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Mark “Tinks” Tinkler (born 24 October 1974 in Bishop Auckland, England) is a professional footballer who currently plays for Hartlepool United in League One.

Tinkler started his career in Leeds United’s youth team. Tinkler was part of the youth team that made the FA Youth Cup Final and played against a Manchester United side that fielded a mass of future internationals including David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt. Leeds United won 4-1 on aggregate. In 1993 Tinkler was promoted to the first team aged 18 and made his debut in the 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United. However, Tinkler fond his opportunities scarce at Leeds and he was mostly used as midfield cover. In his first four seasons at Leeds, Tinkler started just 19 first team matches and made 5 substitute appearances.

During the 1996/97 season, In order to gain more first team appearances Tinkler was loaned to York City. Tinkler made 9 appearances for the Minstermen. After being sold by Leeds, he joined them permanently for a fee of £75,000. Mark Tinkler went on to play a key role for York in the 1997/98 season and played in all but 2 of their 46 league matches, scoring 4 goals in the process. Tinkler made a similar impact for the following season and added another 36 league appearances to his tally.

When York’s ex-manager Alan Little became the new manager of Southend, Mark Tinkler decided to follow him and he was signed in time for the 1999/00 season. Mark Tinkler’s first season at Southend was a successful one and he managed to make 41 league appearances. Mark Tinkler started his second season at Southend strongly but it was unfortunately cut short after he fell off his ladder.

Mark Tinkler on the front cover of Victoria Parklife

The following season saw Tinkler sign for Hartlepool despite protests from the Southend fans. Tinkler’s Hartlepool debut came against Scunthorpe and he immediately cemented his place in the first team and he formed a formidable partnership alongside Paul Stephenson and Tommy Miller. He managed to play a pivotal role in helping Hartlepool make the play-offs making 30 appearances, scoring 3 goals.

The following season saw Tinkler score more goals than he had done previously in his whole career as he managed to notch up 9 goals and once again help Hartlepool make the play-offs. Tinkler followed this season through and was part of Hartlepool’s promotion winning team and he once again broke his goals season totally, this time notching 13 goals in 45 starts. One of Tinkler’s most notable performances came in the 4-3 win against Wrexham where he managed to score his first hattrick. During the following seasons, Tinkler would once again play a vital part in Hartlepool’s team as he helped establish them in League 1. Unfortunately, injury has hampered Tinkler’s career and he has struggled to play the amount of games that he had done previously.

• Tinkler’s Official Hartlepool United profile
• Tinkler’s profile at PoolsOnline.tk