Gary Kelly (footballer)
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| Gary Kelly | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 9 July 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Drogheda, Ireland | |
| Height | 5ft 8in (1.78m) | |
| Playing position | Right Back | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1989 1990–91 |
Drogheda Home Farm |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1991–2007 | Leeds United | 430 (2) |
| National team | ||
| 1994–2003 | Republic of Ireland | 51 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Gary Kelly (born 9 July 1974 in Drogheda) is a retired Irish professional footballer who played his whole career for Leeds United. He played as a right back or a right midfielder and made 531 appearances in total for Leeds, being the only player from the non-Revie era at Leeds to join the 500 appearances club.
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[edit] Biography
Gary originally started playing football as a striker, and was reasonably successful in this position for Home Farm. However, when he joined Leeds, then boss Howard Wilkinson recognised qualities in him that would make a very good wing-back. Wilko moved Kelly to the right-back position, proving to be a successful change[1].
After making his debut in the 1991-92 season, Kelly has more or less been a regular in every subsequent season for Leeds, except 1998-99. As a result, he was rewarded with a testimonial match in May 2002, played against Celtic. The proceeds from this match were donated to several cancer charities chosen by Kelly (mainly Teenage Cancer Charity in Leeds and Cancer Support Centre in Drogheda), in dedication to his sister, who died from the disease in 1998. Seen by a crowd of 26,440, Celtic won this match.
Kelly has won 51 international caps playing for the Republic of Ireland, before his retirement from international football. He represented them at both the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 2002 FIFA World Cup. He is also only the 10th player to ever make over 500 appearances for Leeds United, making the feat against Luton Town in Leeds' 2-1 victory at Elland Road on 25 February 2006. He is the only player from the non-Revie era to reach this milestone.
Kelly played regularly in the first half of his 16th season at Elland Road, and with his contract expiring at the end of the season. On 26 October 2006, new Leeds manager Dennis Wise revealed Shaun Derry was replacing Kelly as the new Leeds vice captain, ending Kelly's long reign as the Leeds vice captain.
Over the years, Gary Kelly earned the respect of countless Leeds United fans for his eternal loyalty to the club.
After 16 years loyal service to the club, a presentation of a crystal cut vase was made to Kelly at the last home game of the 2006-07 season by other Leeds United legends of the past Paul Reaney, Allan "Sniffer" Clarke , Mick Jones, and Frank Worthington[2]. He retired at the end of the season, aged 32[3].
Kelly is the uncle of fellow Irish international Ian Harte, who now plays for Sunderland. Uncle and nephew were both part of Ireland's 2002 World Cup squad.
[edit] Kelly the Prankster
Gary Kelly is also regarded amongst the Leeds United squad as some what of a prankster and joker, having pulled several different stunts, including wearing Nicky Byrne of Westlife's clothes for a training session when Nicky had got changed to join in with the training session[1]. Nicky Byrne used to be part of the youth team set up at Leeds United during the mid-1990s, and is good friends with Gary Kelly, even having cleaned Gary's boots when he was a trainee at the club. He also wore the Lucas The Kop Kat head whilst appearing on SKY's Soccer AM Crossbar Challenge.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Gary Kelly Testimonial Program. Leeds United Vs. Celtic, Tuesday 7th May 2002
- ^ Farewell Gary. LeedsUnited.com (30 April 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-30.
- ^ Farewell Kells. LeedsUnited.com (27 April 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
[edit] External links
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