Micky Cummins

Michael Thomas Cummins (born 1 June 1978) is an Irish former professional footballer.

As a player, he was a midfielder from 1996 to 2014.

He started his career with Middlesbrough in 1996, where he stayed for four years.

Cummins began his professional career as a trainee with Middlesbrough in 1996.

He has also appeared for the Republic of Ireland under-21 team and played all of Ireland's five games at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

He turned to coaching after retiring as a player, and twice took charge as caretaker manager at Gateshead.

He made his Premier League debut under Bryan Robson on 16 May 1999, playing the full ninety minutes of a 4–0 defeat to West Ham United at Upton Park.

He played twelve First Division games in 1999–2000, as the "Valiants" were relegated into the Second Division.

He was given a two-year contract in the summer.

In 2000, he moved on to Port Vale, and made over 250 appearances for the club in a six-year stay, picking up a Football League Trophy winners medal in 2001.

He made his second appearance off the bench on 26 February 2000, in a goalless draw at the Riverside Stadium.

He later said "I was just a squad player. I was never treated as a person or an individual".

Cummins joined Brian Horton's Port Vale on a free transfer in March 2000.

He scored his first senior goal on 21 March, in a 2–1 defeat to Walsall at Vale Park.

He played a total of 56 games in 2000–01 in league and cup, mainly out of position at right-wing back, including the 2001 Football League Trophy final 2–1 victory over Brentford at the Millennium Stadium.

He scored three goals throughout the campaign, including the opener of the 2–1 victory over Stoke City in the Football League Trophy Northern Section semi-finals.

He was utilized mostly at right-back throughout the campaign, before reverting to his more established midfield position.

Cummins was a key player for Vale in 2001–02, scoring nine goals in 53 games; the most significant of these nine goals came in a 1–0 win against Potteries derby opponents Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on 10 February (the last such meeting between the two clubs).

In 2002–03 he scored four goals in 35 games, with two of these goals coming in a 4–2 win over Mansfield Town on 30 November; his appearances were limited by a shoulder injury that required surgery.

He recovered from a knee injury to score four goals in 46 games in 2003–04, as new manager Martin Foyle led the club to a seventh-place finish – the club finished outside of the play-off zone due to an inferior goal difference.

Having signed a two-year deal in May 2004, Cummins scored twice in 43 games in 2004–05, as Vale struggled to compete in the third tier.

With ten League One goals in 2005–06, he finished the campaign as the club's joint-highest league goalscorer (with Leon Constantine); he also overcame injury problems to play a total of 42 games.

Having made a total of 287 league and cup appearances for Port Vale, scoring 34 goals, he took the decision to relocate to the North East for family reasons.

Between 2006 and 2008 he was signed to Darlington, and in 2008 he joined Rotherham United.

Cummins joined David Hodgson's Darlington on a free transfer in May 2006.

He quickly became a regular in the first-team for the "Quakers", making 45 league and cup appearances in the 2006–07 season despite suffering from a groin problem.

Darlington knocked Championship side Stoke City out of the League Cup in August 2006, and finished the season in mid-table.

He was nominated for the League Two Player of the Month award in November 2006.

However, following Darlington's failure to gain promotion out of League Two in the 2007–08 season, Cummins was released by manager Dave Penney.

He signed a two-year contract with League Two rivals Rotherham United, then managed by Mark Robins, in May 2008.

He scored five goals in 45 games in 2008–09.

He scored against Championship club West Bromwich Albion in the 4–3 defeat in the League Cup Second Round on 26 August 2009; though a groin injury meant that he was restricted to just seventeen appearances in 2009–10, and he did not feature in the play-off final defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Released by Rotherham, Cummins signed a one-year deal with Neil Woods' Grimsby Town in June 2010.

He played a total of 40 games for the Conference Premier side in 2010–11, scoring one goal in a 2–0 win over Luton Town at Blundell Park.

Though Woods was keen to sign him to a longer contract, Cummins left the club at the end of the campaign after he was released by new management duo Rob Scott and Paul Hurst.

Two years later he transferred to Grimsby Town, before he joined Gateshead in May 2011.

Over the course of his career, he scored 67 goals in 588 league and cup appearances.

In May 2011, he joined Conference side Gateshead on a one-year deal.

He was signed by manager Ian Bogie, his former teammate at Port Vale.

He worked as a coach at the club before taking up a coaching role at York City from 2019 to 2021.