Mark John Kennedy (born 15 May 1976) is an Irish football coach and 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 ...

and currently the head coach of Lincoln City. As a player, he was a left back and

left winger 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 1992 to 2012. He notably featured in 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 Fo ...

with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Wimbledon, Manchester City and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, as well as in the Football League for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, Cardiff City and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He was capped 34 times by

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, scoring four goals. Kennedy was head coach of

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

in 2020, and was appointed assistant to head coach

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birming ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

in June 2021. Prior to this he has worked as a coach at Ipswich Town, Manchester City and

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Club career

Millwall

Kennedy was born in

Clonsilla Clonsilla () is an outer suburb of Dublin in Fingal, Ireland. Clonsilla is also a civil parish in the barony of Castleknock in the historic County Dublin. Location and access Clonsilla used to be a small village in the inner western part of ...

, Dublin. He began his professional career at

, making his senior debut on 24 April 1993 in a 1–0 win over Charlton, when still only 16. He developed over his three-year stay at

The Old Den The Old Den (known while in use as the Den) was the fifth football stadium occupied by Millwall F.C. in Cold Blow Lane, New Cross, London since their formation in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs in 1885 before moving to the New Den (now called th ...

, and broke into the Republic of Ireland Under-21 side. He particularly gained attention for a powerful run and goal at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

that helped eliminate Arsenal from 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 ...

in 1995.

Liverpool

Kennedy left to join

in March 1995 for an initial £1.5 million fee (potentially rising to £2.3 m), making him then the most expensive teenage footballer in British history. However, opportunities at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

were scarce, and he managed just 18 appearances over three seasons, which also saw him loaned to

to gain first team action. He found a permanent route to regular football when he moved back to the capital with Wimbledon in 1998, for £1.75 million, but he stayed for just one season with the club, scoring once against Bolton in the League Cup, before returning to the north, this time to Manchester City, for £1.6 million, in 1999.

Manchester City

Kennedy won promotion to the

with Manchester City in his first season, but the following year saw the club relegated and manager

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...

sacked. When Kevin Keegan took the

rein Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding. They are long straps that can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband. Use f ...

s, he sought to rebuild the squad and decided Kennedy was not part of his plans, selling him to fellow second flight club

for £2 million.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Kennedy looked set for another promotion in his first season at Molineux, but a groin tear ruled him out of the run-in and the team dropped into the play-off zone in his absence, where they lost to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. However, the following season saw them achieve the aim of promotion, with Kennedy scoring the opening goal in their 3–0 Division One Play-off final win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. The Midlands club were unable to remain in the top flight beyond a solitary season though, and soon found themselves with a new manager, with

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

replacing Dave Jones, in late 2004. Hoddle preferred to play Kennedy in a more restrained left midfield role, rather than his original position on the wing. With Hoddle departing in Summer 2006, so did Kennedy, after refusing the terms of a reduced contract, he moved to Selhurst Park on a free transfer to play under new manager

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

Crystal Palace

Kennedy spent the majority of the 2006–07 season in Palace's first team line-up, but largely disappointed fans, despite scoring against Derby County. Early in the following season Taylor was replaced by Neil Warnock, and Kennedy hardly featured for the Eagles after that, before being released at the end of that campaign.

Cardiff City

Kennedy was signed by his former

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

manager Dave Jones at Cardiff City on 10 July 2008. With club stalwart

Joe Ledley Joseph Christopher Ledley (born 23 January 1987) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He started his career with then Championship side Cardiff City where he spent six years. He helped the club to the F ...

cemented in the left midfield role, Kennedy started the season at left-back in place of the injured

Tony Capaldi Anthony Charles Capaldi (born 12 August 1981) is a former footballer who made nearly 250 appearances in the Football League and is a former Northern Ireland international. Born in Porsgrunn, Norway, Capaldi won 22 caps for Northern Ireland at ...

but an injury to Kennedy himself meant he missed around half of the opening two months. However following his return, he remained as first choice left back for the majority of the season. The following season, he started the opening game of the season but injury meant he did not feature again until September during a 1–0 loss to Newcastle United where he remained on the bench, but he started the next game at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. He made his 400th career club start against

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 ...

on 26 September 2009. He made his 50th league Cardiff appearance on 5 December 2009, coming on as a substitute for injured

Anthony Gerrard Anthony Gerrard (born 6 February 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He made over 500 professional appearances in a career spent mainly in the English Football League, notably at Walsall where he won the 2006 ...

in a 1–0 win over Preston North End.

