Alan Kelly Jr.

Alan Kelly Jr.
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-08-11) 11 August 1968
Place of birth Preston, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
– Preston North End
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1992 Preston North End 142 (0)
1992–1999 Sheffield United 214 (0)
1999–2004 Blackburn Rovers 39 (0)
2001 → Stockport County (loan) 2 (0)
2001 → Birmingham City (loan) 6 (0)
Total 403 (0)
National team
1990 Republic of Ireland U23 1 (0)
1993–2002 Republic of Ireland 34 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Alan Kelly Jr. (born 11 August 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Preston North End, Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers, along with short loan spells at Stockport County and Birmingham City. Born in Preston, Kelly represented the Republic of Ireland internationally, winning 34 caps for his country. Both his father, Alan Kelly, Sr., who also represented Ireland, and older brother, Gary Kelly, played as goalkeepers.

Club career

Kelly started his career at Preston North End in the Fourth Division, following the footsteps of his father, Alan Kelly, Sr., and played 142 League games for the team.

He joined Sheffield United in July 1992 for £150,000. Kelly stayed with Sheffield United until 1999, despite their relegation from the Premiership shortly into his career with them. In total, he made 213 appearances for the Blades. He helped Sheffield United to the 1997-98 FA Cup semi finals at Old Trafford where they were defeated by Newcastle United. In the quarter final replay against Coventry City, the game went to a penalty shootout and Kelly saved from Dion Dublin, Simon Haworth and David Burrows to help his side progress.[1]

In 1999, Kelly transferred to Blackburn Rovers, making 39 appearances, and stayed there until his retirement from football in 2004. This time also included loan spells at Stockport County and Birmingham City. He made more than 470 appearances in all competitions at club level.[2]

International career

He won 34 caps for the Republic of Ireland, and was a member of the Republic's 1994 and 2002 World Cup squads. He was the team's second-choice goalkeeper on both occasions (behind Packie Bonner and Shay Given respectively), and never played in a World Cup game.

Later career

In the summer of 2006, Kelly was goalkeeping coach for the Soccer-Academy camps, located in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania in the United States.

He is currently the goalkeeping coach of the Republic of Ireland national football team and at Preston North End's Centre of Excellence.[3][4]

After spending 18 months at Preston North End's Centre of Excellence he became the new goalkeeping coach following the dismissal of Phil Brown and appointment of David Unsworth as caretaker manager.[5]

Honours

Club

Blackburn Rovers

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Kelly displays Sheffield steel as Blades advance". independent.ie. 18 March 1998. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Kelly hangs up gloves". BBC Sport. 5 March 2004. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  3. ↑ "Alan Kelly". Football Association of Ireland. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "Centre of Excellence". Preston North End F.C. 25 July 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  5. ↑ "Alan Kelly". BBC Sport. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.