Kevin Joseph Kent (born 19 March 1965) is an English former 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'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. Kent started his career as a winger 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 ...

in 1983. The following year, he began playing regular football with Newport County. He then played for

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 ...

over six years from 1985 to 1991. He then transferred to

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 ...

, where he finished his career following five years. Over a thirteen-year professional career, he played 454 games, scoring 57 goals (claiming 45 goals in 379 appearances 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 ...

). He won 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 ...

both with Mansfield (

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

) and Port Vale (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

), and helped the "Stags" to win promotion out of the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

(1985–86) and the "Valiants" to win promotion out of the

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 ...

(1993–94).

Early life

Kevin Joseph Kent was born on 19 March 1965 in

Trent Vale Trent Vale is a village located on the western outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent in England. It is bordered on the south by Hanford, and both villages are separated by the A500. To the west is Clayton, whilst the north is Newcastle-under-Lyme. The ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. His father was a season ticket holder at both

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Playing career

West Bromwich Albion

At age 14, Kent signed on schoolboy terms with

. He made two First Division appearances under

Ron Wylie Ronald Maurice Wylie (6 August 1933 – 14 April 2020) was a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He played as a right half or inside forward for Notts County, Aston Villa and Birmingham City, making more than 550 appearances in the Foot ...

and Johnny Giles in the 1983–84 campaign. He then left The Hawthorns and signed for Newport County of the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. A late bid from

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

failed as the move to Newport had already been confirmed.

Newport County

Kent had been approached to sign for Newport by manager

Colin Addison Colin Addison (born 18 May 1940) is an English former professional footballer and manager. Born in Taunton, Somerset, Addison started his playing career with York City before moving to Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Sheffield United. His man ...

, who had previously been the assistant manager at West Brom. Kent played 33 league games for the "Exiles" in 1984–85, before leaving

Rodney Parade Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's cen ...

to join

Mansfield Town

Kent helped

Ian Greaves Ian Denzil Greaves (26 May 1932 – 2 January 2009) was an English association football, football player and manager. He was born in Crompton Urban District, Crompton, Lancashire. He won a Football League Championship, League Championship meda ...

's side to win promotion out of the

with a third-place finish in 1985–86. In 1986–87 he scored ten goals in 57 games and wrote his name in the club's history books on 24 May 1987, when he became the first (and to date, the only) player in Mansfield's history to score at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

when the "Stags" won the

after beating

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 ...

on penalties following a 1–1 draw (he also successfully converted his

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

). He scored fifteen goals in 58 games in the 1987–88 campaign. Mansfield posted a 15th-place finish in 1988–89, before new boss George Foster led the club to another 15th-place finish in 1989–90. They were demoted back into the basement division after a last-place finish in 1990–91. Kent played 276 first-team games and scored 47 goals in his six seasons at

Field Mill Field Mill, currently known as One Call Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Football pitch, football ground in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, and the home of Mansfield Town F.C., Mansfield Town Football Club. It is the oldest ground in ...

. Mansfield told him they would accept a minimum offer of £150,000 for him so he wrote a letter to all 92 clubs in the Football League to inform them of his availability and received interest from

and

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Port Vale

In March 1991, Kent joined Port Vale in exchange for

Gary Ford Gary Ford (born 8 February 1961) is an English former Association football, footballer who played on the right-wing. He made 435 appearances in all competitions for York City F.C., York City, scoring 64 goals, between 1979 and 1987 – a tally ...

and £80,000. He featured in 11

games at the end of the 1990–91 season, but featured just 25 times in the 1991–92 campaign, as the "Valiants" suffered

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

with a last place finish. He played 28 Third Division (renamed the Second Division due to the creation of the

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 ...

) games in the 1992–93 season; he did though play 40 games in total throughout the campaign, as he helped the Vale to win the TNT Tournament, the Football League Trophy, and to reach the play-off final. They beat Stockport County in the Football League Trophy final, but lost 3–0 to

in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

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John Rudge ensured his side made up for their failure to win the play-offs by leading them to promotion as the division's runners-up in 1993–94. However, injuries soon brought Kent's career to a halt; he fractured his hand in October 1994 and his kneecap the following February and was hospitalised in May 1995 with a back injury; this final injury brought about his early retirement at the end of the 1995–96 season. On his retirement he became a

ing assistant at Vale Park.

Coaching career

Whilst at his final club,

, Kent began working as a coach at the club's Centre of Excellence from 1993 to 1996 and 2004 to 2006 under Mark Grew, Brian Horton and

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...

. Before this he gained experience at

's Centre of Excellence under

. From 2005 to 2007 he worked at

's academy, before beginning a short coaching stint at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

after obtaining his UEFA A Licence. Between 2009 and 2011 he worked as the Indonesian Football Association's National Academy Director. He also worked as a manager at

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

Bank Sports Facilities and Events department between 1997 and 2009 and provided

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

for

BBC Radio Stoke BBC Radio Stoke is the BBC's local radio station serving Staffordshire and South Cheshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, Freeview and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekl ...

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the League Cup,

, Football League play-offs and

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

Honours

Mansfield Town *

Associate Members' Cup 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 Le ...

Port Vale *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Kevin 1965 births Living people Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English men's footballers Men's association football wingers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players Association football coaches Association football technical directors Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff English association football commentators