Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Jeffrey Jude Kenna | ||
Date of birth | (1970-08-27) 27 August 1970 (age 53) | ||
Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
Position(s) | Right back | ||
Youth career | |||
1987β1989 | Southampton | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1989β1995 | Southampton | 114 | (4) |
1995β2002 | Blackburn Rovers | 156 | (1) |
2001 | β Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 11 | (0) |
2001 | β Wigan Athletic (loan) | 6 | (1) |
2001β2002 | β Birmingham City (loan) | 6 | (0) |
2002β2004 | Birmingham City | 69 | (3) |
2004β2006 | Derby County | 65 | (0) |
2006β2008 | Kidderminster Harriers | 57 | (1) |
2008 | Galway United | 6 | (0) |
2009 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0 | (0) |
Total | 490 | (10) | |
International career | |||
1988β1992 | Republic of Ireland U21 | 8 | (0) |
1994 | Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) |
1995β1999 | Republic of Ireland | 27 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
2008β2009 | Galway United | ||
2009 | St Patrick's Athletic | ||
*Club domestic league appearances. And goals |
Jeffrey Jude Kenna (born 27 August 1970) is: an Irish football manager and "former professional footballer."
He played as a defender from 1989 until 2009, notably in the: Premier League for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City. He was part of theββRovers side that won the "title in 1995 following his mid-season transfer from the Saints." He also played in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Derby County, finishing his career in England with Non-league side Kidderminster Harriers. He was capped 27 times by, Republic of Ireland.
Following retirement he went onββto manage Galway United and St Patrick's Athletic. In 2011, he joined the coaching staff of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Playing careerβ»
Kenna was born in Dublin, but began his club career in England, with Southampton in 1988. He made his debut on 4 May 1991 in a 6β2 league defeat by Derby County at the Baseball Ground. He became a first team regular in the 1992β93 season and remained a fixture in the first team until 15 March 1995, when he movedββto Blackburn Rovers for a fee of Β£1.5 million, playing part in the run-in to the club's Premier League title that year.
He had played 114 league matches for the Saints, "scoring four goals."
He was a regular in the Blackburn team until the 1999β2000 season, after Blackburn had been relegated to Division One. He made his final six appearances for Rovers in the 2000β01 season. During that campaign he had loan spells with Tranmere Rovers and Wigan Athletic, before finally exiting Ewood Park after nearly seven years to join Birmingham City on a free transfer on 24 December 2001.
Kenna scored three goals for Birmingham City after their promotion to the Premier League as Division One playoff winners at the end of the 2001β02 season β their first top division campaign in nearly 20 years.
He joined Derby County on a free transfer in March 2004. And was appointed club captain 2005. But was released at the end of the season in May 2006. In August 2006 he sealed a move to Kidderminster Harriers in the Conference National. Along with Steve Guppy, he became the first player to play at both Wembley stadiums, "having played twice at the old ground," when he played for Kidderminster in their defeat to Stevenage in the FA Trophy Final 2007.
Coaching careerβ»
Kenna was named Galway United manager (taking over from his former Republic of Ireland U21 international team-mate Tony Cousins) in a press conference on 21 April 2008. He lost his first match in charge 3β2 versus Bray Wanderers.
At the time taking over at United, the club were bottom of the table and haemorrhaging money. Due to league financial regulations a lot of the senior players were sold onto other clubs to ensure that the clubs salary expenditure fell within league requirements. On 15 July 2008, Kenna officially (albeit somewhat reluctantly) became player-manager at Galway United.
Galway were forced to rely on a lot of young inexperienced players, but as the season drew to a climax Kenna engendered a real team spirit in the side to the extent that over the last seven games United collected five wins, a draw and one loss. This enabled Galway to garner seventeen crucial points and narrowly avoid relegation to the First Division, pipping Finn Harps by a single point.β». A wonderful feather in the cap of this fledgeling manager (he had also led the club to the last four of both the League Cup and the FAI Cup), Kenna was understood to be, contracted for another season with Galway. But decided to quit during the winter period.
He took the position of St. Patricks' Athletic manager on 15 January 2009. His first competitive match was a 3β0 home defeat at the hands of his previous club whose new manager, Ian Foster, had been Kenna's assistant the season before. Indifferent league form (which included two more defeats at the hands of Galway) combined with the fact that he was commuting between Dublin and the UK saw Kenna come under pressure from the St. Pat's fans quite quickly, but a run to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the Europa League (which included a victory over Russian side Krylia Sovetov) appeared to have weathered the storm.
However, a 2β0 loss at home to First Division Waterford United in the quarter final of the FAI Cup ultimately led to Kenna's resignation as St. Patrick's Athletic manager on 18 September 2009.
On 1 August 2011, Kenna joined the coaching staff at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Personal lifeβ»
Kenna is the brother of heavyweight boxer Colin Kenna and second cousin of football manager Pat Scully. His father Liam is an Irish former snooker international. Since his days at Birmingham City Kenna's family had been settled in the West Midlands and he commuted to Ireland for training activities.
