“I enjoyed my three years at Wednesday. They had a really good group of young and older players including the likes of Chris Waddle, who was coming towards the end of his career, and Des Walker. They were really experienced players at that time.”
The then 28-year-old benefited from the introduction of the Bosman rule, which meant players could move to a new club at the end of their contract without their old club receiving a fee.
“My contract was coming up and the Bosman free transfer was in its second season, so it just fell right for me to be on a free transfer and I was around 28 years of age,” he said.
“In the first year there weren’t many people moving about because I think players were testing the water with it. That next year a lot happened and I was one of the players who moved abroad.”
He moved to Portugal to play for Benfica along with several British players recruited by Liverpool legend Graeme Souness during his managerial tenure. Mark only spent one season at the club before returning to England. Despite struggling with a small injury during his time there, he enjoyed his experience and when looking back at it, was quick to point out the differences in relation to the way the game was played.
“It’s a very different style of football and they saw the game differently. They regarded what players were doing on the ball as more important than what they were doing off the ball.
“We had some very talented players in that squad, and it was a good time.
“It was unfortunate that the manager got the sack because the new man who came in didn’t want any of the British players around, so we agreed and they found new clubs for us.”
After just one season, 19 appearances and one goal, Mark joined First Division side Everton for a fee of £800,000.
Upon arrival at Everton, Mark wasn’t initially a starter but his skill, high work rate and shooting ability was recognised early on by then Everton manager Walter Smith. By the winter of 1999 the Welshman, nicknamed “Bilbo”, became an established First Team player and went on to play the majority of matches for the Merseyside club.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all plain sailing for the left-midfielder, who picked up a calf injury which saw him sidelined and limited his contribution for the rest of his time at the club.
“My initial injury problems started in Benfica. I spent about four years at Everton under [Walter] Smith and David Moyes so I enjoyed my spell there.”
Mark’s contract at Everton would end with a match against their fiercest rivals.
“I always remember, we were playing Liverpool on the Saturday and I got a call on the Friday evening from my very nervous agent. I told him I was due to play in the game and he wanted me to ‘make sure I didn’t get injured.’ Before one of the biggest derbies in England!
“That was my last game at Everton and the deadline came up that weekend. I then moved down to Fulham. I signed on the Sunday and went straight off to play for Wales for 12 days before returning.”
He was sold to the Whites at the end of the 2002/03 season on transfer deadline day for £750,000.
His first goal for the club came against neighbours Chelsea during his first season which was injury free. He continued to feature heavily the following year with 37 appearances overall before missing most of the 2005/06 season after his frustrating calf injury returned.
Mark was very open in admitting the difficulties he went through during his long and often lonely spells out injured.
“It was difficult staying motivated,” he confessed. “I kept pulling my calves all the time for unknown reasons. Towards the back end of my time at Fulham I ended up having four operations in two years. Three on my calves and one on my achilles.
“Looking back at it, I was quite lucky that it didn’t happen at the start of my career. It was frustrating though because you’d play a game, you’d do all of your rehab, do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t pull again and then you’d get back in training with the first team and pull it.
“Then you’re straight back to stage one. You then build it back up, play two or three games in the First Team, then it would go again.”
He was later released by new manager Lawrie Sanchez at the end of the season, before making the decision to retire in 2007.
“My heart wanted to keep playing but mentally, when you see players coming in to do rehab after you but returning to football before you, it has an effect. I was often doing rehab by myself.”
Before Mark’s calf injuries prematurely ended his career, he still managed an incredible 54 appearances on the international stage for Wales.
“Representing Wales was very special.
“During the period I was involved, there was a transition within football at the time. I was playing with Ian Rush, Dean Saunders, Gary Speed was a couple of years older than me and Ryan Giggs was a couple of years younger.
“I then got to see the next generation coming through with names like Craig Bellamy and Simon Davies.
“It was great to represent my country and I always got a buzz from playing for Wales,” he added.
His long career for both club and country saw him share the pitch with several legends of the game, but who really stood out?
“I think of different players for different reasons. I played in the Welsh team with players like [Ian] Rush, Mark Hughes and Kevin Ratcliffe.
“When I first started out, I saw a brilliant goalkeeper like Neville Southall. Rush had a knack for just popping up and scoring from one chance which made him the striker he was.
“Then I see a young Wayne Rooney coming through at Everton and you’re playing with one of the greatest centre-halves in England at the time in [Des] Walker.”
Before his playing career came to an end, Mark took his coaching badges at the club alongside the likes of Lee Clark and Mark Crossley before obtaining his A-licence.
He has since spent over 11 years at Fulham and worked with the Under-16s and 18s before becoming joint Under-23s Head Coach alongside Colin Omogbehin.
He has worked with several youngsters who have since gone on to forge successful careers and he reflects on the most rewarding aspects of his job.
“The most rewarding thing is seeing them progress. You teach them on the training pitch with little pointers and individual bits that help them go on to reach the next level. Every individual is different and every individual needs different things to succeed.
“You have to identify what they haven’t got or what they could improve on to help them get to the next level.”
Our Under-23s are sure to benefit from Mark’s unbelievable experiences.