| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Keith Robert Gillespie | ||
| Date of birth | 18 February 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Larne, Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| St Andrews FC | |||
| Manchester United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1995 | Manchester United | 9 | (1) |
| 1993 | → Wigan Athletic (loan) | 8 | (4) |
| 1995–1998 | Newcastle United | 113 | (11) |
| 1998–2003 | Blackburn Rovers | 115 | (6) |
| 2000–2001 | → Wigan Athletic (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2003–2005 | Leicester City | 42 | (2) |
| 2005–2009 | Sheffield United | 97 | (4) |
| 2008 | → Charlton Athletic (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2009 | Bradford City | 3 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Glentoran | 33 | (2) |
| 2010 | Darlington | 3 | (0) |
| 2011– | Longford Town | 18 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1994 | Northern Ireland U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 1994–2008 | Northern Ireland | 86 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:32, 24 October 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Keith Robert Gillespie (born 18 February 1975 in Larne, County Antrim) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays in midfield for Longford Town.
As well as representing his country he notably played in the Premier League for Manchester United, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United. He has also appeared in the Football League for Wigan Athletic, Leicester City, Charlton Athletic, Bradford City and Darlington. He has also represented Glentoran in his native Northern Ireland.
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His first years were spent in Islandmagee, County Antrim where he attended Whitehead Primary School. He later moved to Bangor, County Down where he attended Rathmore Primary School and Bangor Grammar School. He was scouted playing for St Andrews FC from Belfast, and was the first professional footballer to come from this club.
Gillespie signed for Manchester United on leaving school in the summer of 1991, being a member of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 1992. Also in that team were Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Gary Neville and Robbie Savage.
Gillespie made his debut for Manchester United in the 1992–93 season, and scored his first goal for the club against Bury in a 2–0 FA Cup third round triumph on 5 January 1993. He was issued with the number 31 shirt for the 1993–94 season with the introduction of squad numbers, but did not play any first team games and was loaned to Division Three club Wigan Athletic, scoring four goals in eight games.
Occasional appearances for United followed in 1994–95, but he was never able to displace Andrei Kanchelskis as United's first-choice right winger.
He moved to Newcastle United on 10 January 1995, as a £1 million component in the £7 million deal (£6 million cash) which took Andrew Cole to Old Trafford. Ironically, Gillespie had scored one of United's goals against Newcastle in the 2–0 victory at Old Trafford which had knocked Kevin Keegan's side off the top of the Premier League table less than three months earlier. This meant that he had scored twice for Manchester United in three seasons as a professional.
On 20 August 1995, the News of the World carried reports that Gillespie was subject of an approach from Alex Ferguson to return to Manchester United to fill the gap on the right wing left by the recent departure of Andrei Kanchelskis, but the return to Old Trafford never happened and United instead turned to up-and-coming youngester David Beckham to occupy that position.
Gillespie stayed at Newcastle for three-and-a-half years and during this time he played 143 games, including 15 European ties (in both the Champions League and UEFA Cup) and scored 13 goals. In both the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons he helped Newcastle to finish second in the Premier League (runners up to Gillespie's former club, Manchester United, on both occasions), being a key member of "The Entertainers". On the first occasion, the Magpies very nearly beat Gillespie's old club to the title, having been 10 points ahead of them by Christmas 1995 before a dismal final three months of the season saw the title sealed by Gillespie's former team mates.
In his final full season at Newcastle, the 1997–98 season, Gillespie helped Newcastle to reach the FA Cup final. However, he was not in the squad for the final and Newcastle lost to Arsenal. The following season saw Gillespie depart Tyneside in a £2.3 million move to Blackburn Rovers.
Five seasons at Ewood Park brought another 138 games and 6 goals as well as another loan spell at Wigan Athletic, bringing his total appearances for Athletic to 15 from which he scored 4 goals. He then moved to Leicester City on a free transfer playing 48 games and scoring two goals in two seasons. In his time at Blackburn he started in the 2002 Football League Cup Final in which they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–1.
