 Betsy in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kevin Eddie Lewis Betsy | ||
| Date of birth | (1978-03-20)20 March 1978 (age 47) | ||
| Place of birth | Woking, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Queens Park Rangers (coach) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–1998 | Woking | 50 | (8) |
| 1998–2002 | Fulham | 15 | (1) |
| 1999 | →AFC Bournemouth (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1999 | →Hull City (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2002 | →Barnsley (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Barnsley | 89 | (16) |
| 2004 | →Hartlepool United (loan) | 6 | (1) |
| 2004–2005 | Oldham Athletic | 36 | (5) |
| 2005–2007 | Wycombe Wanderers | 71 | (13) |
| 2007–2008 | Bristol City | 18 | (1) |
| 2007 | →Yeovil Town (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| 2008 | →Walsall (loan) | 16 | (2) |
| 2008–2010 | Southend United | 43 | (3) |
| 2009–2010 | →Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 39 | (5) |
| 2010–2011 | Wycombe Wanderers | 48 | (6) |
| 2012–2015 | Woking | 138 | (26) |
| Total | 586 | (88) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998 | England C | 1 | (0) |
| 2011 | Seychelles | 7 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2016–2019 | England U16 | ||
| 2019–2020 | England U17 | ||
| 2020–2021 | England U18 | ||
| 2022 | Crawley Town | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Kevin Eddie Lewis Betsy (born 20 March 1978) is a British football coach ofSeychellois descent, and a former professional footballer having played at the Championship level, briefly in the Premier League, and for the Seychelles national team. Betsy is currently the first team development coach at championship clubQueens Park Rangers.
Betsy started his career withWoking but went on to make a name for himself withFulham as part of the squad that earned promotion to thePremier League. He made one appearance in the top tier of English football, becoming the first Seychellois player to play in the Premier League. He then also spent time on loan withAFC Bournemouth,Hull City, andBarnsley before joining the latter on a permanent deal in 2002. Betsy made 94 league appearances, scoring 15 goals in a two-year period with the Barnsley Tykes before moving toHartlepool United,Oldham Athletic and thenWycombe Wanderers.[2] In 2007, Betsy signed forBristol City and whilst there spent loan spells withYeovil Town andWalsall. A year after signing for City he moved on again toSouthend United before returning to Wycombe following a loan spell. In 2012, he re-signed for Woking.
Born in England, Betsy qualified to represent theSeychelles through his grandparents. He played for the Seychelles national team, earning his first cap in 2011.
Following a move into coaching, Betsy worked as a coach for theEngland U16 team, later taking up similar roles with theU17 andU18 teams. He later spent a season as U23 coach ofArsenal before managingCrawley Town briefly in 2022. In June 2023, Betsy was announced as assistant head coach atCambridge United, spending a year there before joiningQueens Park Rangers as first team development coach in July 2024.
Betsy started his career atWoking, representing England at semi professional level and being named Conference Player of the Year in 1998.[citation needed] In September 1998, Betsy was signed byFulham for a fee of £80,000, which would potentially rise to £125,000,[3] with managerKevin Keegan describing him as one of the best young players he had seen at his age.[citation needed] He made his debut atAnfield againstLiverpool in theLeague Cup[4] and spent three years at Fulham. Betsy's only goal for Fulham came in their victorious1998–99Division Two campaign againstMillwall.[5] He made five league appearances during Fulham's2000/01 season after which they were promoted to thePremier League.[6] He made one appearance in the Premiership for Fulham underJean Tigana in a game againstManchester United atOld Trafford.[7] He had loan spells atAFC Bournemouth andHull City.
On 1 March 2002, Betsy joinedBarnsley on a one-month loan.[8] After five appearances,[9] Betsy was signed byBarnsley for a fee of £200,000 on 28 March 2002.[10][11] He made over 90 appearances for the club and scored 17 goals and was the club's top goal scorer in 2002–03 season with 11 goals from midfield.[citation needed] Betsy had a short loan spell with Hartlepool United in August 2004, making six appearances and scoring once.[12][13] On 8 September 2004, he signed forOldham Athletic on a contract until the end of the season, after his Barnsley contract was terminated by mutual consent.[11] At Oldham, he scored five goals and was a key member of the team which defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup.[citation needed]
After turning down Oldham's offer of a new contract, Betsy moved toWycombe Wanderers in July 2005, signing a two-year contract. Betsy was a regular in the Wycombe team during the 2005–06 season. He was also a regular goalscorer for the club, most notably with ahat-trick againstMansfield Town in September 2005 and in April 2006. Betsy was honoured by his fellow professionals by being named in the Professional Footballers's Association (PFA) "Team Of The Year" for League Two and helped Wycombe reach the play-offs. Betsy's last game for Wycombe was a notable one, the League Cup semi final defeat against the eventual winners Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
In January 2007, it was announced that Betsy had been signed by League OneBristol City for a fee of £200,000.[14] He was ever present in the city line up helping the Robins gain Promotion to Championship, scoring once in the process againstNorthampton.[15] Betsy joinedYeovil Town on loan in October 2007.[16] He returned to Bristol City on 7 November as Yeovil could not afford to extend the loan,[17] having scored once for Yeovil againstSwansea City.[18] He turned down a loan deal toCheltenham Town in November 2007.[19] On 31 January 2008, Betsy joined Walsall for the rest of the season on loan.[20]
Betsy signed forSouthend United on 7 August 2008, on a two-year contract.[21]
On 1 September 2009, Betsy re-signed forWycombe Wanderers on a loan until 2 January 2010.[22][23] On 15 January 2010, after a successful loan, Betsy signed for Wycombe on a permanent basis until the end of the season, having been released from Southend.[24] Betsy also led the team in assists with eight, scoring five goals and being voted (OWWSA) Wycombe Supporters Player of the year. In May 2010, Betsy agreed a new two-year deal with the club.[25] Betsy was a regular in the Wycombe promotion side in 2010–11, but found first team opportunities limited in 2011–12, and left the club by mutual consent on 20 December 2011.
