Joseph John Keenan (born 14 October 1982) 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 le ...

who played as a

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Keenan started his career with Premier League club Chelsea. He made his first-team debut for Chelsea in 2002 as a substitute for John Terry against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

; his second appearance came as a replacement for Gianfranco Zola in an FA Cup tie. Keenan was given a four-year contract in 2002 and was seen as a "hot prospect" by Claudio Ranieri. He suffered a broken leg soon afterwards, however, which kept him out of action for most of the 2002–03 season. He made one further appearance in a league match, but fell out of favour after

Jose Mourinho Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

became manager and was loaned out to

K.V.C. Westerlo Koninklijke Voetbal Club Westerlo (; often simply called Westerlo) is a Belgian professional football club located in the municipality of Westerlo in the province of Antwerp. Since 1997–98, Westerlo has been mostly playing in the Belgian Pro ...

and

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 ...

. Keenan then signed for

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

, playing as a left wingback for the 2007–08 Australian champions. He can also play anywhere across the midfield. Keenan signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side Hibernian in July 2008. He scored his first goal for the club in a Scottish League Cup defeat against Morton, but he struggled to hold down a first team place, making only 16 appearances. When John Hughes replaced

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

as manager before the start of the 2009–10 season, Keenan was told that he was free to find a new club. Keenan was released from his contract at the end of August. Keenan signed a contract with South Melbourne on 9 December 2009 to play in the upcoming VPL season. He returned to the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

on loan with Adelaide United for the 2010–11 season as an injury replacement player for injured

Nigel Boogaard Nigel Boogaard ( ; born 14 August 1986) is a former Australian professional footballer who played as a central defender in the A-League. Boogaard currently plays for Charlestown Azzurri in the Northern NSW Football National Premier Leagues c ...

References

External links

Adelaide United profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keenan, Joe 1982 births Living people Footballers from Southampton Association football utility players English footballers Chelsea F.C. players Brentford F.C. players K.V.C. Westerlo players Willem II (football club) players Melbourne Victory FC players Hibernian F.C. players South Melbourne FC players Premier League players English Football League players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players A-League Men players Scottish Premier League players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Adelaide United FC players Association football midfielders