Hateley: Mark Wayne (Mark)
1996-1996
(Leeds
Player Details)(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. The
England Youth International scored twenty-five goals from eighty-six starts and six games
from the bench in League matches, together with six more in eleven F.A. Cup appearances,
of which one was as a substitute, and three more in eight starts in the League Cup at
Highfield Road before Bobby Campbell took him to Second Division Portsmouth for £180,000
on 6th June 1983. His career then really blossomed, as he was selected for the England
Under-Twenty-Ones and he was instrumental in England winning the 1984 UEFA European
Under-Twenty-One Football Championship, scoring six goals in the knockout stages. He then
made a substitute appearance for England against Russia in a friendly at Wembley on 2nd
June 1980, when he came on in the seventieth minute for Trevor Francis. He made his
starting debut eight days later in a fine 2-0 win over Brazil at the Maracana in Rio de
Janeiro and he scored his first, and England's vital second goal, in the sixty-fifthy
minute. He was only with Pompey for one season, scoring twenty-two goals in thirty-eight
League starts together with one in two F.A. Cup ties and two in four League Cup starts,
before AC Milan secured his services for £915,000 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,
on 1st June 1987, to bring Hateley to the principality where he enjoyed a three 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, picking up a French League Championship medal in 1988, but he could not regain
his England place as the Lineker/Beardsley combination was too potent. He joined Rangers for
£500,000 on 19th July 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. He was revered by the Rangers fans as one of
their best ever strikers and it was certainly a fruitful association as he won five
consecutive Scottish League championship medals fro 1990-91 to 1994-95, together with two
Scottish Cup winners' medals in 1991-92 and 1992-93 and three Scottish League Cup winners'
medals in 1990-91, 1992-93 and 1993-94. However, initially, Hateley didn't receive the
warmest of welcomes when he joined Rangers from Monaco before the start of the 1990-91
season. 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 make 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 on 25th September 1995,
for £1,500,000 but he failed to fire in the EPL in a struggling QPR team that was duly
relegated. A short loan spell with George Graham's Leeds United 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. He did however score twice in five F.A. Cup
appearances, including two from the bench and he also played ine game as a substitute in
the League Cup but did not find the net. 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, on 14th March 1997, for the vital game the
following Sunday against Rangers' biggest rivals, Celtic at Parkhead. Rangers won the game
1-0, but Hateley was sentoff. 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
at the end of the season and joined Hull City as player-manager on a free transfer on 15th
July 1997. Hull struggled in the lower reaches of the English League. He scored just three
goals in twelve starts and ten games from the bench in the League as well as starting five
and being used twice as a substitute in the League Cup in his less than two year stay. After
playing a total of twenty-nine times including twelve from the bench he was forced to leave,
on 11th November 1998, with Hull close to extinction. He had two games for Ross County in
the lower Scottish League but called time on his football career on 14th September 1999. He
worked as a commentator for Setanta on Scottish League games and also worked in an
ambassadorial role for Rangers and writes a Rangers column for the Scottish Daily Record.
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 and also
represented England Youth. His son, Tom, plays as a midfielder for Motherwell.