Mark Bower

Darlington Bower trained with Conference Premier club Chester City and teamed up with his former manager Colin Todd on trial at Darlington. After playing in a pre-season friendly with Scottish-side Hamilton Academical, which finished 0–0, Bower signed for Darlington along with fellow former Bradford defender Paul Arnison. He played one season with Darlington but the club released him following their relegation from League Two, along with 13 other players.

FC Halifax Town On 21 June 2010, Bower returned to West Yorkshire, signing for Northern Premier League Premier Division club FC Halifax Town and was named captain. He began the season playing at left-back due to an injury to Danny Lowe before moving into the centre of Town's defence upon Lowe's return. Bower formed a partnership with Liam Hogan in the centre of defence as Halifax won the 2010–11 Northern Premier League Premier Division, finishing 19 points clear of their nearest challengers Colwyn Bay.

Guiseley In May 2011, Bower signed for Conference North club Guiseley as vice-captain and made a strong partnership with Danny Ellis. He became caretaker manager on 11 September 2013 after Steve Kittrick was dismissed following a poor start to the season. Despite losing his first two matches in charge, he was appointed permanently on 20 September 2013.

In a match against Braintree Town in February 2016, Bower was involved in a controversial incident described as "disgraceful unsporting behaviour." A Braintree player kicked the ball into touch for one of his teammates to receive treatment for an injury. Fair play protocol dictates that the ball be passed to the Braintree goalkeeper, Tom King, on resumption of play, but Oliver Norburn instead lobbed the ball past King to score an equalising goal. A fracas resulted but the goal was allowed to stand after security staff separated the players and management, and Bower refused to allow Braintree to walk through and score. Bower went on to defend his decision, stating that King "stood there with his arms in the air and allowed the ball to into the net. It put us in a really difficult position whether we should allow them to score or not but we decided no. I think their keeper was trying to be clever and had simply let the ball go in." King responded that he was "bewildered" by Bower's statement, and speaking on the incident itself said that: "It is one of those things that will be remembered for a long time, I'll be remembered for a long time and it will carry on forever". The following week, Guiseley chairman Phil Rogerson released a statement recognising the fair-play convention had not been followed: "... myself, Mark [Bower] and the club find the situation most regrettable and not in line with the general ethos of Guiseley AFC. Fair play is and always has been at the heart of the club. The decision to continue playing as normal after the goal was taken on the spur of the moment and under extreme pressure, not helped at all by the heated atmosphere."

Bradford Park Avenue On 22 September 2016, Bower was appointed manager of National League North club Bradford Park Avenue, replacing previous manager Alex Meechan who had been dismissed earlier in the week. He left his role as manager in May 2019, but returned to the post the following October.

He was sacked by the club in November 2023 with the club 18th in the Northern Premier League following relegation the previous season.

Guiseley Bower returned to Guiseley in the Northern Premier League in April 2024, signing a two-year contract with the lions.

On 12 October 2025, following a run of ten wins from the previous thirty-three matches, Bower was sacked by the club.

Career statistics

Honours As a player FC Halifax Town Northern Premier League Premier Division: 2010–11