Leon McKenzie
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| Leon McKenzie | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leon McKenzie | |
| Date of birth | 17 May 1978 | |
| Place of birth | Croydon, UK | |
| Height | 5'10 | |
| Position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Coventry City | |
| Number | 15 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Crystal Palace | ||
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 1995–2000 1997 1998 2000–2003 2003–2006 2006– |
Crystal Palace → Fulham (loan) → Peterborough (loan) Peterborough Norwich Coventry |
98 (8) 3 (0) 15 (9) 103 (49) 81 (22) 11 (2) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
Leon McKenzie (born 17 May 1978 in Croydon) is a professional footballer who currently plays for Coventry City. He is the son of former British and European boxing champion Clinton McKenzie and nephew of flyweight boxing champion Duke McKenzie.
McKenzie began his career with his local club Crystal Palace, making his debut during the 1995-96. In 1997 he was loaned to Fulham and in 1998 to Peterborough United, where he scored 9 goals in 15 games.
In 2000 McKenzie moved to London Road on a permanent basis. In three years there he scored 49 goals in 103 games.
He joined Norwich from Peterborough in December 2003 for a fee of £325,000, and instantly won over the Canaries faithful by scoring twice on his debut to help beat local rival Ipswich Town at Portman Road. His goals made a significant contribution to Norwich's promotion to the Premier League as First Division champions.
Within a year, he had turned from a Second Division to a Premiership player. McKenzie took time to find his feet in the Premiership but he established a strike partnership with Dean Ashton which would become one of the most potent in the division during the closing stages of the 2004-05 season. His goals helped Norwich to haul themselves into contention to avoid the drop, although they were relegated on the last day of the season.
He was voted third place in the Norwich Player of The Season vote by supporters for the season 2004-05, beaten by Darren Huckerby and Damien Francis.
The 2005-06 season for McKenzie was interrupted by injuries and personal difficulties surrounding the break-up of his marriage. At the start of the 2006-07 in English football campaign, he handed in a transfer request to manager Nigel Worthington. Although Worthington rejected McKenzie's request, he subsequently confirmed that McKenzie would be sold if they received an offer that matched the club's valuation of the player.
McKenzie was signed by Coventry City on transfer deadline day in August 2006 for an intitial £600,000 that, according to appearances and promotion, could rise to £1m. Ironically, Coventry's first match after signing Mckenzie was against Norwich - however, Mckenzie was unable to play due to a condition of the transfer that prevented him from playing in either of the two fixtures between Coventry and Norwich in the 2006-07 season. He made his debut for Coventry on 12 September 2006 as a substitute against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Leon's cousin is Ashley McKenzie, who took part in the recent series of The X Factor, broadcasting on ITV1.
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[edit] External links
| Coventry City F.C. - Current Squad |
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2 Whing | 3 Hall | 4 Page | 5 Ward | 6 Hughes | 7 Andrews | 8 Doyle | 9 Adebola | 10 Kyle | 11 Birchall | 13 González-Robles | 14 John | 15 McKenzie | 16 Osbourne | 18 McNamee | 19 Giddings | 20 Bischoff | 21 Tabb | 22 Hutchison | 23 Cameron | 24 Duffy | 25 Virgo | 26 Clarke | 29 Thornton | 33 Marshall | Manager: Adams |
