Billy Kenny (footballer, born 1973)

Last updated

Billy Kenny
Billy Kenny 2021.png
Kenny in 2021
Personal information
Full name William Aidan Kenny
Date of birth (1973-09-19) 19 September 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
– Everton
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1992–1994 Everton 17 (1)
1994–1995 Oldham Athletic 4 (0)
1995–1996 Barrow 2 (0)
2002 Royal Seaforth
International career
1992 England U21 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Aidan Kenny (born 19 September 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Everton and Oldham Athletic, making a total of 21 appearances in the Football League. [1] [2] Kenny retired from professional football at the age of just 21. [3]

Contents

Kenny is the son of former Everton midfielder Billy Kenny Sr.

Club career

Kenny was a product of Everton's youth system and made his debut in 1992 in a 1–1 home draw with Coventry City. In total Kenny made 17 league appearances for Everton, plus another 4 appearances in cup competitions, scoring one goal. [4] He also made a single appearance for England under 21s in an Under 21 Championship qualifier against Turkey under 21s in the Altay Alsancak Stadium in March 1993. [5]

At the start of his career Kenny showed great promise and was thought to have the potential to become a key player for both Everton and England, [3] with former Everton player Peter Beardsley hailing Kenny as the "Goodison Gazza". [6]

His reputation was further enhanced when he was named man of the match in the Premier League's first ever Merseyside derby. [7] However, Kenny's fledgling career was blighted by injury at first, and later cocaine and alcohol use. After a spell in a drying-out clinic failed to get Kenny's Everton career back on track he was released from the club for 'gross misbehaviour' by manager Mike Walker. [8]

Kenny then joined Oldham Athletic who were being managed by former Everton striker Graeme Sharp. Kenny again struggled at Oldham, scoring an own goal in a 3–1 loss to Port Vale [9] and was sacked after making just four league appearances for the team. Following this spell at Oldham Kenny retired from the professional game at the age of 21, although he did make further appearances in non-League football for Barrow AFC, [7] [10] and also played amateur football for Royal Seaforth in the Liverpool County Combination League. [11]

Post-career reputation

Because Kenny never came close to fulfilling his potential, and ended his professional career at such a young age, he is often seen as a "lost talent" of English football. Rob Smyth of the Guardian placed Kenny at number one in a list of Football's Lost Talents, [12] while Football365 named Kenny in seventh place in their list of Football's Wasted Talents. [3] In a 2009 article in the Guardian Kenny's short-lived career was described as "one of the biggest wastes of talent in modern times". [7]

Related Research Articles

Joseph Royle 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 England national team. Later, he managed Oldham Athletic, Everton, Manchester City, and Ipswich Town. He is currently a director at Oldham Athletic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graeme Sharp</span> Scottish footballer and manager

Graeme Marshall Sharp is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Sharp played as a forward for Dumbarton, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Bangor City. He enjoyed great success with Everton, helping them win English league championships in 1985 and 1987, the FA Cup in 1984 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1985. He made 12 international appearances for Scotland, and was selected in their 1986 World Cup squad.

Earl Delisser Barrett is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a defender, featuring in the Premier League for Oldham Athletic, Aston Villa, Everton and Sheffield Wednesday and in the Football League for Chester City and Sheffield United. He played mainly at right back though could also adapt to a central defensive role. He also gained three England caps while playing at Oldham and Aston Villa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Liddell</span> Scottish footballer (1922–2001)

William Beveridge Liddell was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 appearances. He was Liverpool's leading goalscorer in the league in eight out of nine seasons from 1949–50 to 1957–58, and surpassed Elisha Scott's club record for most league appearances in 1957.

Ian Paul Marshall is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker and defender from 1984 until 2002.

The 1986–87 season was the 107th season of competitive football in England.

Paul William Gerrard is an English football goalkeeping coach and former player. He is the goalkeeping coach EFL League One side Carlisle United.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Clarke (footballer)</span> English footballer

Peter Michael Clarke is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club Warrington Town.

Michael Nigel Sheron is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is under-23s head coach at Blackburn Rovers.

Stephen Redmond is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender for Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Bury. Captain of the Manchester City youth team that won the 1986 FA Youth Cup, Redmond made his first-team debut at 18. He quickly established himself in the side, and was named the club's Player of the Year in 1988. The same year, he became the youngest ever Manchester City captain. Between 1987 and 1990 he played every single game in three straight seasons.

William Donachie is a Scottish former professional footballer. Donachie had a long playing career, the majority of which was with Manchester City. He also played for Norwich City, Burnley, Oldham Athletic and Portland Timbers. Donachie played 35 times for Scotland and was selected in two FIFA World Cup squads. Towards the end of his playing career Donachie became a player-coach at Oldham, working with Joe Royle. Donachie has since worked for numerous teams in coaching roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Mimms</span> British footballer (born 1963)

Robert Andrew Mimms is an English football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Snodin</span> English footballer (born 1963)

Ian Snodin is an English football manager, former professional player and sports analyst.

John Keith Ebbrell is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is Assistant Manager at Oldham Athletic F.C.

John Morrissey is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Liverpool, Everton and Oldham Athletic, and won the Football League Championship with Everton in both 1962–63 and 1969–70.

Arthur Dixon was an English footballer who played as a central defender, primarily for Rangers where he played between 1917 and 1926. He later became trainer at the club and assistant to manager Bill Struth after his retirement from playing. He also featured for Oldham Athletic in England, and for St Mirren and Cowdenbeath in Scotland. He was the father of footballer Arthur Dixon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Wilson (footballer, born 1884)</span> Scottish footballer

David Wilson was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a wing half. He started his career in the Scottish Football League and went on to play 475 matches in the English Football League, mainly for Oldham Athletic, before retiring at the age of 40. He appeared in one international match for Scotland in 1913. After retiring, he became manager of Nelson and Exeter City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Tarkowski</span> English footballer (born 1992)

James Alan Tarkowski is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Everton.

Wayne Harrison was an English professional footballer who played as a striker.

Elliott Lloyd Nevitt is an English professional footballer who plays for League Two side Crewe Alexandra as a striker.

References

  1. ↑ Everton – Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  2. ↑ Oldham Athletic – Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  3. 1 2 3 F365's Top Ten Wasted Talents Archived 15 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Football365.com 12 October 2010
  4. ↑ Billy Kenny – Everton FC SportingHeroes.net 14 October 2010
  5. ↑ World Cup: Gascoigne the focus of Turkey's attention Independent.co.uk 30 March 1993 retrieved on 15 October 2010
  6. ↑ Where Are They Now? Archived 12 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine Sport.co.uk 5 February 2010
  7. 1 2 3 Seven Deadly Sins of Football Guardian.co.uk 21 May 2009
  8. ↑ Kenny Sent Packing Independent, London, England 17 March 1994 retrieved 18 January 2011
  9. ↑ Naylor Puts Seal on Fine Display Against the Latics [ permanent dead link ] ThisIsStaffordshire.co.uk 25 September 2010
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ Billy's Perfect Start: Ex-Everton Star Opens His Account Liverpool Echo, Liverpool, England 7 September 2002 retrieved from Highbeam.com 14 October 2010
  12. ↑ Football's Lost Talents Guardian.co.uk 7 March 2008
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.