Marc Pugh

Marc Pugh

Personal information
Full name	Marc Anthony Pugh
Date of birth	(1987-04-02) 2 April 1987
Place of birth	Bacup, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder / Winger / Striker
Club information
Current club	Bournemouth
Number	7
Youth career
000?–2004	Burnley
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2006	Burnley	0	(0)
2005	→ Kidderminster Harriers (loan)	5	(1)
2006	→ Kidderminster Harriers (loan)	2	(0)
2006–2007	Bury	41	(4)
2007–2009	Shrewsbury Town	44	(4)
2008	→ Luton Town (loan)	4	(0)
2009	→ Hereford United (loan)	9	(1)
2009–2010	Hereford United	40	(13)
2010–	Bournemouth	123	(26)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:44, 27 April 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Marc Anthony Pugh (born 2 April 1987) is an English footballer who plays for Bournemouth. He plays mainly as a winger but can also play as a midfielder and sometimes a striker.

Pugh started his career with Burnley, where he progressed through the youth system. He was released by the club having made his first team while on loan at Kidderminster Harriers and signed a short-term contract with Bury in 2006. He later signed a professional contract at the club and after rejecting an extended contract in 2007 he signed for Shrewsbury Town. He was loaned out to Luton Town and Hereford United, joining the latter permanently in 2009 and leaving after a season to sign for Bournemouth.

Career

Burnley

Pugh was born in Bacup, Lancashire and attended All Saints Catholic Language College in Rawtenstall. He started his career with First Division side Burnley where, at a young age, he started as a Centre of Excellence player, and gradually worked his way up through the ranks to become an apprentice in 2003. As a first year apprentice he played for the youth and reserve teams and due to his great goalscoring record, which led him to be named on the bench for two first team matches in the League Cup, they decided to keep him on for a third year. As a third year apprentice he scored 15 goals for the club's reserve and youth team. This led to him to being sent out on loan to Kidderminster Harriers in the Conference National in November 2005 to play first team football. He made his debut for Kidderminster after coming on as a 86th minute substitute in a 3–1 defeat to Stevenage Borough. He converted a Simon Heslop cross during a match against Dagenham & Redbridge to score his first career goal, which helped Kidderminster to a 3–1 victory. Also, during a match he displayed a smart piece of skill which involved flicking the ball over an opponents head with his heel, then crossing the ball in for a teammate to score; this move was featured on Soccer AM's showboating section. He returned to Burnley on 13 December 2005 after picking up a groin injury, but eventually returned for a second spell on 7 January 2006. This spell ended on 26 January 2006 so Pugh could concentrate on his career at Burnley and made 10 appearances and 1 one goal while at Kidderminster. He learned that he would not receive a professional contract at Burnley in February, which was partly because both Chris McCann and Kyle Lafferty had both already received professional contracts and they were only second year apprentices.

Bury

Having just been released from Burnley, Pugh started looking for a new club, and was eventually offered a place at League Two side Bury on a short-term contract following a three-week trial at the club. Bury were entangled in a relegation battle and Pugh made his debut after coming on as an 80th minute substitute for Lewis Gobern in a 2–1 win against Rochdale on 25 March 2006. He marked his first start for Bury with a goal from 10 yards in the 1–1 draw against Lincoln City on 15 April, after which manager Chris Casper commented "Mark's a good player and he's got a bright future if he keeps his feet on the ground". He finished the 2005–06 season by playing six games and scoring one goal for the club. As a result of his good performances, and helped by the fact that Bury had survived relegation, Bury manager Chris Casper offered him a new one-year contract at Gigg Lane; his first professional contract. Pugh was very much a regular first-team player in the 2006–07 season, playing particularly well in the first half of the season and was offered an extended contract at the club, which Pugh rejected, saying he "wanted to keep his options open". Manager Chris Casper revealed his disappointment at this and Pugh later said financial reasons were not behind his motivation to reject a new contract. He was offered renewed contracts throughout the season but still took none of them, with Casper blaming his agent for this.

Shrewsbury Town

With many clubs interested in his services, Pugh eventually signed for fellow League Two side Shrewsbury Town on 29 May 2007 for a fee that would be decided by a tribunal. Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters revealed that he had already attempted to sign him earlier in the season as part of a swap deal when striker Glynn Hurst moved to Bury. He made his debut in a 4–0 victory over Lincoln City, setting up Andy Cooke for the third goal with a cross. He suffered from an injury in November and underwent a scan, which was believed to be a cartilage problem. Days after discovering the results of the scan, which revealed he was suffering from acute tendinitis, he returned to training. He scored his first goal for Shrewsbury on his return in a 4–0 victory over Dagenham & Redbridge, turning in a Marc Tierney cross in the 78th minute before assisting Tierney for Shrewsbury's final goal. He went on to score a further two goals that season following the arrival of Paul Simpson as manager, and finished the 2007–08 season with 38 appearances and 4 goals.

After struggling to feature in the team at the start of the 2008–09 season, he joined fellow League Two side Luton Town on a one-month loan on 12 September 2008. His debut came in a 3–1 victory over Aldershot Town a day later, after which manager Mick Harford said "He is an out and out winger, and he put in some good crosses. But he hasn't played a lot of football this season and he maybe faded a bit". He returned to Shrewsbury after playing four games in a Luton shirt. He was loaned out to League One team Hereford United on 26 March 2009 and made his debut two days later in a 1–0 defeat against Huddersfield Town. Pugh scored the equalising goal for Hereford against Hartlepool United on 4 April 2009, making the score 2–2, although Hereford eventually lost 4–2. He finished the loan spell with nine appearances and one goal. He was released by Shrewsbury after having the remaining year of his contract cancelled on 26 June 2009.

Hereford United

Four days after his release from Shrewsbury, Pugh re-joined Hereford on a permanent basis following their relegation to League Two, signing a one-year contract on 30 June 2009. He finished the 2009–10 season as Hereford's top goalscorer with 13 goals in 46 appearances.

Bournemouth

He left Hereford at the end of the season after rejecting a new two-year contract and joined newly-promoted League One team Bournemouth on 4 June 2010 for a fee that would be decided by a tribunal. He made his debut in the opening game of the 2010–11 season, a 1–0 defeat at Charlton Athletic on 7 August 2010 and his first goal of the season came after heading in a Liam Feeney cross in a 5–1 victory over Peterborough United on 14 August.

Career statistics

As of match played 27 April 2013.

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Burnley	2003–04	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2004–05	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2005–06	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Kidderminster Harriers (loan)	2005–06	Conference National	5	1	0	0	—		1	0	6	1
			2	0	0	0	—		2	0	4	0
Bury	2005–06	League Two	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
	2006–07	League Two	35	3	4	1	1	0	1	0	41	4
	Total		41	4	4	1	1	0	1	0	47	5
Shrewsbury Town	2007–08	League Two	37	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	38	4
	2008–09	League Two	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	0
	Total		44	4	1	0	0	0	1	0	46	4
Luton Town (loan)	2008–09	League Two	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Hereford United (loan)	2008–09	League One	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
Hereford United	2009–10	League Two	40	13	2	0	1	0	3	0	46	13
	Total		49	14	2	0	1	0	3	0	55	14
Bournemouth	2010–11	League One	41	12	2	1	1	0	3	0	47	13
	2011–12	League One	42	8	2	0	2	1	3	3	49	12
	2012–13	League One	40	6	4	2	1	0	1	0	46	8
	Total		123	26	8	3	4	1	7	3	142	33
Career total			268	49	15	4	6	1	15	3	304	57