Mark Kennedy Profiled and Interviewed

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Ex-QPR Loan Hero, Mark Kennedy is profile and interviewed in The Sunday Times. Somehow his QPR experience gets zero mention! Millwall....Liverpool...Wimbledon...Manchester City...Wolves and Ireland...!

Sunday Times January 22, 2006Mark Kennedy: I’m actually a very serious person
"....I had a trial at Millwall, next minute I had a contract, next minute I’m in the first team. Before I know it I was at Liverpool. And playing for Ireland. It happened that quickly.”
He signed for Liverpool in 1995 at the age of 18 for £2.3m, becoming the most expensive teenager in Britain at the time. It was a tag he wore lightly, too lightly at times. .....Kennedy got labelled with the Spice Boy tag, even though he never hung around with that crew. He barely got a run at Liverpool and after three seasons he moved to Wimbledon, then a Premiership side with big plans for moving to Dublin. “Joe (Kinnear) promised me the sun, moon and stars. It was the opposite. ....from a footballing point of view it was without doubt the greatest mistake I’ve made in my life.
“I didn’t get a look-in for three months and I went to Joe and said, ‘I’ve made a big mistake, you’ve made a big mistake, let’s get out of it.’ And, by the grace of God, Man City came in for me.”
Joe Royle was manager at Maine Road but Kevin Keegan came in when City were relegated and Kennedy didn’t figure in his plans. Keegan was planning to play with wing-backs — he couldn’t see Kennedy in that role — and was also trying to cut the squad. “There was a lot of talk about Ipswich coming in for me, they were in Premiership then. My agent rang me and said, ‘Wolves have come in for you.’ I said , ‘If I’m not going to Ipswich, I’ll stay at City.’ And he said, ‘With all due respect, Mark, they’ve agreed a fee for you which kind of says they don’t want you.’ At that moment in time I didn’t want to go, I had two years left on my contract, but I didn’t really have an option.
“Keegan said he had a whole load of players he was trying to get rid of, but couldn’t get offers for. I knew that to be true. As far as I’m concerned he was very honest and admirable about the thing.”
KENNEDY HAS had his fair share of rejection but the only manager he has a bad word for is Brian Kerr.....
For the moment he has other concerns. This is a huge year for him. Kennedy is 30 in May, around the same time as his five-year contract at Wolves ends. He says his days as a “tricky winger” are now behind him but reckons he has a few more years left, even in the Premiership, with Wolves or another side. Wolves’ FA Cup clash with Manchester United next Sunday could be a big factor in his future. Staunton is sure to be watching. Redemption may yet be at hand.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-2003719_1,00.html.