Linfield too good to turn down as suspension means Stafford has played last game

The central defender is set to leave the Mallards to join Linfield next season, two years after turning down the Blue’s attempts to drag him away from his home town club. This time, however, Mark decided the time was right to take on a new challenge in his football career.

“It was a tough decision to leave this football club because it is a place that has been very good to me over the years,” he said. “Ballinamallard have given me the opportunity to play in the Premiership and I have a lot of people to be thankful to for giving me that opportunity, but at the end of the day I wanted to see if I could perform for a big club. Linfield is one of the biggest clubs in the country and I couldn’t turn it down. They had been in for me before, a few years ago, and then Warren Feeney got in touch with me in the summer time, but he didn’t really follow up on it. He maybe had other players in mind and I didn’t hear back from him, but then he made an approach to me in February. I am 27 years old and I was coming to a stage where it was getting too late from me to make a move somewhere. They are a great football club and I couldn’t say no this time. It was too good an opportunity to let it go past. Whitey was very keen for me to stay but I think he understood my situation and where I was coming from. Whitey has been very good to me over the years and I would speak to him about a lot of different things, but I just thought it was time to go and do something different.” Mark’s Ballinamallard career began almost 20 years ago when he started at mini soccer as an eight year old. Under the guidance of John Quinn and Whitey Anderson he worked his way through the youth teams, representing the club in the Brendan Keogh Youth League. He was not selected for the Fermanagh Milk Cup teams, but spurred on by that he developed into a very important player for the U18s under his manager Whitey Anderson. His performances were rewarded with a call up for Northern Ireland schoolboys, and he went on to become a vital member of the defence that helped the club win the Championship and secure promotion to the Premier League. Mark admits that first season in the top flight was a special time for him and the club as a whole, as they defied all expectations to finish sixth in the league, defeating Linfield twice at Windsor Park on the way. “That first year in the Premier League was probably the best year, even better than winning the Championship,” he said. “There have been a lot of good moments but beating Linfield up at Windsor was a massive achievement for a small club, especially the second time. That season was a brilliant experience.” Mark has shared the highs and the lows with the supporters on the terraces, and he admits it will be tough to leave. “I have been there my whole career and the supporters have been good to me over the years. They are all my friends,” he said. “I want to thank them for sticking with us when we weren’t going well. We have had a few bad results in the Premiership and they always backed us and supported us. They gave us all a big lift. When you are walking off the pitch after maybe being on the end of a heavy defeat they still back you, and that really helped us the next week. We were going out to get a result for them.” Mark is under no illusions that the atmosphere at Windsor Park could be very different from that at Ferney Park if his new side are on the wrong end of a defeat. The Linfield faithful have been brought up on a diet of success and by their own high standards have endured a disappointing run of form, with the Blues fans getting impatient after another season without a trophy.

“It’s not going to be the easiest time to go to Linfield because they haven’t won a trophy in three years and the pressure is growing all the time to win something,” he acknowledged. “I want to go up there and give it 100 per cent though. It is going to be very hard even to get into the team. There are players like Mark Haughey, Sean Ward, Jimmy Callacher and that is just the centre halves, so it is going to be an achievement getting into the team, never mind winning trophies. I know it is not going to be easy.” Mark will also have to adjust to the extra travelling, with training in Belfast three nights a week and new team-mates that he does not know, but he admits having fellow Mallard Davy Kee in the squad will help him settle in.

“I would have played against them and they would know me through matches but I wouldn’t know any of them on a personal level, except maybe Ivan Sproule,” he said. “Training will be three nights a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and then the game on Saturday so it will be good to have Davy there and be able to travel up with him. That will make things a bit easier.” The loss of two of Ballinamallard’s most influential players will be a blow to the manger and the supporters, but Mark is confident the club will maintain their high standards despite his absence. “The club will be fine,” he predicts. “At the end of the day I am only passing on a baton. I just carried the baton for a couple of years and now it’s time for someone else to come in and put their stamp on it. There are a lot of good young players coming through like Lee McNulty who have been at the club for a long time and know what the club is about, and the club will definitely be fine.” Mark and Davy Kee will both be deprived of the opportunity of playing at Ferney Park one last time on Saturday as they are ruled out of the game against Warrenpoint through suspensions, but Mark will be there to say farewell. “It’s really gutting to miss my last games for the club. It is so disappointing but I will be at the last game to thank the fans.”