Added Responsibility for McKeever

New additional role for former player.

Pitching In Southern Football League Premier Division South club Weston-super-Mare have announced that Mark McKeever has been appointed as head of coaching, as he continues his role as head of academy senior phase.

This role expands on what he has been doing for the past few years and gives him more responsibility to develop the club coaching philosophy within the academy coaching team.

He will also be working closely with Scott Bartlett and Scott Laird as a first-team coach.

Derry-born midfielder McKeever began his career at Norwich City before following youth team boss Kit Carson to Peterborough United.

He made 3 League appearances for Posh before he transferred to Sheffield Wednesday in a double deal with David Billington for £1m.

He had made 3 appearances for Wednesday before the end of the 1998/99 season but had also spent time on loan with Bristol Rovers, where he made 7 appearances, and Reading, where he also played 7 times, scoring 2 goals.

In December 2000, McKeever was linked with a return to Bristol Rovers who supposedly had tabled a £100,000 bid. A permanent move didn't materialise, but he did join Rovers on loan for two months at the start of February 2001.

This was later made permanent as a free transfer the following month.

McKeever spent two seasons with Rovers before they released him in May 2003.

He joined Weston for the first time in August 2003 and worked for a while at Bristol International Airport before joining Weston`s academy as a coach.

Towards the end of the 2005/6 season, he joined Gloucester City on loan but then transferred to Bath City in May 2006.

Capped by the Republic of Ireland at under-18 level and under-21 level, he returned to the Seagulls in March 2008.

However, in August 2009 he was forced to retire following injury but returned again to Weston in the 2014/15 season as assistant manager to Ryan Northmore.

The Irishman then left again in October 2016 following the arrival of Scott Bartlett after Northmore’s departure, McKeever briefly serving as assistant to caretaker manager Jon Haile for two games.

In May 2018, McKeever returned as the new football development officer, overseeing the academy as well as joining Marc McGregor’s coaching staff on the first team.

When McGregor departed in March 2019, McKeever took over the reins as caretaker manager until the end of the season, taking the side for 9 games overall however his spell, unfortunately, ended in relegation from the National League South.

As well as fulfilling these duties, McKeever managed the under-19s upon their return to the National League Youth Alliance in 2018/19, finishing 8th out of 12 sides in Division E and leading the side to the National League Youth Alliance League Cup quarter-finals, eventually bowing out away to South Shields 1-0.

Following Scott Bartlett’s return as manager in May 2019, it was confirmed that McKeever would return to his position of a first-team coach and overseeing his academy duties.

Talking about his new role, McKeever told westonsmareafc.co.uk “The restructure and new appointments are a really positive and progressive step forward for the academy.

“With a return to football date now confirmed, me and all the Academy staff can’t wait to get going – These really are exciting times”.

Weston-super-Mare Web Site