Mark McKee

Mark Anthony McKee (born 1 December 1998) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for NIFL Premiership Cliftonville.

Mark McKee
Personal information
Full name Mark Anthony McKee[1]
Date of birth (1998-12-01) 1 December 1998
Place of birth Northern Ireland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Cliftonville
Youth career
2012–2015 Cliftonville
2015–2017 Stevenage
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Stevenage 33 (1)
2019–2020 Cliftonville 4 (1)
2020 Warrenpoint Town 2 (1)
2020- Cliftonville 0 (0)
National team‡
2014–2016 Northern Ireland U17 6 (1)
2016– Northern Ireland U19 3 (1)
2018 Northern Ireland U21 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 February 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 April 2017

McKee began his career at Cliftonville before signing a scholarship with English League Two club Stevenage in 2015. He broke into the Stevenage first-team during the 2016–17 season. McKee spent four years at Stevenage before being released by the club at the end of the 2018–19 season. He has also represented Northern Ireland at U17 and U19 level. McKee rejoined Cliftonville in October 2019.

Club career

Early career

McKee began his career on schoolboy terms with NIFL Premiership club Cliftonville, before signing for Stevenage for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2015.[3] The move came about after he had impressed then-Stevenage coach Darren Sarll who was watching a Northern Ireland U16s match in Belfast.[3] Sarll was there to finalise the signing of Nathan Kerr, but also ended up enquiring about McKee joining Stevenage on scholarship terms.[4]

Stevenage

He played in a number of Stevenage's pre-season friendlies ahead of the 2016–17 season, and subsequently signed his first professional contract in August 2016.[5] He continued to feature predominantly for the club's U18 side during the campaign, and signed "an extended deal" with the Hertfordshire club in February 2017.[6] McKee made his professional debut in April 2017, coming on as a 71st minute substitute in a 4–0 away loss to Colchester United.[7] After the match, he was singled out for praise by Sarll, now the club's manager, who stated "Mark can be anything he wants. He can be the best one we have ever blooded. In all the years back, even extending back to George Boyd, this boy can be a very good player".[3] Two weeks later, on 22 April 2017, he made his first starting appearance, playing the opening 55 minutes as Stevenage fell to a 1–0 defeat to Mansfield Town at Broadhall Way.[8]

Following on from his two appearances in the first-team the previous season, McKee opened the 2017–18 season with a place in the starting line-up, playing as a striker in Stevenage's 3–3 draw against Newport County on the opening day of the campaign.[9] He made a sporadic number of appearances in the first three months of the campaign without cementing his place in the first-team.[10] This changed after he was deployed in a midfield role in Stevenage's 1–1 home draw against Coventry City on 21 November 2017, earning Man of the Match for his performance and also being described as possessing "the most amazing awareness and intelligence to his play" by manager Sarll after the match.[11][12] Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace stated there had been interest from a number of Championship and Premier League clubs for McKee during the 2018 January transfer window,[13] with the club discouraging bids for the player as they believe he will develop faster playing first-team football as opposed to "being lost in the U23 environment of a Premier League club".[13] McKee scored his first professional goal on 3 February 2018, courtesy of a low drilled shot in a 3–2 defeat at Accrington Stanley.[14] He made 29 appearances during the campaign, scoring once, in what was McKee's breakthrough season as a first-team regular.[10]

Despite appearing regularly for Stevenage the previous campaign, McKee played just once during the first half of the 2018–19 season.[15] He returned to the first-team as a 79th-minute substitute in a 1–0 home loss to Bury on 9 March 2019.[16] McKee ended the season coming on as a substitute in Stevenage's last four matches as the club finished in tenth position in League Two, one point off of the play-off places.[15][17] He made eight appearances during the season.[15] McKee was released by Stevenage at the end of the season.[18]

Cliftonville

McKee rejoined his former academy club Cliftonville on 10 October 2019.[19]

International career

Having featured regularly for Northern Ireland's U17 side for two years,[20] McKee was then called up to the Northern Ireland U19 side in October 2016 for their three 2017 UEFA European U19 Championship qualification group matches.[20] He featured in all three matches, scoring once.[21][22][23]

Career statistics
As of match played 27 April 2019
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stevenage 2016–17[24] League Two 2000000020
2017–18[10] League Two 24130101[lower-alpha 1]0291
2018–19[15] League Two 7000001[lower-alpha 1]080
Career total 331301020391
  1. Appearance(s) in the EFL Trophy

References
  1. "EFL Released and Retained List 2015–16". English Football League. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. "Soccerway – Mark McKee". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  3. "Best since Burnley star Boyd, says Boro boss". Hertfordshire Mercury. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  4. "The Big Interview: McKee reflects on Stevenage ascent". Stevenage F.C. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  5. "Player Profile – Mark McKee". Boroguide. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  6. "Mark McKee signs new deal". Stevenage F.C. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  7. "Colchester United 4–0 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 8 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  8. "Stevenage 0–1 Mansfield Town". BBC Sport. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  9. "Stevenage 3–3 Newport County". BBC Sport. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  10. "Games played by Mark McKee in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  11. "Stevenage 1–1 Coventry City". BBC Sport. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  12. "Mark McKee: Stevenage boss Darren Sarll praises midfielder's maturity". BBC Sport. 22 November 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  13. "Phil Wallace's inside story on the January Transfer Window". Stevenage F.C. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  14. "Accrington Stanley 3–2 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  15. "Games played by Mark McKee in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  16. "Stevenage 0–1 Bury". BBC Sport. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  17. "League Two Table – 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  18. "Stevenage retained / released list". Stevenage F.C. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  19. "Mark McKee: Cliftonville sign former academy player after Stevenage departure". BBC Sport. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  20. "UEFA Profile – Mark McKee". UEFA. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  21. "Northern Ireland U19 0–1 Slovakia U19". UEFA. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  22. "FYR Macedonia U19 1–2 Northern Ireland U19". UEFA. 8 October 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  23. "Poland U19 3–0 Northern Ireland U19". UEFA. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  24. "Games played by Mark McKee in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
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