Stuart Robert Kennedy (born 31 May 1953) is a Scottish 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 ...
who played as a
right-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
Kennedy was born in Grangemouth. He moved to Aberdeen in 1976 for £30,000 and featured prominently in Aberdeen's greatest period of success. A hard-working, skilful player, he won every major domestic honour in his time in the North-East, namely the League in 1979–80, the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1981–82, and the 1976–77
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 ...
.
During the second leg of the
European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
semi-final in 1983, Kennedy picked up a serious knee injury after catching his studs at the edge of the pitch. Having played in every game of Aberdeen's European campaign up to then, he was forced to watch from the dugout when his colleagues faced Real Madrid in the final in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Dons lifted the trophy after a 2–1 victory over the Spanish giants. Kennedy earned himself a place on the substitutes bench, despite being unable to play, thanks to an act of respect from his coach Alex Ferguson. The injury proved so serious that he never played professionally again.
International career
Kennedy was selected in the
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
squad for the
1978 World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The Cup was won by t ...
, where he played in the games against
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. He received eight
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 ...
in total in his three-year international career between 1978 and 1981.
Life after football
Since retiring, he has worked mainly as a
publican
In antiquity, publicans ( Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'' (singular); Latin ''publicanus'' (singular); ''publicani'' (plural)) were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed th ...