With Dundee travelling to West Lothian to face Livingston this weekend, we take a look at a striker who played for both clubs, Mark Burchill. Burchill enjoyed a loan spell with Dundee in 2003 where he played in the Scottish Cup Final and at Livi became player/manager where he led them to Challenge Cup success.
Burchill was born in Broxburn but grew up Livingston, and started his footballing career with Celtic after being spotted playing schools football for St Margaret’s Academy in the West Lothian town.
After coming through the Celtic youth ranks, Burchill made his Hoops debut as a half time substitute in a 2-1 League Cup defeat at Aidrieonians in August 1998. Three days later Mark made his SPL debut at home to Dundee United and he came off the bench just after the hour to score the winner in a 2-1 win.
In his first three seasons at Celtic Park Burchill scored 20 Scottish Premier League goals in only 17 starts, with 33 appearances as a substitute. This prolific return saw him earn a call up to the Scotland squad and he made his debut against Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1999, winning six caps in total.
While playing for Celtic against Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg in the qualifying round of the 2001 UEFA Cup, Burchill scored the fastest-ever hat-trick in a European club match. However, successive managers failed to see the Scotland international as a part of the first team picture and with the signing of £6 million Chris Sutton pushing Mark further down the pecking order, he moved to Birmingham City on a three-month loan in September 2000, making his debut in a 2–0 home win over Tranmere Rovers.
Burchill went on to score five goals in 17 games (10 as a substitute) and so Birmingham wanted to make the deal permanent but were unable to agree personal terms with the player. Instead in February 2001, Burchill went on loan again until the end of the season, this time to Ipswich Town where he scored once against Bradford City in the English Premiership.
During the summer Burchill was signed by Portsmouth for a £900,000 fee and showed his potential immediately by scoring a double in his second game against Grimsby Town. However, a knee injury suffered after less than a month put him out of action for 10 months but he recovered in time to start the 2002/03 season in fantastic form.
Under new manager Harry Redknapp however he fell down the pecking order and by Christmas was made available for transfer. In February Dundee manager Jim Duffy raided his old club and took Burchill on loan to the end of the season and he made his Dark Blue debut as a second half sub at Tannadice in a 1-1 derby draw with United.
Burchill came off the bench again in the next game which saw The Dee knock Aberdeen out the Scottish Cup 4th round with a 2-0 win at Dens. This sent the Dark Blues into the quarter-finals where they were drawn against Falkirk at Brockville and after the 1-1 draw in the first game, Mark was on the scoresheet in the replay with a vital strike.
The Bairns had shocked the large home crowd by taking the lead on the half hour with a stunning strike from Stuart Taylor but Fabian Caballero equalised just before the break. With no further scoring in the second half the game went to extra time and four minutes into the restart Burchill gave Dundee a vital lead.
Further goals from Steve Lovell gave Dundee a 4-1 win but Burchill would miss the semi-final with Inverness at Hampden due to his partner giving birth.
That goal against Falkirk was Burchill’s second in three days having scored against his old club Celtic in a 1-1 draw at Dens and he made it three in three when he opened the scoring at Fir Park the following weekend in a 2-1 win against Motherwell which confirmed The Dee’s place in the top six.
At the end of May Dundee lined up against Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final at the National Stadium and Burchill was given a start ahead of Nacho Novo, Beto Carranza and Stevie Milne who were all on the bench. Novo would come on to replace Mark with 20 minutes left, with the Dark Blues chasing a 1-0 deficit but they couldn’t get an equaliser and the Cup went to Govan.
That would prove to be Burchill’s last game in a Dundee shirt as he returned to Portsmouth only to be loaned out to first Wigan and then Sheffield Wednesday but failed to score for either club.
Starting the 2004/05 season as fifth-choice striker at Fratton Park, Burchill went on loan to Rotherham United, hoping to impress enough to restart his career. However, after only a month, and one goal against Crewe Alexandra he was injured and returned to Portsmouth where he was pushed further down the pecking order by the return to fitness of long-term injured striker Vincent Péricard.
In January 2005, Burchill was allowed to leave Portsmouth on a free transfer and he returned to Scotland to sign for Hearts, where he remained until the end of the season. In July he joined Dunfermline Athletic where he scored 12 league goals in 31 games in his first season, despite the club struggling in the bottom half of the table and signed a year’s extension to his contract with the Pars in December 2006.
In April 2008, Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre announced that Burchill had been offered a new contract but had decided to leave the Scottish First Division side in order to “pursue other avenues”.
In the summer, Burchill returned to Rotherham United on a two year deal but he left at the end of the season and joined Kilmarnock. Killie manager Jim Jefferies had tried to sign Burchill before he signed for The Millers and would scored once in 17 appearances for the Rugby Park side.
Burchill became a free agent after his contract with Kilmarnock expired and in September 2010 Burchill, having received several offers to move abroad, agreed to sign for Cypriot First Division side Enosis Neon Paralimni.
On March 25th 2013, Burchill was named as a player/assistant manager of his home town team Livingston when manager Richie Burke was given the job on a permanent basis. However, Burchill was not eligible to play before the end of the 2012/13 season due to his international clearance not being received in time and didn’t make his competitive debut until July in a Scottish Challenge Cup match away Berwick Rangers.
Burchill scored his first Livi goal in a 5-1 SPFL Championship win over Cowdenbeath in September and his second was the winner in a 1-0 victory over at Dens in January.
By then Burchill was assistant to John McGlynn after Burke departed for personal reasons but when the former Hearts boss left by mutual consent in December 2014, Mark was appointed caretaker manager.
As manager he lead the club to success in the 2014/15 Scottish Challenge Cup when they defeated Alloa 4-0 in the final at McDiarmid Park, having knocked Hearts out 4-1 in the 2nd round and also saved the side’s Scottish Championship status on the final day.
Midway through the following season, Burchill was sacked with the club sitting second bottom in the Championship and he left Almondvale having scored three goals in 37 appearances as a player and hung up his boots for good.
Honours at Dundee
Scottish Cup runners-up: 2002/03
Appearances, Goals
League: 7 + 4 subs, 2 goals
Scottish Cup: 1 + 3 subs, 1 goal
Totals: 14, 3 goals
