Gary Kelly

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Gary Kelly
Personnel
Surname Gary Oliver Kelly
birthday July 9, 1974
place of birth Drogheda ,  Ireland
size 172 cm
position Full-back (right)
Juniors
Years station
Home farm
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1991-2007 Leeds United 430 (2)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1992-1994 Ireland U-21 5 (0)
1994-2002 Ireland 52 (2)
1 Only league games are given.

Gary Oliver Kelly (born July 9, 1974 in Drogheda ) is a former Irish football player . As a right full-back who could also be used in midfield, he was under contract throughout his professional career at Leeds United . He also made 52 international appearances for the Irish senior team and was part of the Irish squad in 1994 in the USA and in 2002 in Japan and South Korea .

Athletic career

Club career

As the youngest of thirteen family members, Gary Kelly was trained at Home Farm in Dublin, where he joined the football club. In July 1991 he moved to England to join Leeds United . He initially acted as a striker and after just 15 minutes of experience in the reserve team, he came on October 8, 1991 in the league cup against Scunthorpe United as a substitute as a winger for his competitive debut. Apart from other short appearances - two of them in the 1991/92 championship season , which were not enough to receive an official championship medal - it was not until the 1993/94 season that coach Howard Wilkinson recognized Kelly's talent in the role of the attacking right full-back and him on the first matchday against Manchester City (1: 1) called into the starting line-up for the first time. With his strengths, which showed in his speed and great endurance, he quickly won a regular place and benefited from the long-term injury of the veteran Mel Sterland . The rise was so rapid that he did not miss one of 42 league games and then even traveled to the United States with the Irish national team for the World Cup. Also in the following season 1994/95 he completed all Premier League games, where he increasingly established himself defensively as a man markers and offensively with flanks. Scoring goals, on the other hand, was not one of his strengths and so he remained as a regular player without a competitive goal in his third season in 1995/96, before he scored the first (and only) two league goals in this regard in the 1996/97 season - initially against Southampton FC (2 : 0) and then a free kick against West Ham United (2: 0).

In the 1997/98 season Kelly moved mostly to the right midfield and during the absence of Lucas Radebe on the occasion of the African Championship , he helped out in central defense. With 200 competitive games as a 23-year-old, he extended his contract to mid-2002. Due to a tibia syndrome , he missed the entire 1998/99 season and after recovering initially seemed to have no place in the starting eleven at the beginning of the 1999/2000 season to exist after Danny Mills had recently been signed for £ 4 million. Within a short time, however, Kelly won this internal competition (also favored by some unfortunate actions by Mills) and his performances were so convincing that six years after his sporting breakthrough, he was in the top division team of the year for the second time (" PFA Team of the Year ") was chosen. Although he had lost his speed in the meantime, he often managed to convince with good positional play and anticipation skills. Further injury problems in the 2000/01 season ensured that Mills, who was now in better shape, recaptured the place on the right side of the defense after the turn of the year. This left Kelly only the occasional place in right midfield or as a replacement for Mills. The lucky moments - like his preparation for Harry Kewell 's 2-1 winner against Blackburn Rovers - were rare, but enough to ensure that he did not miss his chances for the upcoming 2002 World Cup in the Irish national team .

Despite some speculation about a move to clubs like Celtic Glasgow or AFC Sunderland , Kelly stayed in Leeds. After his ten-year membership in the club was rewarded in the summer of 2002 with a charity game in favor of his cancer foundation (in memory of his sister who died in 1998 at the age of only 35), he played more often in the regular team from November 2002 before an injury thrown back in March 2003. In the 2003/04 season he benefited from the fact that Mills was loaned to Middlesbrough FC for a year and he was thus allowed to occupy the vacant right-back position. In the increasingly rejuvenated team due to financial problems, which was relegated to second division in a disappointing season , his experience was of increasing value. In the Football League Championship he successfully defended himself against the competitor Frazer Richardson and at times he represented Paul Butler as captain. During the season he reached the 500 competitive game mark as the tenth player in the club; at the same time he was the first player outside of the "era of Don Revie " who had succeeded and in the end the players' union PFA nominated him again for the team of the year (now in the second division).

After the 2006/07 season, Kelly ended his active career. Shortly before, he was relegated to the third division with the club as bottom of the table in the second division . He had only defended his regular place on the right side in the first three months, but after the team's overall weak performance, he was left out after the game against Barnsley FC . He played a few games for the reserve team, but was not considered fit enough there to be of any help in the fight for relegation. At the last home game against Ipswich Town , which sealed relegation and ended in a storm, he was officially adopted. In total, he played 531 competitive games for Leeds United, many of them alongside his nephew Ian Harte .

Irish national team

Before his sporting breakthrough in Leeds, Kelly had gained his first experience in the Irish U-21 team and, after his debut there on November 17, 1992, when he was substituted for the Spanish youngsters (1: 2) in the European Championship qualification for the first time on March 9, 1993 in the starting line-up against Germany (0: 1) in the same competition. After he was suddenly promoted to full right back at Leeds United in the 1993/94 season, Jack Charlton promptly promoted him to the first team . Only shortly after the debut against Russia in March 1994 and a goal to a 2-0 friendly win against Germany in Hanover on May 29, 1994, he drove to the 1994 World Cup in the United States . There he was used in the third group game against Norway (0-0) and in the 0-2 round of 16 against the Netherlands .

He remained a constant in the Irish team in the following two years, before he was unexpectedly no longer nominated after the coaching change to Mick McCarthy in 1996, but then due to his consistently good performance in the 1997/98 season he was in various positions in Leeds Celebrated comeback. Despite further setbacks due to a serious injury in the 1998/99 season and the loss of a regular place at Leeds after the turn of the millennium, he was also part of the Irish squad at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea . There he was a regular player and completed his 50th international match in the round of 16 against Spain , which was later lost on penalties , until he was substituted after 55 minutes . After two more appearances in the European Championship qualification, he ended his international career after a 1: 2 defeat against Switzerland .

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Ireland's International Players" (fai.ie)
  2. ^ A b Martin Jarred & Malcolm MacDonald: Leeds United - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78091-031-4 , pp. 231 .
  3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 117 .
  4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 135 .
  5. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 153 .
  6. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 166 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 182 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 170 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 230 .
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 239 .
  11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 229 .
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 229 .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84596-111-0 , pp. 228 f .
  14. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007-08 . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3 , pp. 228 .
personal data
SURNAME Kelly, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kelly, Gary Oliver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Drogheda