Jeffrey Jude Kenna(born 27 August 1970) is an Irishfootballmanager and former professional footballer.

Jeff Kenna
Personal information
Full name Jeffrey Jude Kenna[1]
Date of birth (1970-08-27)27 August 1970(age 54)[1]
Place of birth Dublin,[1]Ireland
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Right back
Youth career
1987–1989 Southampton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1995 Southampton 114 (4)
1995–2002 Blackburn Rovers 156 (1)
2001Tranmere Rovers(loan) 11 (0)
2001Wigan Athletic(loan) 6 (1)
2001–2002Birmingham City(loan) 6 (0)
2002–2004 Birmingham City 69 (3)
2004–2006 Derby County 65 (0)
2006–2008 Kidderminster Harriers 57 (1)
2008 Galway United 6 (0)
2009 St Patrick's Athletic 0 (0)
Total 490 (10)
International career
1988–1992 Republic of Ireland U21 8 (0)
1994 Republic of Ireland B 1 (0)
1995–1999 Republic of Ireland 27 (0)
Managerial career
2008–2009 Galway United
2009 St Patrick's Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He played as adefenderfrom 1989 until 2009, notably in thePremier LeagueforSouthampton,Blackburn RoversandBirmingham City.He was part of the Rovers side that won the title in 1995 following his mid-season transfer from the Saints. He also played in theFootball LeagueforTranmere Rovers,Wigan AthleticandDerby County,finishing his career in England with Non-league sideKidderminster Harriers.He was capped 27 times byRepublic of Ireland.

Following retirement he went on to manageGalway UnitedandSt Patrick's Athletic.In 2011, he joined the coaching staff of theIMG AcademyinBradenton, Florida.

Playing career

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Kenna was born inDublin,but began his club career in England, withSouthamptonin 1988. He made his debut on 4 May 1991 in a 6–2 league defeat byDerby Countyat theBaseball Ground.He became a first team regular in the1992–93 seasonand remained a fixture in the first team until 15 March 1995, when he moved toBlackburn Roversfor a fee of £1.5 million,[3]playing a part in the run-in to the club'sPremier Leaguetitle that year.

He had played 114 league matches for the Saints, scoring four goals.[3]

He was a regular in the Blackburn team until the1999–2000 season,after Blackburn had been relegated toDivision One.He made his final six appearances for Rovers in the2000–01 season.During that campaign he had loan spells withTranmere RoversandWigan Athletic,before finally exitingEwood Parkafter nearly seven years to joinBirmingham Cityon a free transfer on 24 December 2001.[3]

Kenna scored three goals for Birmingham City after their promotion to the Premier League as Division One playoff winners at the end of the2001–02 season– their first top division campaign in nearly 20 years.

He joinedDerby Countyon a free transfer in March 2004,[3]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 toKidderminster Harriersin theConference National.Along withSteve 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 career

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Kenna was namedGalway Unitedmanager (taking over from his formerRepublic of Ireland U21international team-mateTony Cousins) in a press conference on 21 April 2008.[4]He lost his first match in charge 3–2 versusBray Wanderers.[5]

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) becameplayer-managerat Galway United.[6]

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, pippingFinn Harpsby a single point.[1].A wonderful feather in the cap of this fledgeling manager (he had also led the club to the last four of both theLeague Cupand theFAI 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 3–0 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 theEuropa League(which included a victory over Russian sideKrylia Sovetov) appeared to have weathered the storm.

However, a 2–0 loss at home to First DivisionWaterford Unitedin the quarter final of theFAI Cupultimately 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 theIMG AcademyinBradenton, Florida.[7]

Personal life

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Kenna is the brother ofheavyweightboxerColin Kennaand second cousin of football managerPat Scully.His father Liam is an Irish former snooker international. Since his days at Birmingham City Kenna's family had been settled in theWest Midlandsand he commuted to Ireland for training activities.

