Mark appointed as Newcastle’s first Set Piece Coach
Written by
Simon Austin
July 11, 2025
Martin Mark has been appointed as Newcastle United’s first ever specialist Set Piece Coach.
The 31-year-old joins the Magpies from FC Midtjylland in his native Denmark, where he had spent three-and-a-half years in a similar role.
Stephen Purches and Jason Tindall had previously been overseeing set pieces for Newcastle, with the help of Set Piece Analyst Kieran Taylor. However, this is the first time that the club have had a specialist Set Piece Coach.
Set Pieces are a fundamental part of the modern game. In our Masterclass, former Newcastle United Analyst Billy Coulston will help improve your understanding, preparation & delivery of Set Pieces.
Midtjylland, previously the sister club of Brentford, are Europe’s pioneers of set piece coaching. The club won the 2023/24 Danish Superliga title and finished top of the regular season table once again in 2024/25, with 27 of their 64 league goals coming from set pieces.
Speaking on the TGG Podcast, Brentford Director of Football Phil Giles said Midtjylland’s success from set pieces had inspired the Bees to specialise more in this area.
“Because of the success they had in set pieces, it was easy to look across the water and say, ‘Well they’re doing it and scoring this many goals and could frankly be the best in the world at this,’” Giles said.
“’What about if we add 10 goals to our tally at the end of the season just by scoring 10 more from free kicks and corners?’ When Thomas (Frank) came here, we were finishing ninth, 10th in the Championship, which is good for a club the size of Brentford, but of course we wanted to get in the play-offs and go higher.”
Martin previously coached Midtjylland and Aalborg BK at youth level. He will link up with Eddie Howe and his coaching team in time for the Magpies’ first pre-season friendly away to Celtic on Saturday 19th July.
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