Mark Anthony Delaney (born 13 May 1976) is a Welsh former professional footballer who manages Coventry City under-21s. He played for Carmarthen Town, Cardiff City and Aston Villa as a right-back. He is also a former member of the Wales national team, gaining 36 caps during his career. In doing so, he became the first player to progress from the Cymru Premier to the senior national side.
Early life
Mark Anthony Delaney was born on 13 May 1976. Delaney was raised in Goodwick, Pembrokeshire by his parents Mike and Angelina. He is of Italian descent, with his maternal grandparents having moved to Wales after World War II. He attended Ysgol Bro Gwaun (located in Fishguard). He is a fluent Welsh speaker.
Club career
Carmarthen Town and Cardiff City
As a youngster, Delaney played in the youth system at Manchester United but was released after he was deemed too small. Delaney joined League of Wales side Carmarthen Town in 1996, later becoming club captain at 20 years of age. between his purchase and his sale to Aston Villa eight months later on 9 March 1999 for £500,000. Delaney had been travelling to an away match with Cardiff against Brighton & Hove Albion when he was informed of the transfer by manager Frank Burrows on their arrival.
Aston Villa
The day after his transfer was completed, Delaney's father drove him to Birmingham and he travelled with the first-team for their match against Derby County. One month later, Delaney was handed his Premier League debut by manager John Gregory, replacing Steve Stone in the final ten minutes of a 3–1 victory over Nottingham Forest on 24 April 1999. but was informed by the surgeon that it was unlikely that Delaney would return to playing football following extensive surgery. However, on 15 August 2007, he announced his retirement from football due to his injury problems.
Coaching career
On 5 September 2007, Delaney stated he was hoping to go into coaching, and in 2008, Delaney re-joined Aston Villa as a youth coach. In 2015, Delaney was named head coach of the Aston Villa F.C. Under-23s squad.
On 8 January 2021, Aston Villa were forced to name a squad full of academy players for an FA Cup third round tie against Liverpool due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Villa's Bodymoor Heath Training Ground. First team coach Dean Smith was unable to attend as he had to self-isolate, so Delaney acted as first team coach for that game. Aston Villa lost the game 4–1, but were praised for the performance of their young, inexperienced side.
On 20 May 2022, it was announced that Delaney had left Aston Villa, after 14 years at the club in various coaching roles.
On 7 September 2023, Delaney was appointed lead professional development phase coach at Coventry City, who will take charge of the under 18s. On 9 August 2024, Delaney was appointed a first-team coach at the club along with under 21s coach John Dempster. On 30 November 2024, Delaney was appointed the club's new senior professional development phase coach taking charge of the under-21s.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="3"|Carmarthen Town
|1996–97
|rowspan="2"|League of Wales
|24||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||24||2
|-
|1997–98
|rowspan="9"|Premier League
|2||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||2||0
|-
|1999–2000
|28||1||5||0||3||0||0||0||36||1
|-
|2000–01
|19||0||0||0||1||0||1||0||21||0
|-
|2001–02
|30||0||0||0||1||0||8||0||39||0
|-
|2002–03
|12||0||0||0||1||0||4||0||17||0
|-
|2003–04
|25||0||0||0||5||0||0||0||30||0
|-
|2004–05
|30||0||1||0||1||0||0||0||32||0
|-
|2005–06
|12||1||3||0||1||0||0||0||16||1
|-
|2006–07
|0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!158!!2!!9!!0!!13!!0!!13!!0!!193!!2
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!244!!5!!14!!1!!15!!0!!18!!0!!291!!6
|}
Honours
;Aston Villa
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001
Individual
- PFA Team of the Year: 1998–99 Third Division