Mark John Kennedy (born 15 May 1976) is an Irish football coach and former professional footballer and most recently the head coach of

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

club

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. As a player, he was a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and left winger from 1992 to 2012. He notably featured in the

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with

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, Wimbledon,

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, as well as in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Millwall, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City and Ipswich Town. He was capped 34 times by

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, scoring four goals. Kennedy was head coach of Macclesfield Town in 2020, and was appointed assistant to head coach Lee Bowyer at

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. The team compete in the ...

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

Club career

Millwall

Kennedy was born in Clonsilla, Dublin. He began his professional career at Millwall, 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, and broke into the Republic of Ireland Under-21 side. He particularly gained attention for a powerful run and goal at Highbury that helped eliminate

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

from the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

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

, for £1.6 million, in 1999.

Manchester City

Kennedy won promotion to the

with

in his first season, but the following year saw the club relegated and manager Joe Royle sacked. When Kevin Keegan took the reins, 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 the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. 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. 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 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 Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

on a free transfer to play under new manager Peter Taylor at Crystal Palace.

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 grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

manager Dave Jones at Cardiff City on 10 July 2008. With club stalwart Joe Ledley cemented in the left midfield role, Kennedy started the season at left-back in place of the injured Tony Capaldi 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 symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. 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. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on 26 September 2009. He made his 50th league Cardiff appearance on 5 December 2009, coming on as a substitute for injured Anthony Gerrard in a 1–0 win over Preston North End.

Ipswich Town

On 27 July 2010, Kennedy joined Ipswich Town, 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 ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

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, starting in both legs as Ipswich lost 1–3 on aggregate following a 1–0 home win over

in the first leg at Portman Road. 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 for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, 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 in August 2000 for public order offences and causing criminal damage to an off duty Garda officer's 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 Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

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 Macclesfield Town, He took charge of his first match in senior management away to Colchester United 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-shortened season, resigning on 12 August 2020 after rejecting the offer of a new contract following the club's relegation to the National League 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 in his role to gain more coaching experience. He was appointed assistant to head coach Lee Bowyer 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 The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club Lincoln City on a four-year contract. His first game in charge was a 1–1 draw at home to Exeter City on the opening day of the 2022–23 season. On 18 October 2023, he was dismissed by Lincoln City along with assistant manager Danny Butterfield. On May 29 2024 Kennedy was announced as the new head coach of

on a 2-year contract. After five months in charge, on 25 October he was sacked by a late night phone call.

Personal life

His brother Brendan was also a footballer, playing in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. 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 The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

runner-up: 1999–2000 Wolverhampton Wanderers * Football League First Division play-offs:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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 Association footballers from Fingal Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's 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 association football managers Macclesfield Town F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Swindon Town F.C. managers English Football League managers Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff