Sheffield United bouncing day hero makes latest career move with aim to rejuvinate sixth-tier club's fortunes

He will be forever known as one of the heroes of ‘bouncing day’ and rolled back the clock to impress Sheffield United fans with an ageless display in Chris Basham’s charity game earlier this month. But Mark Duffy has eyes firmly fixed on the future after making his latest career move earlier this week.

The 39-year-old, who scored that iconic goal in United’s 2017 victory over their rivals Wednesday at Hillsborough to stop the Owls bounce, has had a couple of spells as a manager after hanging up his playing boots, taking charge of Macclesfield and Warrington Rylands after previous boss departures.

This week Duffy was announced as the new assistant manager of Southport, who finished 18th of 24 clubs in the National League North last season. Neil Danns, the former Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers midfielder, took the reins at Haig Avenue and brought in Duffy as his No.2 after their previous association at Macclesfield.

“Danzy’s done really well and taken that next step into his managerial career,” Duffy said. “He’s asked me to come in and give him a hand, and it’s something that I’m really excited to do. It [management] was something that I’ve always thought about, and I did my badges.

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“I’ve coached, I’ve managed and now I’m here, so I’m excited to be part of it because it’s a really great club. It’s sort of lost its way a little bit over the last year or so, and we’ve got to revive it a little bit. We’ve seen the team, we’ve seen a lot of clips but inevitably we’re going to put our stamp on the team and play an attacking style of football, make it exciting for the fans.”

Duffy played for Southport early in his career, making more than 100 appearances before embarking on a journey that eventually saw him win promotion to the Premier League with the Blades. He remains a firm fans’ favourite at Bramall Lane, many of whom will wish him well on his latest venture after the spells at Macclesfield and Warrnington.

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“Yeah, they were difficult,” Duffy reflected. “Managing is difficult and you’ve got to deal with a lot of stresses and pressures, directors of football and things like that. It’s all good experience and obviously all I can do is try and help Danzy with any information that I learned and he’s got enough as well so it’s exciting.

“We want to get the place back to where it was in years gone by; producing young talents who can go on into the leagues. If you look in the leagues over the over the last 15 or 20 years, there have been many players who have come from Southport and I think that’s something that we need to get back to. Bringing young, exciting players who play a certain style.

“We need to get back to that: Southport being a place for young players to come, get games under their belts. Play attacking football and progress their careers. And if we can have that conveyor belt of players coming through, I think it will be an exciting time. Me and Danzy will bring that energy and positivity and attacking style of football that all fans like to see.”