Marc Bircham
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marc Stephen John Bircham | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 11 May 1978 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wembley, England[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | |||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–2002 | Millwall | 104 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2002–2007 | Queens Park Rangers | 152 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Yeovil Town | 16 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 272 | (10) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2004 | Canada | 17 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Queens Park Rangers (caretaker) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Waterford | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
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Marc Stephen John Bircham (born 11 May 1978) is a former soccer player. Born in England, he represented Canada at international level. He was recently assistant coach at Serie A club Como, but left in 2023
Club career
[edit | edit source]London-born Bircham started his professional career at Millwall and after 6 seasons joined Queens Park Rangers where he became a crowd favorite. Bircham used to be known for his unusual hairstyle – a dyed blue and white streak down the centre of his hair from when he played for QPR[citation needed] and a red and white streak while playing for Canada. QPR fans sang a song to the tune of "I Love You, Baby": "We love you, Bircham/ because you got blue hair/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're everywhere/ We love you, Bircham/ because you're Rangers through and through."[citation needed]
In 2007, he moved to Yeovil Town. He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Yeovil against Brentford in the Football League Trophy.[2] After a series of ankle injuries in the 2008–09 season it was revealed that Bircham had quit football and is going to set up a youth coaching camp in Cyprus.[3][4]
International career
[edit | edit source]Bircham was eligible to play for Canada because one of his grandfathers was born in Winnipeg. He made his debut for Canada in an April 1999 friendly match against Northern Ireland in Belfast. He is the only player to have played for a country without actually visiting it when his first cap – as well as his first and only goal – came.[5] He scored that goal only 8 minutes after coming on as a substitute for another player making his debut, Davide Xausa.
Bircham earned 17 caps for his adopted country, representing Canada in two FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[6] His final international was a June 2004 World Cup qualification match against Belize.
Managerial career
[edit | edit source]QPR
[edit | edit source]After becoming a QPR youth coach at the start of the 2009–10 season, he was put in temporary charge with fellow Youth Coach Steve Gallen due to manager Jim Magilton's suspension on 9 December 2009.[7][8] The duo took charge of a 2–2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion on 14 December 2009.[9]
Waterford
[edit | edit source]On 12 May 2021, Bircham was named manager of League of Ireland Premier Division side Waterford until the end of the season.[10] With Waterford bottom of the table when Bircham took over, he led his side to 6 wins and a draw from his first 12 league games in charge, taking the club out of the relegation zone and earning a new 2+1⁄2-year contract which was announced in August 2021.[11] On 23 November 2021, Bircham was sacked by Waterford, having learned of the news on Twitter without being contacted by the club following a text exchange between himself and owner Richard Forrest the previous night in which Forrest suspended Bircham for a week, preventing him from taking charge of the club's crucial Promotion/relegation play-off final against UCD.[12]
Como
[edit | edit source]In the summer of 2022, he was appointed as first team coach of Italian Serie B side Como under manager Giacomo Gattuso, but left in 2023.[13]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Bircham has 3 children from a previous marriage. 1 boy, Frankie and 2 girls, Layla & Dolly.
He currently regularly appears on Talksport.
Career statistics
[edit | edit source]International
[edit | edit source]- Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 April 1999 | Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland | File:Ulster Banner.svg Northern Ireland | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly match |
Managerial
[edit | edit source]As of 23 November 2021.
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| England Queens Park Rangers (caretaker manager, with Steve Gallen) |
9 December 2009 | 17 December 2009 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Republic of Ireland Waterford | 12 May 2021 | 23 November 2021 | 29 | 13 | 6 | 10 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 44.83 |
| Total | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 44 | 42 | +2 | 43.33 | ||
Honours
[edit | edit source]Canada
References
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- ^ Record at FIFA Tournaments – FIFA
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Marc Bircham at SoccerbaseLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Marc Bircham at Canada SoccerLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). (archive)
- Marc Bircham at National-Football-Teams.comLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 1978 births
- Living people
- Footballers from the London Borough of Brent
- People from Wembley
- English people of Canadian descent
- English men's footballers
- Men's association football midfielders
- Canadian men's soccer players
- Canadian expatriate men's soccer players
- Canada men's international soccer players
- 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- Millwall F.C. players
- Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
- Yeovil Town F.C. players
- English Football League players
- Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff
- Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers
- Chicago Fire FC non-playing staff
- Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England
- English football managers