Kevin Donovan (born 17 December 1971) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach, former professional player and sports co-commentator. He runs his own football academy that is linked to Brighouse Town. As a player, he was a

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 ...

from 1988 to 2007 with lengthy spells at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

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 ...

which saw him win two play-off finals at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

and

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 ...

before finishing his career off in non-League football with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

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 ...

Playing career

Donovan started playing for Elland Athletic in the Halifax league as an 8-year old before he joined

, training at the centre of excellence, at 16 he became an apprentice and turned professional in October 1989. He joined

on loan during February and March 1992, before moving to

for £70,000 in October of that year. He made his Albion debut against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in the same month. Donovan scored in Albion's 3–0 win over Vale in the Division Two play-off final the following May at Wembley as the club clinched promotion. In July 1997 he signed for

for a £300,000 fee, joining up with his former manager at Albion,

Alan Buckley Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside. As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, Wa ...

. His time at Grimsby was arguably the best of his career. In his first season, he scored 21 goals to help the club win twice at

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

, and in the play-off final, in which Donovan netted the only goal of the game. However, Donovan failed to score a single goal in the following season for the club. Two more rather impressive seasons were spent 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, ...

before Donovan confirmed the Grimsby supporters' worst fears and left to join rivals

. His time at Oakwell was mainly blighted by injury problems, and he experienced relegation with the club, and at the end of the 2002–03 season he was released by The Tykes. During his spell at Barnsley he scored once against Walsall in December 2001. Donovan was snapped up by

, who had managed him at West Brom and Grimsby, and gave him a one-year deal for

However, after another fruitless campaign, playing only seven times for 'Dale, Donovan was released by the club. His next port of call was at

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

club

on a one-year contract, following a loan spell. At York he linked up with former Grimsby teammate Paul Groves, but neither really flourished. At the end of the season Donovan moved into the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

, joining

for a season before retiring from the game.

Personal life

Donovan runs a football school and coaches the junior side at Brighouse Town. He occasionally co-commentates for

BBC Radio Humberside BBC Radio Humberside is the BBC's local radio station serving East Yorkshire and North & North East Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Queen's Gardens in Hull. According to RAJAR, the statio ...

on Grimsby Town games.

Honours

Grimsby Town *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

play-offs: 1997–98 *

: 1997–98 West Bromwich Albion *

play-offs: 1992–93 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1997–98 Second Division *Grimsby Town Supporters' Player of the Year 1997–98

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Kevin 1971 births Living people Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players