Kevin Russell (footballer)

Kevin Russell
Personal information
Full name Kevin John Russell
Date of birth December 6, 1966 (1966-12-06) (age 45)
Place of birth Paulsgrove, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position Striker
Youth career
1982–84 Brighton & Hove Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1982–1984 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (0)
1984–1987 Portsmouth 4 (1)
1987–1989 Wrexham 84 (43)
1989–1992 Leicester City 43 (10)
1990 → Peterborough United (loan) 7 (3)
1991 → Cardiff City (loan) 3 (0)
1991 → Hereford United (loan) 3 (1)
1992 → Stoke City (loan) 5 (1)
1992–1993 Stoke City 40 (5)
1993–1994 Burnley 28 (6)
1994–1995 Bournemouth 30 (1)
1995 Notts County 11 (0)
1995–2002 Wrexham 198 (17)
National team
1984–85 England U-18 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Kevin John Russell (born 6 December 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Career

An former England Youth international,[1] Russell (nicknamed Rooster early in his career because of his quiff[2]); later to lose all his hair[3]) was a professional footballer (soccer player) who played for 11 clubs in a career spanning nearly 20 years. Released by Brighton after an apprenticeship Russell returned to his hometown club Portsmouth but appearances were limited[4] with the highlight of his South Coast career being when he presented Simon Flynn with Portchester Youth U12's Managers player of the season award, mainly due to his excellent penalty saving record, after which he moved on to Wrexham during the 1987 close season. In the first of his two spells with the club he scored at a rate of just over a goal every two games.[5] In 1989 he joined Leicester City, but was loaned out four times.[6] However he fought his way into the first team at the end of the 1991–92 season and became a cult-hero, scoring several important late goals after coming off the bench as he helped fire Leicester to the play-off final, eventually losing to Blackburn Rovers. Despite this, he went to Stoke City at the end of the season. While at Stoke he became a key member of the first team as Stoke won the Second Division championship.

After one season at Stoke he moved onto Burnley. Short spells with Bournemouth and Notts County followed before a move back to the Racecourse Ground. Here, at last, Russell found a permanent home – he was to play nearly 200 more league games for The Robins in a deeper role, eventually being rewarded with a testimonial against Manchester United.[7] In his second spell at Wrexham he is best remembered for his winning goal against West Ham in an FA Cup third round replay in the 1996/97 season. With the tie goalless, Russell scored a 90th minute goal to dump West Ham out of the cup at Upton Park. He remained at the club until being sacked in January 2007. On the 12th of January 2011, he agreed to rejoin Peterborough United, with Darren Ferguson for a second spell.[8]

References

  1. ^ Six u-18 caps in the 1984/85 season AFS DataBase
  2. ^ Portsmouth Sports Mail- “Russell to start against Hull”: article by Mike Neasom, 14 February 2007
  3. ^ humorous chant
  4. ^ ”Portsmouth, from Tindall to Ball” Farmery, C: Southend-on-Sea, Desert Island Books, 1999 ISBN 1874287252
  5. ^ “The PFA Premier League and Football League Players’ Records 1946–98” Hugman,B: Harpenden, Queen Anne Press, 1998 ISBN 1852915854
  6. ^ Loan details
  7. ^ The Independent(London), 5/19/05
  8. ^ Sacked from Wrexham