Kevin Drinkell

Football manager infobox
playername = Kevin Drinkell


fullname = Kevin Smith Drinkell
nickname =
height =
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1960|6|18|df=y
cityofbirth = Grimsby
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Centre Forward (Retired)
years = 1976-84
1985-87
1988-89
1989-91
1991
1992-94
1994-98
clubs = Grimsby Town
Norwich City
Rangers
Coventry City
Birmingham City (loan)
Falkirk
Stirling Albion
caps(goals) = 272 (89)
121 (50)
36 (12)
41 (5)
5 (2)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
manageryears = 1994-98
1998-00
managerclubs = Stirling Albion
Montrose

Kevin Smith Drinkell (born 18 June 1960 in Grimsby) is a former professional footballer and football manager. He is currently Director of Football with 110sport Management Ltd in Stirling, Scotland. He was a striker, noted for his aerial ability and the number of headed goals he scored as a result.

Career

Drinkell began his career with hometown club Grimsby Town where he scored 89 goals in 272 games. His goals got him noticed by other clubs and in 1985 Norwich City manager Ken Brown signed him for a fee of £90,000. Norwich were rebuilding their squad after relegation from the first division and had looked set to sign striker Trevor Senior from Reading, however when he opted to stay with the Royals they turned their attention to Drinkell. The fee was set by a Football League tribunal and the figure angered Grimsby, who considered his value to be much higher.

Drinkell quickly proved that Norwich had indeed got a bargain. In his first season at Carrow Road he scored 22 league goals as Norwich won the second division championship. It won him the Golden Boot for being the division's top scorer as well as the first of two consecutive Norwich City player of the year awards. His goalscoring form continued in the first division. His most memeorable goal for Norwich - by popular consensus among supporters - came in a match against Liverpool on 11 April 1987 at Carrow Road. Liverpool were reigning league champions and were looking to regain the title. The score was 1-1 late in the game, when Drinkell picked up the ball at the edge of the area and hit a fierce shot from a difficult angle past Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. It ended one of the most famous statistics in football, as it was the first time that Liverpool had lost a league match in which Ian Rush had scored. In total, Drinkell scored 57 goals in 150 games for Norwich.

Drinkell's exploits earned him a £600,000 move to Rangers, who signed him ahead of Tottenham Hotspur. He won Scottish League Championship and Scottish League Cup medals at Ibrox before joining Coventry in 1989. Despite scoring on his debut, his goalscoring form deserted him at Highfield Road, and after a short loan spell with Birmingham City in 1991 he began his coaching career in Scotland with Falkirk. He coached and managed Stirling Albion before becoming Montrose manager in 1998. He was sacked two years later as a result of the team's poor league performance.

In 2002, Norwich City fans voted Drinkell an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

Honours

Grimsby Town

*Division Four Runners up, Promoted: 1979
*Division Three Championship winner 1980
*Supporters Player of the Year 1983
*Supporters Young Player of the Year 1977

Norwich City

*Division Two Championship winner (promoted 1986)
*Norwich City Player of the Year 1985-1986 & 1986-1987
*Inaugural member of Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame, 2002

Rangers

*Scottish Premier League Championship 1988-89
*Scottish League Cup 1988-89

References

*"Canary Citizens" by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

External links

*soccerbase|id=2165|name=Kevin Drinkell - Lacking information at present (17 July 2006)
* [http://grimsbytown.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=909&stid=8268987&p=2 electronicfishcake.com] - Grimsby player profile
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=7997 sporting-heroes.net] - Rangers player profile
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/drinkell.htm ex-canaries.co.uk] - Norwich City player profile