Desmond McKeown (born 18 January 1970) is a Scottish retired footballer who played for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

, Queen of the South in two spells,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

and

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

. He was also in the Celtic youth team but never played a first-team game for them. When playing for

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

club, Queen of the South, McKeown was part of the side that made it to the 1997

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Jamie McAllister, Andy Aitken, Jim Thomson, and man of the match Tommy Bryce. In 2001, he was the subject of a book published by Mainstream Publishing entitled "Don't Give Up the Day Job: A Year in the Life a Part-time Footballer" written by

Bill Leckie Bill Leckie is a Scottish sports journalist and broadcaster who currently writes for the Scottish edition of '' The Sun'' newspaper. Leckie also does commentary on Scottish Football League matches for BBC Radio Scotland and makes regular cont ...

, which gave an insight into the difficulties of juggling work commitments and family life, whilst playing as a part-time professional footballer for Queen of the South F.C. in the Scottish League. This was his second stint with the Palmerston Park club. His playing career effectively came to an end after sustaining a broken leg in a pre-season game between

Barrow AFC Barrow Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club plays in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English league system. Since 1909, Barrow have played their home games at H ...

and Stenhousemuir in 2002. He managed Stenhousemuir from 2004-2006 (during the 2004-2005 season, he was co-manager alongside Tony Smith). McKeown, who nowadays owns a stationery supply company in the Glasgow area, works part-time as a pundit for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

and also has a column in the Scottish edition of The Sun newspaper.
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References

Sources

* * 1970 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish footballers Celtic F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Stenhousemuir F.C. players Scottish football managers Stenhousemuir F.C. managers Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Albion Rovers F.C. players Association football defenders Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League managers {{Scotland-footy-defender-1970s-stub