Lance William Key (born 13 May 1968) is an English former

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

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 ...

. His elder brother

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

was also a professional goalkeeper principally for Exeter City and Cambridge United. Key is also a football coach; he is currently employed as the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of Histon.

Career

Born in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

, Northamptonshire, Key began his professional career in April 1990 when he joined

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 ...

from non-league Histon for a fee of £10,000. He spent six years with Wednesday, but made just one appearance, as a substitute in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

at Gillingham. This followed the sending off of

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper, who is the current goalkeeping coach for Grantham Town. As a player he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier League and Footb ...

. Key's first touch was to pick the ball out of the net following the penalty which led to the sending off. Loan spells with Oldham Athletic,

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

, Lincoln City,

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 ...

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 ...

followed before a free transfer move to Dundee United in July 1996. At Tannadice, Key was understudy to regular keeper

Ally Maxwell Alistair Espie Maxwell (born 16 February 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently a youth coach for SC Del Sol Soccer Club in the United States, having previously played for Motherwell, Rangers and ...

and made his debut on 2 November 1996 in a 3–1 win away to

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. He played twice more later that month, and after a horrendous error against Dunfermline Athletic returned to England in March 1997 without making any further first team appearances, joining Sheffield United on a free transfer. In August 1997 he joined

on a free transfer. He moved to

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

on loan in December 1998, with the move being made permanent in February 1999. He moved to

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

in June 2001 and rejoined Histon in September 2004, where he helped the team to Southern League and

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

championships. He left Histon in September 2008 and joined

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students from Colchester Gram ...

, but left the club after just one

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

appearance. In July 2010 he joined Rushden & Diamonds as goalkeeping coach. He was released by the club in May 2011.

Managerial career

Key was appointed manager of Histon on 7 October 2016, replacing

Steve Fallon Stephen Paul Fallon (born 3 August 1956) is an English former footballer who made 410 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Cambridge United. From 1999 to 2010 he was manager of Histon. From 2012 Steve was manager of S ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Lance 1968 births Sportspeople from Kettering Living people English footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Histon F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Histon F.C. managers Association football goalkeepers