Mark Pembridge

Early career

Pembridge began his career at Luton Town in the First Division. He joined as a trainee in 1989.

Derby County

Having established as a left midfielder, 21-year old Pembridge signed for Derby County by manager Arthur Cox in the summer of 1992 for a fee of £1.25 million. He racked up 140 appearances and netted 37 goals over his time with Derby and played at Wembley twice – once in a 3–1 defeat to Cremonese in 1993 and then in a 2–1 defeat to Leicester City in the 1994 Football League First Division play-off final. Pembridge moved to Premier League Sheffield Wednesday for a fee of £900,000 in the summer of 1995.

Sheffield Wednesday

Pembridge played for Wednesday in the Premier League until 1998, when he left for Portuguese side Benfica on a free transfer after Wednesday finished 16th in the season.

Everton

Pembridge struggled to settle in Portugal and returned to England after one season, signing a contract with top-flight side Everton for £800,000. Pembridge had a good first two seasons at Everton, with his tenacious approach and thrusting runs from deep establishing the Welshman as an integral part of Everton's squad, thus securing him an excellent rapport with the Goodison Park faithful. However, testing times were around the corner for Pembridge, with a persistent calf injury meaning he only played 13 games in the 2001–02 season. The injury still bothered him during the 2002–03 season, but Pembridge still played a part in a…

Pembridge was called up to play for Wales while at Luton in 1991. He had several highlights while playing for Wales, including scoring arguably his best career goal against Ukraine in 2001 and reaching the qualifying playoffs for Euro 2004, despite narrowly losing to Russia. Pembridge quit the national team in 2004 shortly after John Toshack was named as the new Wales manager. He announced his international retirement in 2005, ending speculation that he might return to play for Wales. He played 54 times for Wales, scoring 6 goals.

On 4 September 2007, Fulham confirmed that Pembridge had stayed on at the club as a coach for the academy. He would later become Under-15s and U16s Coordinator for the club. He left Fulham in October 2021.