Gillespie signed for Sheffield United on 5 August 2005, signing a one-year contract. This was then extended to June 2007 a month later. In his first season at the club, Gillespie played a role in Sheffield United's successful promotion campaign to the Premier League. Gillespie's most memorable goal for Sheffield United came against Charlton, where he scored the winner in the 88th minute with a stunning volley from 25 yards. This goal was also a nominee for the December Goal of the Month competition, which Paul Scholes eventually won.
On 20 January 2007, during a Premier League match against Reading at the Madejski Stadium, Gillespie was sent off for violent conduct (elbowing Reading's Stephen Hunt) twelve seconds after coming on as a substitute. As he made his way off the pitch, Gillespie pushed Hunt in the face.[1] He thereby achieved the dubious honour of becoming the fastest sending-off of a substitute in English football, since he was sent off before the ball had come back into play, and so technically sent off being on the pitch for zero seconds of play.[2] The day after this incident, he stunned Sheffield United when he handed in a transfer request to the chief executive Terry Robinson[3] but in July that year Gillespie recanted and signed a new two-year contract.[4]
In July 2008, he limped out of a pre-season friendly at Bury and missed the start of the 2008–09 season.[5] Having regained fitness he was unable to regain a first team place and was eventually loaned out to Charlton Athletic.[6] He made only six appearances for the Addicks before being recalled to Bramall Lane as cover for mounting injuries.[7]
Despite being recalled to the Blades, Gillespie failed to make another appearance and on 30 January 2009 his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[8] He went to Bradford City with whose manager Stuart McCall Gillespie had been a teammate at Sheffield United. However, McCall insisted Gillespie was only training with the club to stay fit and help out the younger players, and not on trial.[9]
Gillespie impressed McCall during training and told the manager he was very keen to gain match experience; as a result, Gillespie signed for Bradford City in March for the rest of the 2008–09 season.[10] Gillespie was an unused substitute in their 1–0 defeat to Exeter City and so had to wait for his debut which came as a second half substitute with City already 4–1 down to Bournemouth three days later.[11][12] After just three appearances Gillespie was not offered a long-term deal by Bradford City. In the summer of 2009 he had a trial with Hungarian side Ferencvaros and has been linked with a move to the IFA Premiership.[13]
In 2009, Gillespie made a shock move to the east Belfast club, Glentoran. It was believed that Gillespie's agents approched Glentoran. He made his debut for Glentoran against Ballymena United in the league, he had previously played for Glentoran the night before for the reserves against Ballymena; Glentoran lost 2–1 in his 1st senior appearance for, at the time, the current league champions. In June 2010, the club announced that Gillespie was to leave after just one season after he and the club failed to agree terms on a new deal.[14]
In August 2010 his ex international teammate Michael O'Neill invited Gillespie to play in a friendly for Shamrock Rovers in a reserve game versus his first club.[15]
In October 2010, Gillespie joined up with Conference National side Darlington, later signing with the club.[16] He made three appearances before being released on 23 December 2010.[17]
On 24 March 2011, Gillespie signed for League of Ireland First Division side Longford Town.[18]
He is currently sixth place in the list of appearances for Northern Ireland with 86 caps. He made his debut in September 1994 in a 2–1 home defeat by Portugal. He played an important role in his country's 3–2 qualifying win against Spain at Windsor Park on 6 September 2006. Gillespie was investigated by the Irish FA for his involvement in a fracas with George McCartney on the trip back home from a game in Iceland.[19] He has not been involved with the Northern Ireland set-up since being omitted from the squad that faced San Marino in February 2009.[20] His final cap was won in a 2–0 defeat by Hungary at Windsor Park in November 2008.[21]
Northern Ireland Manager Nigel Worthington has stated that following his return to the Irish League, Gillespie would not be considered for international selection, despite having called up Colin Coates of Crusaders and Coleraine's Rory Patterson.
Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 October 1994 | Vienna, Austria | Austria | 1–0 | 2–1 | UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying |
| 2 | 8 October 2005 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Wales | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Keith Gillespie was declared legally bankrupt, as of the 1 October 2010, by the Belfast High Court, following a petition by HM Revenue and Customs.[22]