Mark Boyd

Mark was released from the Carlisle United school of excellence at the age of 14 and joined the Academy at Newcastle United after a successful trial. He left St James' Park in May 2002 on a free transfer to League One side Port Vale after being recommended to the "Valiants" manager Brian Horton by Bobby Robson. However, he suffered a broken ankle with a couple of months of the season remaining. Boyd never really forced his way back into the reckoning the following season as Vale were challenging for the play-offs in League One, and he was released by mutual consent in 2004 to join Carlisle United until the end of the season. For the next two seasons, Boyd could not forge a longer-term deal with a club and ended up playing bit-part roles for Carlisle United, Gretna, Macclesfield Town, and finally Accrington Stanley, before eventually signing for Conference side Southport before the 2006–07 season. His Southport career began disappointingly with a missed penalty in the team's first game of the season. The next year he transferred to Sligo Rovers in the Republic of Ireland. In January 2008, he was back in England with Barrow of the Conference North. In May 2008, Barrow beat Staylybridge Celtic 1–0 to gain promotion back into the Conference National via the Conference North play-offs. Boyd remained a key part of the Barrow squad during their first two seasons in the Conference National, culminating in the club's 2–1 victory over Stevenage in the 2009–10 FA Trophy final. In the…

Boyd was appointed Celtic Nation player-manager in July 2014; at the time of his appointment, the club were undergoing a crisis after a moneyed investor withdrew his support for the club. The club finished second-from-bottom in the 2014–15 campaign, before folding in the summer. He joined Northern League side Shildon as a coach in May 2017, but left after four months. He returned to Penrith as a player-coach in July 2018.

After retiring as a player, Boyd went on to commentate on Barrow games for BBC Radio Cumbria.

Barrow

Conference North play-offs: 2008 FA Trophy: 2010 Celtic Nation

Northern Football League Division One second-place promotion: 2013–14