Kevin James Langley (born 24 May 1964) 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

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 ...

. He made 427 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 ...

, including a club record 317 for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Life and career

Born in St Helens, Lancashire, Langley was working as a painter and decorator when he wrote to

asking for a trial which resulted in him being offered an apprenticeship. He made his first-team debut aged 17 in September 1981, and over the next five years he played 160 league games for the club. He was part of the team that won the

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 ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. Before the 1986–87 season,

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston, ...

's Everton paid £120,000 for his services. Although Langley played 16 league matches, contributing to the club winning the First Division championship, he left the club in March 1987 for

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

. His stay at City was almost as brief, and included a spell

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

at Chester City before joining

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 ...

in March 1988. After two-and-a-half years at the club, by which time they were in their second season in 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 ...

, he returned to Wigan Athletic, where he went on to play another 157 league games, making a club record 317 in total. Released at the end of the 1993–94 season, he joined

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

side

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

, contributing to them winning the league championship and representing them in the

1995–96 UEFA Cup The 1995–96 UEFA Cup was the 25th season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by German club Bayern Munich on aggregate over Bordeaux of France. Girondins de Bordeaux went to the finals all the way f ...

. Appointed

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in November 1996, he left the club at the end of the 1996–97 season. He moved on to a variety of

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

clubs, as player, player-manager or manager, and has been employed by Wigan Athletic as a coach at their Centre of Excellence. In 2011, he was briefly manager of Northwich Villa.

References

General * Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Langley, Kevin 1964 births Living people Footballers from St Helens, Merseyside English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Wigan Athletic F.C. players Everton F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Flint Town United F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Congleton Town F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players English football managers Bangor City F.C. managers Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. managers Witton Albion F.C. managers Congleton Town F.C. managers Northwich Villa F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers Wigan Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Winsford United F.C. managers