Playing Career
Sale was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, and began his career as a trainee with Stoke City. He made his league debut away to Brighton & Hove Albion in May 1990 and played the following week in the home game against Swindon Town.
He was released by Stoke without playing any further first team games and joined non-league Rocester from where he joined Birmingham City in March 1992. He moved to Torquay United for a fee of £10,000 and had a successful forward partnership with Duane Darby. His form at Torquay led to a £20,000 move to Preston North End where he had limited success.
In July 1995 he joined Mansfield Town for a fee of £50,000 and immediately joined his new team-mates in a pre-season tour of Cyprus. He was in and out of the side and in March 1997 was sold to Colchester United for a fee of £23,500. His first game for Colchester came in a 2-1 win against Mansfield. Later in the season he played at Wembley in the final of the Auto Windscreens Shield.
He left Colchester in July 1999, joining Rushden & Diamonds for a fee of £30,000. He began the season as a regular in the side, but was soon diagnosed with Hodgkin Disease and underwent chemotherapy. He bravely fought his way back to fitness and returned to Rushden's side in December 2000, though was to play only twice as Rushden won the Conference and with it promotion to the Football League.
He joined Doncaster Rovers in May 2001, playing 15 times in the Conference the following season. However, Sale was released by Doncaster at the end of the 2001–02 season. He initially agreed terms with Conference side Forest Green Rovers, but that fell through and he joined Tamworth in August 2002. He had a loan spell with Hucknall Town in September 2003 before moving to Alfreton Town in October 2003. In June 2005 he moved on to join Northwich Victoria, rejoining his former Hucknall manager Steve Burr, and helped Northwich to promotion back to the Conference National. In January 2007, Sale left Northwich to join Hednesford Town but did not appear for the first team.
In January 2008 he was appointed youth team manager at Burton Albion, a role which he combines with working as football development officer for East Staffordshire Borough Council.
Read more about this topic: Mark Sale
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