Gary Kelly

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This article is about the Irish footballer. For the CEO of Southwest Airlines, see Gary C. Kelly.
Gary Kelly
Personal information
Full name Gary Kelly
Date of birth July 9, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth    Drogheda, Ireland
Height 5ft 8in (1.78m)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Leeds United
Number 2
Youth clubs
1989
1990–91		 Drogheda
Home Farm
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1991–present Leeds United 430 (2)   
National team2
1994–2003 Republic of Ireland 051 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 12:00, 25 November 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 21:04, 2 January 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Gary Kelly (born 9 July 1974 in Drogheda) is an Irish professional footballer currently playing for Leeds United in the Football League Championship. He can play as a right back or a right midfielder.


Contents

[edit] Biography

After making his debut in the 1991-92 season, Kelly has more or less been a regular in every subsequent season for Leeds, except 1998-99. As a result, he was rewarded with a testimonial match in May 2002, played against Celtic, the proceeds of which were donated to several cancer charities chosen by Kelly (mainly Teenage Cancer Charity in Leeds and Cancer Support Centre in Drogheda) in dedication to his sister who died from the disease in 1998. Seen by a crowd of 26,440, Celtic won this match.

Kelly has won 51 international caps playing for the Republic of Ireland before his retirement from international football. He represented them at both the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Kelly is played regularly in his 16th season at Elland Road and with his contract expiring at the end of the season. On 26 October 2006, new Leeds manager Dennis Wise revealed Shaun Derry was replacing Kelly as the new Leeds vice captain, ending Kelly's long reign as the Leeds vice captain. Shortly after, Kelly appears to have fallen out of favour with Dennis Wise, the manager. He may never play for Leeds again. The official club line is that Kelly has suffered first a back injury, and then an ankle injury while training, but a large proportion of fans discount this and believe that Kelly has been dropped for other reasons unrelated to injury.

Over the years, Gary Kelly has earned the respect of countless Leeds United fan's for his eternal loyalty to the club.

Kelly is the uncle of fellow Irish international Ian Harte, who now plays for Levante UD, having signed from Leeds in the summer of 2004 following their relegation from the Premiership. Uncle and nephew were both part of Ireland's 2002 World Cup squad.

[edit] Kelly the Prankster

Gary Kelly is also regarded amongst the Leeds United squad as some what of a prankster and joker having pulled several different stunts including wearing Nicky Byrne of Westlife's clothes for a training session when Nicky had got changed to join in with the training session[1]. Nicky Byrne used to be part of the youth team set up at Leeds United during the mid-1990s and is good friends with Gary Kelly even having cleaned Gary's boots when he was a trainee at the club. He also wore the Lucas The Kop Kat head whilst appearing on SKY's Soccer AM Crossbar Challenge.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Gary Kelly Testimonial Program "Westlife star feared Gary would ruin his expensive clothes"

[edit] External links


Leeds United A.F.C. - Current Squad

2 Kelly | 3 Crainey | 4 Douglas | 5 Kishishev | 6 Thompson | 7 Westlake | 8 Flo | 9 Healy | 11 Lewis | 12 R. Elliott | 14 Johnson | 15 Richardson | 16 Einarsson | 17 Carole | 18 Nicholls | 19 Heath | 20 Foxe | 21 Derry | 22 Moore | 23 Stack | 24 Rui Marques | 25 Cresswell | 26 Michalík | 27 Kandol | 28 Blake | 31 Sá | 33 Howson | 34 Bayly | 35 Madden | 36 Lund | 37 T. Elliott | 40 Ankergren | 42 Rose | Manager: Wise
Flag of Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Flag of Republic of Ireland

1 Bonner | 2 Irwin | 3 Phelan | 4 Moran | 5 McGrath | 6 Keane | 7 Townsend | 8 Houghton | 9 Aldridge | 10 Sheridan | 11 Staunton | 12 G. Kelly | 13 Kernaghan | 14 Babb | 15 Coyne | 16 Cascarino | 17 McGoldrick | 18 Whelan | 19 McLoughlin | 20 D. Kelly | 21 McAteer | 22 A. Kelly | Coach: Charlton
Flag of Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Flag of Republic of Ireland

1 Given | 2 Finnan | 3 Harte | 4 Cunningham | 5 Staunton | 6 Roy Keane | 7 McAteer | 8 Holland | 9 Duff | 10 Robbie Keane | 11 Kilbane | 12 Kinsella | 13 Connolly | 14 Breen | 15 Dunne | 16 Kiely | 17 Quinn | 18 G. Kelly | 19 Morrison | 20 O'Brien | 21 Reid | 22 Carsley | 23 A. Kelly | Coach: McCarthy
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