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition [8][9][10][11]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Southampton
1990–91 First Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
1991–92 First Division 14 0 4 0 0 0 3[a] 0 21 0
1992–93 Premier League 29 2 1 0 0 0 30 2
1993–94 Premier League 41 2 1 0 1 0 43 2
1994–95 Premier League 28 0 5 0 2 0 35 0
Total 114 4 11 0 3 0 3 0 131 4
Blackburn Rovers
1994–95 Premier League 9 1 0 0 0 0 9 1
1995–96 Premier League 32 0 2 0 4 0 6[b] 0 44 0
1996–97 Premier League 37 0 2 0 3 0 42 0
1997–98 Premier League 37 0 4 0 1 0 42 0
1998–99 Premier League 23 0 3 0 3 0 1[c] 0 30 0
1999–2000 First Division 11 0 2 0 3 0 16 0
2000–01 First Division 7 0 0 0 4 0 11 0
2001–02 Premier League 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total 156 1 13 0 19 0 7 0 195 1
Tranmere Rovers(loan) 2000–01 First Division 11 0 0 0 0 0 11 0
Wigan Athletic(loan) 2001–02 Second Division 6 1 1 0 0 0 7 1
Birmingham City(loan) 2001–02 First Division 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Birmingham City
2001–02 First Division 15 0 0 0 0 0 3[d] 0 18 0
2002–03 Premier League 37 1 1 0 1 0 39 1
2003–04 Premier League 17 2 4 0 0 0 21 2
Total 75 3 5 0 1 0 3 0 84 3
Derby County
2003–04 First Division 9 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
2004–05 Championship 40 0 2 0 1 0 2[e] 0 45 0
2005–06 Championship 16 0 1 0 1 0 18 0
Total 65 0 3 0 2 0 2 0 72 0
Kidderminster Harriers
2006–07 Conference National 29 1 1 0 5[f] 0 35 1
2007–08 Conference National 28 0 0 0 1[g] 0 29 0
Total 57 1 1 0 0 0 6 0 64 1
Galway United 2008 Irish Premier Division 6 0 2[h] 0 1[i] 0 9 0
Career total 490 10 36 0 26 0 21 0 573 10
  1. ^Appearances inFull Members' Cup
  2. ^Appearances inUEFA Champions LeagueandCharity Shield
  3. ^Appearances inUEFA Europa League
  4. ^Appearances in2002 play-offs
  5. ^Appearances in2005 play-offs
  6. ^Appearances inFA Trophy
  7. ^Appearances inConference League Cup
  8. ^Appearances inFAI Cup
  9. ^Appearances inLeague of Ireland Cup

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
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

Managerial

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Managerial record by team and tenure
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 −20 034.21

Honours

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Blackburn Rovers

Southampton

References

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  1. ^abc"Jeff Kenna".Barry Hugman's Footballers.Retrieved17 November2019.
  2. ^Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2003).Playfair Football Annual 2003–2004.Headline. p. 24.ISBN978-0-7553-1313-6.
  3. ^abcd"Jeff Kenna: Birmingham City FC".Sporting Heroes.Retrieved13 February2021.
  4. ^Kenna appointed manager[permanent dead link]
  5. ^Result: Galway United 2 Bray Wanderers 3[permanent dead link]
  6. ^Kenna becomes Player Manager[permanent dead link]
  7. ^"Jeff Kenna joins IMG Academy".IMG Academy. 1 August 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 29 September 2011.Retrieved12 August2011.
  8. ^"Jeff Kenna career appearances".soccerbase.Retrieved2 October2022.
  9. ^"Jeff Kenna career appearances".worldfootball.net.Retrieved2 October2022.
  10. ^"Jeff Kenna career appearances".11v11.Retrieved2 October2022.
  11. ^"Jeff Kenna Galway United appearances".extratime.Retrieved2 October2022.
  12. ^Crooke, Jaquob (6 April 2020)."Batty's nerves, Liverpool and Kenna's euphoria from Rovers' PL title".LancsLive.Retrieved9 June2023.
  13. ^"Champions: Jeff Kenna: The defender reflects on that magical Premier League title-winning campaign 25 years ago".Blackburn Rovers F.C. 5 April 2020.Retrieved9 June2023.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.
  14. ^Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003).In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC.Hagiology. p. 301.ISBN0-9534474-3-X.
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