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Date and Place of Birth 24th January 1970 - BIRMINGHAM
Transfers to and from Burnley from BIRMINGHAM CITY - 30th August 1991 (£40,000) to DONCASTER ROVERS - 1st August 1993 from CHELTENHAM TOWN - 1st July 2004 (player/coach) released - 6th January 2006
First and Last Burnley Games DONCASTER ROVERS (a) - 31st August 1991
MANSFIELD TOWN (a) - 23rd January 1993 sub: replaced Louie Donowa
Other Clubs BIRMINGHAM CITY, LINCOLN CITY (loan from BURNLEY) ---------------------------------------- DONCASTER ROVERS, CHELTENHAM TOWN, KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS (loan) |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1991/92 | 9(8) | 1 | 0(2) | - | - | - | 2(1) | - | 11(11) | 1 |
| 1992/93 | 0(1) | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1(1) | - |
| Total | 9(9) | 1 | 0(2) | - | 1 | - | 2(1) | - | 12(12) | 1 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
Mark Yates was the final piece in Frank Casper's promotion jigsaw when we signed him from Birmingham for £40,000 in August 1991 just after the start of the season that was to see us finally depart the basement division.
It never really worked out quite like that for either Yates or Casper with the manager leaving the club, and the game, just over four weeks later and Yates never able to establish himself in the side.
Birmingham born, he signed for his home town club and made his debut for them whilst still 17, but it was not to be the start of a glittering career with the Blues and in August 1990 he was loaned out to Colchester who were just beginning life outside the Football League having finished bottom of Division Four.
He did get back into the Birmingham side on his return and played in the 1990 Leyland-Daf Trophy Final. He played in a side that also included John Gayle, Nigel Gleghorn and Vince Overson and they run out 3-2 winners against Tranmere with Gayle netting twice.
By the following August he was on his way out of St. Andrew's and scored himself on his Burnley debut, a 4-1 win on a 'sunny afternoon in Donny'. It was to be his only Burnley goal, scored past Paul Crichton.
Casper had heralded the signing but he never really fit into Jimmy Mullen's plans. The new manager preferred John Deary and Andy Farrell in his midfield, and when he signed Adrian Randall the opportunities for Yates were even fewer.
He did play in seventeen of the league games that season although only nine of them were starts, and in his second season the appearances got even less with no league starts at all. He twice went out on loan during that 1992/93 season. He again moved into the Conference with Kidderminster and then back into the Football League with Lincoln.
During the summer of 1993 Doncaster recruited three players from Burnley, and Yates was one of them. His stay at Belle Vue was even shorter than at Burnley and after just a year he returned to Kidderminster, this time on a permanent basis.
He played Conference football with Kidderminster for almost five years before making the move to Cheltenham Town in January 1999 for £25,000 and playing his part in their promotion run in.
He was a regular for Steve Cotterill's Cheltenham having won their place in the Football League and was in their side when they beat Burnley in the FA Cup in 2002, just over a decade after he'd signed for us. In 2003/04 season he returned to Kidderminster and that's where he ended his playing career, just about.
That summer he rejoined Steve Cotterill when his former manager replaced Stan Ternent at Burnley. His official role was reserve team coach but he was also involved with the first team and such was the shortage of players that he was named as a substitute on a number of occasions.
In the first pre-season game played under Cotterill, Yates scored at Accrington, but it didn't lead to any competitive action during his time at Burnley. He was with us for a year and a half but in January 2006 left to return once more to Kidderminster Harriers, this time as manager, being replaced at Burnley by Steve Davis.
Yates had never made any sort of impact as a player at Burnley but had certainly done so as a coach and is doing so now as a manager. He played at Wembley for Birmingham back in 1991 and in 2007 returned to the new Wembley with Kidderminster in the FA Trophy Final where they were beaten by Stevenage and also secured a top half finish in his first full season in charge.
He did well overall at Kidderminster in almost four years in charge before moving into the Football League as Cheltenham Town manager in Christmas week 2009. He kept Cheltenham in the Football League and in 2011/12 steered them into the League Two play offs and was rewarded with a new contract.
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