Mark Nicholas Higgins (born 29 September 1958) is an English former footballer who played at centre back for Everton, Manchester United, Bury and Stoke City.
Career Born in Buxton, Derbyshire, Higgins is the son of former Bolton Wanderers's centre-back John Higgins. Higgins represented England schoolboys prior to signing for Everton.
Higgins joined Everton as an apprentice and earned his first team debut for the Toffees on 5 October 1976. He made a total of 183 appearances for the club, scoring 6 goals. Higgins later picked up a severe injury, which forced him to temporarily retire from the game in May 1984.
Defying all expectations, Higgins returned to the game 18 months later, when he joined Manchester United for £60,000 in December 1985. He made his Manchester United debut in a 2–0 home win over Rochdale in the FA Cup Third Round on 9 January 1986. However, he was unable to recover the form he had shown while with Everton and, after just eight appearances for United (six league, two cup), he was allowed to go on loan to Bury in January 1987 before the transfer was made permanent in February 1987 for a fee of £10,000.
At Gigg Lane Higgins played 82 times for the club in three seasons before joining Stoke City in September 1988. He played 37 times for Stoke in 1988–89 scoring once against Chelsea. In 1989–90 he played nine times for Stoke before being released at the end of the season. He then joined Burnley on trial but injured his back and decided to retire from playing. He now does stadium tours for Everton.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsEverton1976–77First Division20000000201977–78First Division2611050003211978–79First Division2010000202211979–80First Division1900050202601980–81First Division20000000201981–82First Division2931020003231982–83First Division3915020004711983–84First Division1400050001901984–85First Division0000000000Total152670190401826Manchester United1985–86First Division6020000080Total6020000080Bury1986–87Third Division2200000202401987–88Third Division4101050305001988–89Third Division5000300080Total680108050820Stoke City1988–89Second Division3313000103711989–90Second Division6000201090Total391302020461Career total26571302901103187
A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Trophy, Full Members' Cup and UEFA Cup.
References
External links Profile at StretfordEnd.co.uk Profile at MUFCInfo.com