Mark Reynolds (footballer)

Mark Reynolds (born 7 May 1987) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a central defender for Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen. He began his career at Motherwell and also played in England for Sheffield Wednesday.

Motherwell

Reynolds started his football career at hometown club Motherwell and made his debut on 3 May 2006, starting in a 1–0 win over relegated Livingston. He would then sign a two-year contract. The following season, Reynolds became a regular in the first team. Reynolds first goal for the club came on 30 September 2006, in a 5–0 win over Kilmarnock and he scored his second later in the season in a 3–2 loss against Dundee United on 16 December 2006. In November 2007, Reynolds, along with David Clarkson, signed a contract extension at the club, keeping him at the club until 2011. Since then, Reynolds has gone on to play over 200 games for his home-town club. with his 100th game being the 2–0 Lanarkshire derby win over Hamilton Accies in November 2008.

On 4 June 2008, it was reported that Rangers had made an offer of £750,000 for Reynolds, which was turned down. Then-Motherwell manager Mark McGhee explained that he wanted to retain the club's better players ahead of their UEFA Cup campaign. Reynolds would stay at Motherwell for another season Reynolds, himself, stated he prefer playing in the Premier League than joining any Old Firm clubs. and went on to make his European debut where he played both legs against Nancy in the first round. In the 2009/10 season, Reynolds played in all 6 games during Motherwell's Europa League campaign where the club were eventually eliminated by Steaua București. In the League, Reynolds scored 4 goals during the season against Hibernian, Celtic, Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United. Reynolds later credited McGhee for putting his career on track from "the lowest point in his career".

On 31 August 2010, it was reported that Swansea City had put in a bid for the defender, which was turned down by Motherwell as it did not meet the club's valuation for the player, who was in the final year of his contract. Reynolds was also linked with a move to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, Nottingham Forest and Bari. Manager Craig Brown admitted they need to sell Reynolds to get cash. However, Reynolds would remain at the club throughout the summer transfer window. During the season, Reynolds scored an own goal in a 2–1 loss against Heart on 14 December 2010 and played his 200th game for Motherwell in a Lanarkshire derby against Hamilton in January 2011.

Sheffield Wednesday

An offer of £100,000 plus additional clauses from Sheffield Wednesday was accepted on 15 January 2011. The deal was completed a day later. After his move, Reynolds said he had made the right decision to join the club and is looking forward to making an impact in English football. Reynolds also cited joining the club was to play in front of 20,000 supporters.

Reynolds made his debut in a 2–2 draw against Yeovil Town on 25 January 2011. In his first half of the season, Reynolds made 7 appearances for the club. The following season, Reynolds found himself out of the first team and began to struggle to get his place back.

Reynolds made only 10 league appearances for Wednesday during 2011. After two years, Reynolds left the club by mutual consent on 31 January 2013 after returning to the owls from his second loan spell with Aberdeen.

Aberdeen

In January 2012, Reynolds was loaned out to Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen. On moving to Aberdeen, Reynolds once again joined up with manager Craig Brown, who had previously been his manager at Motherwell. Reynolds who was brought in as a replacement for Richard Foster, made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Kilmarnock on 14 January 2012. In March, Reynolds played twice against his former club (one in the SFA Cup and other in the League). On 2 May 2012, Reynolds scored an own goal early on in a game with Hibernian at Pittodrie, in which the visitors went on to win 2–1.

After being told by Sheffield Wednesday manager Dave Jones that he was surplus to requirements and won't get first team guarantee, Reynolds returned to Aberdeen on loan for the 2012–13 season. Upon joining Aberdeen for the second time, Reynolds says he join the club instead of Rangers, quoting: "It was brought to my attention that Rangers were interested but it’s a strange situation there at the moment. If you go there you’re almost writing off three years of your career to go play in the Third Division. But as a player you’ve got to sacrifice three years before you’re back there playing in the SPL again."

He played his first match of his second loan spell, coming on as a substitute, in a 2–1 win over St Johnstone on 18 August 2012 and two months later, he scored his first goal in a 4–1 win over St Mirren. The following month, Aberdeen chief executive Duncan Fraser announced that the club had opened negotiations to sign Reynolds on a permanent deal, with a possible three-year contract on the table. Shortly after being released from Sheffield Wednesday, Reynolds rejoined Aberdeen on a free transfer, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.

Reynolds was appointed vice-captain of Aberdeen for the 2013–14 season. He scored his first goal for the club, in a 3–1 win against his former club, Motherwell and then scored his another of the season on 5 January 2014, in a 1–0 win over Kilmarnock. On 28 February 2014, Reynolds signed a new four-year contract extension. His central defense partnership with Russell Anderson was compared by Willie Miller to Miller, himself, and Alex McLeish.

The following month, Reynolds made history as he started in the 2014 Scottish League Cup Final victory against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, making it his first domestic honour and Aberdeen's first piece of silverware in 19 years.

In 2014–15 season, Reynolds featured in six matches in the Europa League and scored his first European goal in the second leg of third round, as Aberdeen lost 3–2 to Real Sociedad.

Reynolds represented Scotland at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, scoring a goal against Costa Rica. He has also been capped at under-21 level and played once for the Scotland B side in 2009. On 16 May 2014, Reynolds was called into the senior Scotland squad for the first time, for the friendly against Nigeria.

Reynolds has become involved in the project to encourage literacy. Reynolds attended Our Lady's High School and almost quit football when he was "accepted into almost every top university in Scotland."

As of 28 January 2017

Club

Motherwell

• SPL Young Player of the Month: April 2007

Aberdeen

• Scottish League Cup: 2013–14

• "Award-winner Reynolds confident". BBC Sport. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2007.