 | 5 | ||
| 1996–97
|Premier League |29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2{{efn|name=UEL|Appearances in UEFA Cup}} | 0 | 33 | 0 | |
| 1997–98{{soccerbase season|2161|1997|access-date=24 October 2022}}
|Premier League |31 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7{{efn|name=UEL|Appearances in UEFA Cup}} | 0 | 43 | 3 | |
| 1998–99{{soccerbase season|2161|1998|access-date=24 October 2022}}
|Premier League |23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4{{efn|name=UEL|Appearances in UEFA Cup}} | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
| 1999–2000{{soccerbase season|2161|1999|access-date=24 October 2022}}
|Premier League |1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan=2|— | 1 | 0 | ||
| colspan=2|Total
!120||7||10||2||12||2||13||0||155||11 | ||||||||||
| Rayo Vallecano (loan)
|1999–2000{{cite web|url=https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/j/j1926.html |title=Games played by Mark Draper in 1999/2000 |publisher=bdfutbol.com |access-date=27 October 2022}} |4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan=2|— | 4 | 0 | ||
| rowspan=4|Southampton | ||||||||||
| 2000–01{{soccerbase season|2161|2000|access-date=27 October 2022}}
|Premier League |22 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | colspan=2|— | 27 | 1 | ||
| 2001–02{{soccerbase season|2161|2001|access-date=27 October 2022}}
|Premier League |2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | colspan=2|— | 3 | 0 | ||
| colspan=2|Total
!24||1||4||0||2||0||0||0||30||1 | ||||||||||
| colspan=3|Career total
!409||54||26||4||31||4||36||5||502||67 |
Notes
{{notelist}}
Honours
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Soccerbase}}
- [http://espnfc.com/england/players/drapermark.html ESPN Soccernet profile]
- [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=17377 Aston Villa fan site profile]
- [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=17378 Southampton fan site profile]
- [http://www.astonvillaplayerdatabase.com/395.html Aston Villa profile]
{{1993–94 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Mark}}
Category:Sportspeople from Long Eaton
Category:Footballers from Derbyshire
Category:English men's footballers
Category:English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Category:England men's under-21 international footballers
Category:Men's association football midfielders
Category:Notts County F.C. players
Category:Leicester City F.C. players
Category:Aston Villa F.C. players
Category:Rayo Vallecano players
Category:Southampton F.C. players
Category:English Football League players