Robert Anthony Kelly (born 21 December 1964) is a former English

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

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 ...

who is currently the assistant manager at

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, ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. He is best known for his spell as manager of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, as well as being assistant manager at several clubs, he has also been a caretaker manager at Preston North End,

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 ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

Kelly began his career at

, making his debut as a 19-year-old in a home game against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

at the end of the 1983/84 season. He also had a brief loan spell at

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

. After making 18 starts for the Foxes (plus nine substitute appearances) and scoring one goal, he joined

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 ...

in 1986. As a youngster, he also received a call up to represent Ireland at youth level.

Coaching career

In 1989, Kelly was forced to retire aged just 24 after sustaining a back injury, and initially took the job of youth team coach at

. He then trained as a journalist at the ''Wolverhampton Express & Star'', before returning to football again, first back in the

coaching set-up. He then moved to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

as youth team coach,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

as Academy Director, and then

Leicester City manager

After the sacking of Leicester manager

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing care ...

, following 18 months in charge, Kelly stepped up from his assistant manager role to take control on a caretaker basis. In his first ten games in charge his team took 21 points from a possible 30, steering the side up the Championship table and away from the threat of relegation to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. He was awarded the Championship Manager of the Month award for March 2006. This followed wins over relegation rivals

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

and

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, east ...

, as well as victory against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and a creditable draw against Premiership-bound

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. In recognition of his achievements, on 14 April 2006 he signed a one-year rolling contract, confirming his status as manager. On 11 April 2007 Kelly was sacked due to a poor run of results, his final game being a 3–0 defeat away to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. He was replaced by

Nigel Worthington Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, ...

until the end of the season.

Preston North End

In May 2007 he joined Preston North End as part of the club's coaching staff. After the sacking of manager Paul Simpson. The club appointed Alan Irvine as the Club's new manager on 20 November 2007, with Kelly his assistant. In the season 2008/2009, Preston with Irvine and Kelly reached the Championship Play-Off's. Narrowly missing out on a place in the final, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Sheffield United. Kelly acted as caretaker manager following the departure of Alan Irvine in December 2009, a 7–0 FA Cup win over Colchester being his only game in charge. He left the club following the appointment of

Darren Ferguson Darren Ferguson (born 9 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Championship club Peterborough United. In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston N ...

as manager.

Sheffield Wednesday

Kelly re-united with Alan Irvine at

, once more as assistant manager. After Irvine left the Owls in February 2011, Kelly also departed after Gary Megson was appointed as manager and made changes to the coaching staff.

Nottingham Forest

Kelly joined

as assistant manager to

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching caree ...

's backroom team in the summer of 2011, with

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to t ...

the club's First Team Coach. When McClaren resigned on 2 October after a dispute with the club's board

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

was appointed the club's new manager on 14 October, with Kelly remaining as Forest's assistant manager. He was again placed 'temporarily in charge of first team affairs' during the pre season of the 2012/13 campaign after the sacking of

by the club's new owners. Following the subsequent appointment of

Sean O'Driscoll Sean Michael O'Driscoll (born 1 July 1957) is a former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Walsall. He was known by the nickname "N ...

, Kelly again reverted to the role of assistant manager. He remained assistant manager when O'Driscoll was in turn sacked in December 2012 and replaced by

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

, only to find himself as caretaker manager yet again just six weeks later when McLeish resigned. Billy Davies was announced as the club's new manager on 7 February, though it was also announced that Kelly would remain in his role at the club.

West Brom

During the summer of 2014, Alan Irvine was appointed the manager of West Brom, again hiring Kelly as his assistant manager. On 29 December 2014, Kelly took over the team alongside coaches

Keith Downing Keith Gordon Downing (born 23 July 1965) is an English former footballer and football manager. He made the vast majority of his appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A former Chelsea youth team player, he moved from Mile Oak Rovers into the ...

and

Dean Kiely Dean Laurence Kiely (born 10 October 1970) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the goalkeeping coach at Premier League club Crystal Palace and the Republic of Ireland national team. Born in England, he won ele ...

after Irvine's dismissal. on 1 January 2015, they drew 1–1 away at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. and then recorded a 7–0 victory against Gateshead in the FA Cup on 3 January 2015, following the appointment of Tony Pulis as Head Coach. On 5 January, Kelly, Kiely and Downing all departed the club, with Pulis wanting to reshape his own backroom team.

Return to assistant

On 3 June 2015, he was appointed as Assistant Head Coach to

Uwe Rosler Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. In December 2015, Kelly agreed to become first team coach and link up again with Alan Irvine alongside

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...

at Blackburn Rovers. After they successfully guided the club to Championship safety, all three coaches left Rovers in the summer of 2016 before the start of the following season. Kelly once again joined up with Rösler at Fleetwood Town in 2016 and left in the summer of 2018. Kelly was appointed assistant manager to

Ryan Lowe Ryan Thomas Lowe (born 18 September 1978) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is manager of Championship side Preston North End. His playing career, as a striker, began at Burscough in 1999 and he became a Footbal ...

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 10 July 2018, as the club targeted an immediate return to League One. On 1 January 2019 Kelly was announced as assistant coach to Rösler at Sweden's

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

. On 7 February 2020 he followed Rösler to Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Barrow

On 4 September 2020 Kelly was appointed as assistant manager to

David Dunn David John Ian Dunn (born 27 December 1979) is an English former professional football player and manager; he is now a coach at club Port Vale. Dunn played as an attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career representing ...

at League Two side Barrow. Following the sacking of Dunn on 13 December, he was appointed as caretaker manager, leading the club to victories over

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

and

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 ...

. With the appointment of new manager Michael Jolley, he returned to his role as assistant manager for Barrow's game with

on 29 December. On 21 February 2021, Barrow parted company with Jolley and Kelly was once again named as caretaker manager, this time until the end of the season. During his second stint as caretaker manager, he presided over an upturn of form and on 27 April, with two matches remaining, Barrow secured their Football League status for the following season with a 2–0 win at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. He turned down the job on a permanent basis and on 26 May he left the club.

Wigan Athletic

On 25 June 2021, Kelly joined

as assistant manager.

References

External links

Official club profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Rob 1964 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Leicester City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players English football managers Leicester City F.C. managers Preston North End F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers Nottingham Forest F.C. managers West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers English Football League managers Premier League managers British people of Irish descent Association football midfielders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Fleetwood Town F.C. non-playing staff Bury F.C. non-playing staff Malmö FF non-playing staff Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff Barrow A.F.C. managers Allsvenskan managers Wigan Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches