Background
Aizlewood was born in Newport.
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Mark Aizlewood
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As a child, he attended Alway Juniors school and then Hartridge High School in Newport.
Career
He is currently managing Welsh Premier League side Carmarthen Town. Aizlewood joined his home-town club Newport County at the age of 14, making his professional debut two years later at the age of just 16, whilst he was still attending school. He played for Newport for three years, leaving in 1978 to join Luton Town for a fee of £50,000.
After four seasons at Luton, he moved on to Charlton Athletic in 1982, again for a fee of £50,000.
He was named the clubs player of the year for both the 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 seasons. He moved to Leeds United in 1987 for £200,000 and was later appointed club captain.
However, during a Second Division clash with Walsall at the end of the 1988-1989 season, he reacted to jeers by Leeds own fans by displaying a V sign to the crowd. Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson quickly substituted Aizlewood and he left the club soon after in a £125,000 move to Bradford City.
He spent one season at Valley Parade before moving on to Bristol City.
In 1993 he returned to Wales to sign foreign In his one full season at Ninian Park, the club narrowly avoided relegation to Division Three but did reach the final of the Welsh Cup, losing 2–1 to Barry Town. During the following season, Aizlewood decided to leave the club in order to take up a player-coach role at Merthyr Tydfil.
He later finished his career with spells at Welsh Premier League sides Aberystwyth Town and Cwmbran Town before retiring in 2000.
Aizlewood first played for Wales in 1986, and stayed an international until 1994, being capped 39 times during that time. His debut came in a 2–1 friendly defeat to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on 25 February 1986, his last appearance came on 14 December 1994 as Wales lost 3–0 to Bulgaria in a Euro 96 qualifier at Cardiff Arms Park.
He never scored for Wales at senior level Aizlewood had a spell on the coaching staff of Carmarthen Town during 2003-2004, but left to become assistant manager to Ian Rush at Chester City for 2004-2005.
He was sacked by Chester chairman Stephen Vaughan in April 2005 with the club struggling.
As of 2009 he was an agent. Aizlewood was appointed manager of Carmarthen Town in January 2012. All proceeds from the book were donated to former England player Tony Adams Sporting Chance charity.
In 2004, Aizlewood was fined £1,800 after assaulting television presenter Jane Harvey during an interview for British Broadcasting Corporation investigative programme X-Ray by "grabbing her around the neck and pushing her down a flight of steps".
In 2012, Aizlewood was one of three men arrested into allegations of fraud regarding £1.6m of government funds that had been given to a company where Aizlewood was serving as a director Aizlewood was later banned from serving as a director of any company for six years, along with Paul Sugrue and two others
Achievements
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Aizlewood speaks Welsh and released his Welsh language autobiography in 2009, entitled Amddiffyn fy Hun (Defending Myself) in which he revealed his 27-year-long battle with alcoholism and contemplating suicide.