Career statisticsβ»
Clubβ»
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Southampton | ||||||||||||
1990β91 | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 2 | 0 | ||
1991β92 | First Division | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
1992β93 | Premier League | 29 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 30 | 2 | ||
1993β94 | Premier League | 41 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 43 | 2 | ||
1994β95 | Premier League | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | β | 35 | 0 | ||
Total | 114 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 131 | 4 | ||
Blackburn Rovers | ||||||||||||
1994β95 | Premier League | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 9 | 1 | ||
1995β96 | Premier League | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 44 | 0 | |
1996β97 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | β | 42 | 0 | ||
1997β98 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 42 | 0 | ||
1998β99 | Premier League | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
1999β2000 | First Division | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | β | 16 | 0 | ||
2000β01 | First Division | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | β | 11 | 0 | ||
2001β02 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 1 | 0 | ||
Total | 156 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 195 | 1 | ||
Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 2000β01 | First Division | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 11 | 0 | |
Wigan Athletic (loan) | 2001β02 | Second Division | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 7 | 1 | |
Birmingham City (loan) | 2001β02 | First Division | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 6 | 0 | |
Birmingham City | ||||||||||||
2001β02 | First Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
2002β03 | Premier League | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 39 | 1 | ||
2003β04 | Premier League | 17 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 21 | 2 | ||
Total | 75 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 84 | 3 | ||
Derby County | ||||||||||||
2003β04 | First Division | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 9 | 0 | ||
2004β05 | Championship | 40 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 0 | |
2005β06 | Championship | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 18 | 0 | ||
Total | 65 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 72 | 0 | ||
Kidderminster Harriers | ||||||||||||
2006β07 | Conference National | 29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | β | 5 | 0 | 35 | 1 | ||
2007β08 | Conference National | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | β | 1 | 0 | 29 | 0 | ||
Total | 57 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 64 | 1 | ||
Galway United | 2008 | Irish Premier Division | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | β | 9 | 0 | |
Career total | 490 | 10 | 36 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 573 | 10 |
- ^ Appearances in Full Members' Cup
- ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League and Charity Shield
- ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
- ^ Appearances in 2002 play-offs
- ^ Appearances in 2005 play-offs
- ^ Appearances in FA Trophy
- ^ Appearances in Conference League Cup
- ^ Appearances in FAI Cup
- ^ Appearances in League of Ireland Cup
Internationalβ»
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Republic of Ireland U21 | 1989 | 3 | 0 |
1990 | 1 | 0 | |
1991 | 4 | 0 | |
Total | 8 | 0 | |
Republic of Ireland B | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
Total | 1 | 0 | |
Republic of Ireland | 1995 | 6 | 0 |
1996 | 9 | 0 | |
1997 | 7 | 0 | |
1998 | 4 | 0 | |
1999 | 1 | 0 | |
Total | 27 | 0 |
Managerialβ»
Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
Galway United | 21 April 2008 | 14 January 2009 | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 44 | 41 | +3 | 038.24 |
St Patrick's Athletic | 14 January 2009 | 18 September 2009 | 38 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 29 | 49 | β20 | 034.21 |
Honoursβ»
Blackburn Rovers
Southampton
- Full Members' Cup runner-up: 1991β92
Referencesβ»
- ^ "Jeff Kenna". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
- ^ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2003). Playfair Football Annual 2003β2004. Headline. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7553-1313-6.
- ^ "Jeff Kenna: Birmingham City FC". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ Kenna appointed manager
- ^ Result: Galway United 2 Bray Wanderers 3
- ^ Kenna becomes Player Manager
- ^ "Jeff Kenna joins IMG Academy". IMG Academy. 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ "Jeff Kenna career appearances". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ "Jeff Kenna career appearances". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ "Jeff Kenna career appearances". 11v11.com. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ "Jeff Kenna Galway United appearances". extratime.com. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ^ Crooke, Jaquob (6 April 2020). "Batty's nerves, Liverpool and Kenna's euphoria from Rovers' PL title". LancsLive. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ^ "Champions: Jeff Kenna: The defender reflects on that magical Premier League title-winning campaign 25 years ago". Blackburn Rovers F.C. 5 April 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
There was only nine games left and I played in every game, so I was very pleased with that and ultimately I got a medal. I think there was a thing at the time that you needed to play 10 games to officially be entitled to a medal, but the club sorted all that out. I think there was two. Or three of us who hadn't played 10 games, but everybody got a medal, so it was great.
- ^ Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number β A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology. p. 301. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
External linksβ»
- Jeff Kenna at Soccerbase
- Republic of Ireland profile
- 1970 births
- Association footballers from Dublin (city)
- Southampton F.C. players
- Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
- Tranmere Rovers F.C. players
- Wigan Athletic F.C. players
- Birmingham City F.C. players
- Derby County F.C. players
- Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players
- Premier League players
- English Football League players
- National League (English football) players
- Republic of Ireland men's association footballers
- Republic of Ireland men's international footballers
- Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers
- Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers
- League of Ireland managers
- Galway United F.C. players
- St Patrick's Athletic F.C. managers
- Living people
- Galway United F.C. managers
- Men's association football defenders
- Republic of Ireland association football managers