Jacob Kendall Kean (born 4 February 1991) is an English football coach and 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 le ...

, who is head of goalkeeping at

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

. As a player, he was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who played for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, appearing as their first choice keeper for both the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and 2013–14 seasons before picking up a knee injury. He has since had loan spells with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

and

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

. He signed for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in 2015 but failed to make a first team appearance and instead spent time on loan with

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 ...

and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. He later took in spells with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and

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 ...

before joining

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

as a player/coach. Kean has played internationally for England under-20s once.

Career

Blackburn Rovers

Born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, Kean started his youth career at

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 1884 ...

, before moving to

towards the end of the 2008–09 season. Kean joined

in September 2010 in a month-long loan deal. This was later extended due to injuries to

Scott Flinders Scott Liam Flinders (born 12 June 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Mansfield Town. Flinders has played for Barnsley, Crystal Palace, Gillingham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Yeovil Town, Blackpool, ...

and

Andy Rafferty Andrew James Rafferty (born 27 May 1988) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Rafferty played in League One for Hartlepool United making the step up from part-time side Guisborough Town. Following his departure from Har ...

. Kean made his debut on 18 September in a 0–0 away draw with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. He kept ten clean sheets during his four-month spell at Victoria Park. Kean signed for

on loan for the entire 2011–12 season. His loan was cut short in November when Blackburn recalled him because of an injury to Paul Robinson. Kean returned to Rovers because of the injury to first-choice Paul Robinson and was back up to Mark Bunn for a few games, near to the end of the season he was permanently on the bench due to an injury to Bunn. On 13 May, he made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut away to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in goal due to injuries to both Robinson and Bunn, this also meant both sides played second-choice goalkeepers with

Ross Turnbull Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

deputising for

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He also plays semi-professional ice hockey as a goaltender for Chelmsford Chieftains. Described by numerous players, pundits and managers as o ...

in the opposite goal. Blackburn lost the game 2–1 with goals for Chelsea scored by

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

and

Raul Meireles Raul José Trindade Meireles (; born 17 March 1983) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a midfielder. After starting out at Boavista, he signed with Porto in 2004, going on to appear in 198 official games and win ten major trophies ...

and

Yakubu Yakubu is an English transliteration of a West African name and is a cognate of Jacob and James. Notable people with the name include: ;Given name * Yakubu (born 1982 as Yakubu Ayegbeni), Nigerian footballer * Yakubu (Gobir ruler), historical ruler ...

scoring for Rovers. Midway through the

Championship season, Kean took over the starting spot from Paul Robinson, keeping three clean sheets in wins over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, also playing a key role in Blackburn's shock 1–0 win against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the FA Cup 5th round, keeping a clean sheet and made crucial saves that kept Blackburn in the game. Kean started the 2013–14 season as first-choice until the beginning of December when he lost his first-team place to

Simon Eastwood Simon Christopher Eastwood (born 26 June 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Oxford United. Eastwood started his career as a youth player with Huddersfield Town. He went professional in 2007, but stru ...

. Kean slipped further down the pecking order in January with the return from injury of Paul Robinson, who was re-instated as number one. He was left on the sidelines for the most part of the 2014–15 season by Gary Bowyer and left the club by mutual consent on 31 July 2015. Kean joined

on an initial one-month loan deal on 15 September 2014. On 30 January 2015, Kean joined

on loan for the remainder of the season.

Norwich City

After being released by Blackburn, Kean signed a two-year contract with newly promoted Premier League side

on 1 August 2015. He left the club by mutual consent on 18 July 2016.

Sheffield Wednesday

Following his release by Norwich, Kean joined Championship side

. On 31 December 2016, Kean joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on loan for the remainder of the season. On 5 January 2018 Kean signed for

on loan for the rest of the 2017–18 season. His contract was not renewed at the end of his loan spell and was released from Sheffield Wednesday.

Mansfield Town

In December 2018, Kean re-joined Mansfield Town on a short-term deal after their first choice goalkeeper,

Bobby Olejnik Robert Olejnik (born 26 November 1986) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Olejnik came through the youth teams of Austria Wien and Aston Villa and has played professionally for Falkirk, Torquay United, ...

, suffered an injury.

Coaching career

In August 2019, at the age of 28 Kean joined

as goalkeeping coach and signed on as back-up player to provide back up for

Sam Slocombe Sam Oliver Slocombe (born 5 June 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Notts County. He began his career with Bottesford Town in the Northern Counties East Football League. In 2008, he moved to his hometown ...

and Ross Fitzsimons.

International career

Following an impressive four-month loan spell for Hartlepool United,

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence, (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an England international football goalkeeper and part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 31 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances, and holds the r ...

was spotted scouting Kean during a 4–0 defeat to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, and on 9 February 2011 he played 83 minutes for Brian Eastwick's England Under-20 side during a 2–1 defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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 ...

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) ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kean, Jake 1991 births Living people Footballers from Derby English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Derby County F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players England men's youth international footballers Swindon Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Notts County F.C. non-playing staff Burton Albion F.C. non-playing staff