Ipswich Town

On 27 July 2010, Kennedy joined

, managed by his former international team-mate Roy Keane, for a fee of £75,000. He made his debut for Ipswich in a 3–1 away win over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 7 August. He made 30 appearances during his first season at the club as Ipswich finished 13th in the Championship, while also helping the club to reach the semi-finals of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, starting in both legs as Ipswich lost 1–3 on aggregate following a 1–0 home win over Arsenal in the first leg at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internation ...

. Kennedy featured less frequently during the following season, making only 7 appearances before retiring at the end of the 2011–12 season and joining the Ipswich Town coaching staff.

International career

Kennedy has 34

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, scoring four times. He made his international debut on 6 September 1995 in a 3–1 defeat in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, but never established himself as a regular player over seven years involved with the national side. During this time, Ireland did not play in the final tournaments of the World Cup or the European Championship. While on international duty, Kennedy was arrested in Dublin with teammate

Phil Babb Philip Andrew Babb (born 30 November 1970) is a sports television pundit and former professional football player and manager. As a player he was a central defender who made over 370 league appearances during his career, most notably spending ...

in August 2000 for public order offences and causing criminal damage to an off duty Garda officers car. This effectively ended his International career. Kennedy's final game for Ireland was a friendly in February 2002: he missed the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

Finals because of injury.

Managerial career

Following his retirement from playing, Kennedy began coaching with the Ipswich Town academy in 2012. He was appointed as the club's under-21's head coach in 2012. He managed the Ipswich under-21 side from 2012 to 2016 before leaving to take up a position coaching in Manchester City's academy. Kennedy was a coach with Manchester City from 2016 to 2018, before being released as part of a restructuring process within Manchester City's academy. He also spent time coaching with Wolves' under-23 side in 2019. In January 2020, Kennedy was appointed head coach at

, He took charge of his first match in senior management away to

on 18 January. Kennedy managed just 12 first-team games in a

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

-shortened season, resigning on 12 August 2020 after rejecting the offer of a new contract following the club's relegation to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

as a result of a points deduction for financial issues. In December 2020, Kennedy returned to the Ipswich Town academy to shadow the club's head of coaching and player development

Bryan Klug Bryan Paul Klug (born 8 October 1960) is an English former professional footballer and coach. He is currently the Head of Coaching and Player Development at the Ipswich Town Academy. Playing career Born in Coventry, Klug began his football ca ...

in his role to gain more coaching experience. He was appointed assistant to head coach

at Championship club

in June 2021, and left on 12 May 2022. The same day, he was appointed the head coach of EFL League One club Lincoln City on a four-year contract. His first game in charge was a 1-1 draw at home to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on the opening day of the 2022-23 season.

Personal life

His brother

Brendan Brendan may refer to: People * Saint Brendan the Navigator (c. 484 – c. 577) was an Irish monastic saint. * Saint Brendan of Birr (died 573), Abbot of Birr in Co. Offaly, contemporaneous with the above * Brendan (given name), a masculine given na ...

was also a footballer, playing in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

. Brendan is the Ireland under-18s and 19s goalkeeper coach and manager of Dunboyne AFC in the Leinster Senior League.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kennedy goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manchester City * Football League First Division runner-up: 1999–2000 Wolverhampton Wanderers * Football League First Division play-offs: 2003 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1999–2000 First Division, 2001–02 First Division

References

External links

Mark Kennedy player profile
at cpfc.co.uk

at wolves.co.uk *
Photos and stats
at sporting-heroes.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Mark 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Fingal Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Association football fullbacks Association football wingers Premier League players English Football League players Home Farm F.C. players Belvedere F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. non-playing staff Manchester City F.C. non-playing staff Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Republic of Ireland football managers Macclesfield Town F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers English Football League managers Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff