Darran Kempson (born 6 December 1984) is an English former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
defender from 2003 to 2014.
He played for
Preston North End,
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
,
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
,
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
,
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
,
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
,
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
,
Forest Green Rovers
Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...
,
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
and
Alfreton Town
Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street.
History
The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...
.
Personal life
Kempson attended Manor Beach Primary School and
Millfield High School
Further information
The school gained specialist college status in 2005.
Millfield consists of:
* ...
in Thornton Cleveleys area, Blackpool. after leaving school he was given the chance as a trainee with
Preston North End.
Career
Preston North End
The central defender started his career at
Preston North End as a trainee, but didn't play a game for ''The Lilywhites''. He was given a loan spell at
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
from February 2004, making his début in Accrington's 3–2 defeat to
Dagenham & Redbridge. Kempson went on to play a further 10 appearances for Accrington, scoring one goal, which was in the 3–1 defeat to
Margate
Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...
.
Kempson got a second loan spell away from
Deepdale
Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested".
History ...
at the end of December 2004. This time, Kempson was loaned out to
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
, where he made seven appearances and scored a single goal.
Morecambe
Kempson managed to impress Morecambe manager
Jim Harvey and secured a permanent deal at
Christie Park. Kempson played a further 44 appearances for ''The Shrimps'' and helping them to the Conference Play-offs. A starting regular under
Jim Harvey at Morecambe, Kempson was mainly used a substitute under
Sammy McIlroy
Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland natio ...
, and decided not to renew his contract with the Shrimps.
Crewe Alexandra
Kempson then had a successful trial with
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
, and subsequently signed for the club in the summer of 2006. He played seven games for ''the Railwaymen'', making his début in the 2–2 draw with
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
. Following a short loan spell which saw him end the
2006–07 season at
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
.
Shrewsbury Town
Kempson followed teammate
Darren Moss
Darren Moss (born 24 May 1981) is a former Wales under-21 international footballer who is currently running his own football coaching academy.
Playing career
Moss started his career as a trainee at Chester. He made his début for the club back ...
to
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
in the summer of 2007 .His Shrewsbury début came in the 4–0 away win at
Lincoln City on the opening day of the
2007–08 season. He scored his first goal for the club in the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
— the winner against Championship club
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
— three days later. It was the first competitive goal at the
New Meadow
New Meadow, also known as Montgomery Waters Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is a stadium situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5 road (Great Britain) ...
. He joined
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
on loan on 29 February 2008, but was recalled by the Shrews early to play in their last few games of the season. Kempson was not a regular in the first team at Shrewsbury and in July 2008, was told that he did not figure in manager
Paul Simpson's immediate plans, being left behind as the club travelled to Spain on a pre-season training camp.
Wrexham
He joined newly relegated Wrexham on a two-year contract. During his first season at Wrexham first team manager 'Brian Little' was sacked. Dean Saunders was appointed and Darran found himself out of favour and needing first team football.
During the 2008–2009 season he had a brief loan spell at
Forest Green Rovers
Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...
under his former manager at Morecambe,
Jim Harvey. During this period at Forest Green Rovers he played in several key fixtures for the club including their FA cup third round match against
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 188 ...
but left in January 2009 to fight for a place back at Wrexham.
Accrington Stanley
On 21 July Kempson rejoined
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
after mutually agreeing to leave Wrexham.
He scored the winning goal for Accrington Stanley, in the first game of the 2009/10 season, to beat Lincoln City 1–0.
After an 18-month period where his career had arguably faulted, Darran now looks to be getting back on track after a number of battling performances at the heart of the Stanley defence.
Grimsby Town
On 3 June 2010. Kempson signed with
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...
on a 2-year contract. Throughout his first season at
Blundell Park
Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9, ...
he partnered
Rob Atkinson
Robert Guy Atkinson (born 29 April 1987) is an English former professional footballer who plays as a defender.
Atkinson started his professional career with Barnsley in 2004, and then spent time on loan with Scarborough, Halifax Town, Rochd ...
and
Steven Watt and became an integral part of the club's defence in
Neil Woods
Neil Stephen Woods (born 30 July 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is academy manager at Grimsby Town.
As a player, he was a striker from 1983 to 2000 for Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Ipswich Town, Bra ...
side. Woods was replaced in February and Kempson was made club captain by the incoming management duo of
Rob Scott and
Paul Hurst
Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town.
As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, b ...
. His captaincy continued into the 2011–12 season but amidst rumours of a training ground bust up Kempson was released by Grimsby on 18 December 2011 following the club's 4–3 victory over
Ebbsfleet United
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
The club was formed in 1946 fr ...
having his contract cancelled by mutual consent.
Alfreton Town
On 7 January 2012 it was announced that Kempson had joined Scottish club
Dunfermline Athletic
Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...
on trial. After failing to earn a contract with Dunfermline, Kempson returned to England and the
Conference National
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...
by signing for
Alfreton Town
Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street.
History
The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...
until the end of the season. He was made captain, and after playing a key role in helping Alfreton to avoid relegation he was rewarded with a new two-year contract on 23 May.
Honours
Grimsby Town
*
Lincolnshire Senior Cup
The Lincolnshire Senior County Cup is a football (soccer) competition for senior football clubs in Lincolnshire organised by the Lincolnshire FA.
The competition can be traced back to the formation of the Lincolnshire FA at a meeting held at th ...
: Winner, 2011–12
Shrewsbury Town
*
Shropshire Senior Cup
The Shropshire Senior Cup is a county cup football competition that is open for professional and non-professional senior football teams in the English county of Shropshire.
The competition is one of the oldest cup competitions in the world, and ...
: Winner, 2007–08
References
External links
Darran Kempson profileat Alfreton Town F.C.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempson, Darran
1984 births
English footballers
Association football defenders
Living people
Sportspeople from Blackpool
Accrington Stanley F.C. players
Bury F.C. players
Crewe Alexandra F.C. players
Grimsby Town F.C. players
Morecambe F.C. players
Preston North End F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. players
Wrexham A.F.C. players
Forest Green Rovers F.C. players
Alfreton Town F.C. players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players