On 17 February 2012, Betsy re-joined Woking as a free agent until the end of the 2011–12 season. After re-joining he has made a big impact in the team and in his fourth game back, he won two penalties in the space of five minutes. He went on to win the Conference South title withWoking having beatenMaidenhead United 1–0 away. After the success at the end of the 2011–12 season, Betsy signed on for another season at Woking. In June 2014, Betsy signed a new one-year contract.[26] He remained at Woking until the end of the 2014–15 season before deciding to stop playing football so he could focus on his coaching career.
Betsy is ofSeychellois descent and, after having rejected the chance to play for theSeychelles national team in 2005,[27] was finally called into the squad and made his international debut against a visiting French league side on 3 June 2011, scoring twice in a 3–0 friendly victory.[28] Betsy was called up to the Seychelles squad for thefootball tournament at the2011 Indian Ocean Island Games.[29] He started all five of the Seychelles' games in the tournament, scoring in the final againstMauritius, which finished 1–1. Betsy scored again in the resulting penalty shootout, which the Seychelles won 4–3.
In 2016, he was appointed head of England under-15s, having previously coached youth teams atFulham.[30]
Having moved on to lead theU16 andU17 squads, Betsy was appointed head coach forEngland U18s on 24 September 2020.[31]
On 3 August 2021, Betsy was appointed head coach ofArsenal U23s.[32] In his single season at Arsenal U23, Betsy took them from a 10th-placed finish in 2020–21 underSteve Bould to a 3rd-place finish, whilst implementing a "very fluid possession-based style of play" and using various formations, mainly variations on the 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 formations.[33]
On 6 June 2022, Betsy was announced as the new manager ofEFL League Two clubCrawley Town on an initial two-year contract.[34] However, after a disastrous start to the league season Betsy left the club on 9 October 2022 following a 3–0 defeat toGrimsby Town which left the club bottom of the league. His most notable achievement was a 2–0 win over his former teamFulham in theEFL Cup.[35]
On 29 November 2022, Betsy was appointed as a first team coach forChampionship clubWigan Athletic as part of new managerKolo Touré's entourage,[36] however left the club following Touré's sacking after only seven matches.
On 19 June 2023, Betsy was announced as new assistant head coach atEFL League One clubCambridge United.[37]
On 3 July 2024, he left Cambridge to joinChampionship clubQueens Park Rangers as the first team individual development coach.[38]
In 2010, Betsy was studying for a BA Honours Degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting atStaffordshire University.[39]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Woking | 1997–98 | Football Conference | ||||||||||
| 1998–99 | Football Conference | |||||||||||
| Total | ||||||||||||
| Fulham | 1998–99[40] | Second Division | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| 1999–2000[41] | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000–01[42] | First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2001–02[9] | Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| AFC Bournemouth (loan) | 1999–2000[41] | Second Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Hull City (loan) | 1999–2000[41] | Third Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Barnsley (loan) | 2001–02[9] | First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Barnsley | 2001–02[9] | First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2002–03[43] | Second Division | 39 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 42 | 6 | |
| 2003–04[44] | Second Division | 45 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 53 | 11 | |
| 2004–05[13] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 94 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 105 | 17 | ||
| Hartlepool United (loan) | 2004–05[13] | League One | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Oldham Athletic | 2004–05[13] | League One | 36 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | 44 | 5 |
| Wycombe Wanderers | 2005–06[45] | League Two | 42 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 49 | 8 |
| 2006–07[46] | League Two | 29 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 40 | 5 | |
| Total | 71 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 89 | 13 | ||
| Bristol City | 2006–07[46] | League One | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| 2007–08[47] | Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | ||
| Yeovil Town (loan) | 2007–08[47] | League One | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Walsall (loan) | 2007–08[47] | League One | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| Southend United | 2008–09[48] | League One | 41 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 47 | 3 |
| 2009–10[49] | League One | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 3 | ||
| Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 2009–10[49] | League One | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| Wycombe Wanderers | 2009–10[49] | League One | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 |
| 2010–11[50] | League Two | 45 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 1 | 51 | 7 | |
| 2011–12[51] | League One | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 1 | 6 | 1 | |
| Total | 67 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 76 | 12 | ||
| Woking | 2011–12[52] | Conference South | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | |
| 2012–13[52] | Conference Premier | 46 | 13 | 1 | 0 | — | 2[c] | 1 | 49 | 14 | ||
| 2013–14[52] | Conference Premier | 46 | 8 | 1 | 0 | — | 2[c] | 0 | 49 | 8 | ||
| 2014–15[52] | Conference Premier | 34 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 5[c] | 1 | 41 | 3 | ||
| Total | 138 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 151 | 28 | ||
| Career total | 536 | 80 | 26 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 32 | 4 | 613 | 85 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seychelles | 2011 | 7 | 1 |
| Total | 7 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 August 2011 | Stade Linite,Victoria, Seychelles |  Mauritius | 1–0 | 1–1 | Indian Ocean Games 2011 |
Individual
