Keith Andrews (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername = Keith Andrews


fullname = Keith Joseph Andrews
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1980|9|13|mf=y
cityofbirth = Dublin
countryofbirth = Ireland
height = height|ft=6|in=0
position = Midfielder
currentclub = Blackburn Rovers
clubnumber = 17
youthyears = 1997–1999
youthclubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
years = 1999–2005
2000
2003
2004
2005–2006
2006–2008
2008–
clubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Oxford United (loan)
→ Stoke City (loan)
→ Walsall (loan)
Hull City
MK Dons
Blackburn Rovers
caps(goals) = 065 00(0)
004 00(1)
016 00(0)
010 00(2)
029 00(0)
076 0(18)
004 00(0)
pcupdate = 5 October 2008

Keith Joseph Andrews (born 13 September 1980 in Dublin) is an Irish professional footballer currently playing for Blackburn Rovers.

Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Andrews began his career as a trainee at Wolves, progressing from their academy to the first team. He made his senior debut on 18 March 2000 in a 2-1 win at Swindon. He continued his progress with the First Division club in the 2000/01 season, becoming a regular player as Dave Jones took over midway through. The final match of that season saw him become their youngest captain for over a hundred years, at 21 years old, in a game against QPR.

He signed a new four deal deal the following season but found himself out of the starting line-up after several new midfielders were acquired in the summer, resigning him to the substitutes bench and sporadic appearances over the next few seasons. To gain playing time, he spent half of the 2003/04 season on loan at fc|Stoke City and the latter half at Walsall. He did however return to Molineux in between to make his only Premier League appearance (against Newcastle).

The midfielder returned to Wolves team post-relegation in 2004/05 and gained his most appearances for the club during that season. However, he moved on at the end of his contract to join fc|Hull City. In total, he made 72 appearances for the Midlanders, scoring once (in a League Cup tie at fc|Rochdale).

Hull City

His new start with the "Tigers" saw him sidelined again though, as he picked up an injury in only his second appearance for the team - in a match against his previous team, Wolves. He returned to the team in December after nearly four months out and featured in all but one of their remaining fixtures in what proved to be his only season for the club.

Milton Keynes Dons

After a single year at Hull, he moved to fc|Milton Keynes Dons of League Two for the 2006-07 campaign where he became club captain. He lost out on promotion in the play-offs, despite scoring in the semi-final tie with fc|Shrewsbury Town.

However, the next year, now under the managerialship of his former Wolves team-mate Paul Ince, brought Andrews success. He scored the winning goal in a match at fc|Stockport County on 19 April 2008 that saw the club promoted to League One, and also scored the opening goal of their 2-0 victory over fc|Grimsby Town in the Football League Trophy at Wembley. The season ended with him being voted into PFA Team of the Year and having already won the League Two Player of the Year Award at the Football League Awards.

Blackburn Rovers

Andrews ended a summer of speculation over his future when he completed a transfer to Premier League club Blackburn Rovers on 28 August 2008 in a three-year deal worth up to £1.3m. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/7586080.stm BBC Sport] , Blackburn snap up MK Dons skipper] This move reunites him with his former MK Dons manager Paul Ince, who had earlier made the move to Ewood Park during the close season. He made his debut as a substitute on 30 August 2008 against West Ham United, a game in which Rovers lost 4-1.

Honours

* Football League Trophy: 2008
* Football League Two (Level 4) Champions: 2008
* PFA League Two Team of the Year: 2008
* League Two Player of the Year Award: 2008

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=17402|name=Keith Andrews