| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jeffrey Jude Kenna[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-08-27)27 August 1970 (age 54)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Dublin,[1] Ireland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Right back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1989 | Southampton | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1995 | Southampton | 114 | (4) |
| 1995–2002 | Blackburn Rovers | 156 | (1) |
| 2001 | →Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 11 | (0) |
| 2001 | →Wigan Athletic (loan) | 6 | (1) |
| 2001–2002 | →Birmingham City (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Birmingham City | 69 | (3) |
| 2004–2006 | Derby County | 65 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | Kidderminster Harriers | 57 | (1) |
| 2008 | Galway United | 6 | (0) |
| 2009 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 490 | (10) | |
| International career | |||
| 1988–1992 | Republic of Ireland U21 | 8 | (0) |
| 1994 | Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) |
| 1995–1999 | Republic of Ireland | 27 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2008–2009 | Galway United | ||
| 2009 | St Patrick's Athletic | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jeffrey Jude Kenna (born 27 August 1970) is an Irishfootball manager and former professional footballer.
He played as adefender from 1989 until 2009, notably in thePremier League forSouthampton,Blackburn Rovers andBirmingham City. He was part of the Rovers side that won the title in 1995 following his mid-season transfer from the Saints. He also played in theFootball League forTranmere Rovers,Wigan Athletic andDerby County, finishing his career in England with Non-league sideKidderminster Harriers. He was capped 27 times byRepublic of Ireland.
Following retirement he went on to manageGalway United andSt Patrick's Athletic. In 2011, he joined the coaching staff of theIMG Academy inBradenton, Florida.
Kenna was born inDublin, but began his club career in England, withSouthampton in 1988. He made his debut on 4 May 1991 in a 6–2 league defeat byDerby County at theBaseball Ground. He became a first team regular in the1992–93 season and remained a fixture in the first team until 15 March 1995, when he moved toBlackburn Rovers for a fee of £1.5 million,[3] playing a part in the run-in to the club'sPremier League title that year.
He had played 114 league matches for the Saints, scoring four goals.[3]
He was a regular in the Blackburn team until the1999–2000 season, after Blackburn had been relegated toDivision One. He made his final six appearances for Rovers in the2000–01 season. During that campaign he had loan spells withTranmere Rovers andWigan Athletic, before finally exitingEwood Park after nearly seven years to joinBirmingham City on a free transfer on 24 December 2001.[3]
Kenna scored three goals for Birmingham City after their promotion to the Premier League as Division One playoff winners at the end of the2001–02 season – their first top division campaign in nearly 20 years.
He joinedDerby County on a free transfer in March 2004,[3] and was appointed club captain 2005, but was released at the end of the season in May 2006. In August 2006 he sealed a move toKidderminster Harriers in theConference National. Along withSteve Guppy, he became the first player to play at both Wembley stadiums, having played twice at the old ground, when he played for Kidderminster in their defeat to Stevenage in the FA Trophy Final 2007.
Kenna was namedGalway United manager (taking over from his formerRepublic of Ireland U21 international team-mateTony Cousins) in a press conference on 21 April 2008.[4] He lost his first match in charge 3–2 versusBray Wanderers.[5]
At the time taking over at United, the club were bottom of the table and haemorrhaging money. Due to league financial regulations a lot of the senior players were sold onto other clubs to ensure that the clubs salary expenditure fell within league requirements. On 15 July 2008, Kenna officially (albeit somewhat reluctantly) becameplayer-manager at Galway United.[6]
Galway were forced to rely on a lot of young inexperienced players, but as the season drew to a climax Kenna engendered a real team spirit in the side to the extent that over the last seven games United collected five wins, a draw and one loss. This enabled Galway to garner seventeen crucial points and narrowly avoid relegation to the First Division, pippingFinn Harps by a single point.[1]. A wonderful feather in the cap of this fledgeling manager (he had also led the club to the last four of both theLeague Cup and theFAI Cup), Kenna was understood to be contracted for another season with Galway but decided to quit during the winter period.
He took the position of St. Patricks' Athletic manager on 15 January 2009. His first competitive match was a 3–0 home defeat at the hands of his previous club whose new manager,Ian Foster, had been Kenna's assistant the season before. Indifferent league form (which included two more defeats at the hands of Galway) combined with the fact that he was commuting between Dublin and the UK saw Kenna come under pressure from the St. Pat's fans quite quickly, but a run to the Fourth Qualifying Round of theEuropa League (which included a victory over Russian sideKrylia Sovetov) appeared to haveweathered the storm.
However, a 2–0 loss at home to First DivisionWaterford United in the quarter final of theFAI Cup ultimately led to Kenna's resignation as St. Patrick's Athletic manager on 18 September 2009.
On 1 August 2011, Kenna joined the coaching staff at theIMG Academy inBradenton, Florida.[7]
Kenna is the brother ofheavyweight boxerColin Kenna and second cousin of football managerPat Scully. His father Liam is an Irish former snooker international. Since his days at Birmingham City Kenna's family had been settled in theWest Midlands and he commuted to Ireland for training activities.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Southampton | ||||||||||||
| 1990–91 | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1991–92 | First Division | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | Premier League | 29 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 30 | 2 | ||
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 41 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 43 | 2 | ||
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 35 | 0 | ||
| Total | 114 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 131 | 4 | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | ||||||||||||
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 1 | ||
| 1995–96 | Premier League | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | 44 | 0 | |
| 1996–97 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 42 | 0 | ||
| 1997–98 | Premier League | 37 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 42 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | Premier League | 23 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| 1999–2000 | First Division | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | First Division | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| Total | 156 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 195 | 1 | ||
| Tranmere Rovers (loan) | 2000–01 | First Division | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 11 | 0 | |
| Wigan Athletic (loan) | 2001–02 | Second Division | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 1 | |
| Birmingham City (loan) | 2001–02 | First Division | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | |
| Birmingham City | ||||||||||||
| 2001–02 | First Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[d] | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 39 | 1 | ||
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 17 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 21 | 2 | ||
| Total | 75 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 84 | 3 | ||
| Derby County | ||||||||||||
| 2003–04 | First Division | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | Championship | 40 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[e] | 0 | 45 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | Championship | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 18 | 0 | ||
| Total | 65 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 72 | 0 | ||
| Kidderminster Harriers | ||||||||||||
| 2006–07 | Conference National | 29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 5[f] | 0 | 35 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | Conference National | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1[g] | 0 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Total | 57 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 64 | 1 | ||
| Galway United | 2008 | Irish Premier Division | 6 | 0 | 2[h] | 0 | 1[i] | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | |
| Career total | 490 | 10 | 36 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 573 | 10 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Ireland U21 | 1989 | 3 | 0 |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1991 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 8 | 0 | |
| Republic of Ireland B | 1994 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | |
| Republic of Ireland | 1995 | 6 | 0 |
| 1996 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 27 | 0 | |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Galway United | 21 April 2008 | 14 January 2009 | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 44 | 41 | +3 | 038.24 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 14 January 2009 | 18 September 2009 | 38 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 29 | 49 | −20 | 034.21 |
Blackburn Rovers
Southampton
There was only nine games left and I played in every game, so I was very pleased with that and ultimately I got a medal. I think there was a thing at the time that you needed to play 10 games to officially be entitled to a medal, but the club sorted all that out. I think there was two or three of us who hadn't played 10 games, but everybody got a medal, so it was great.
