Ray Kennedy

Football player infobox
playername = Ray Kennedy


fullname = Raymond Kennedy
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1951|7|28|df=y
cityofbirth = Seaton Delaval
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Centre Forward/Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1968-74 1974-82 1982-83 1983-84
clubs = Arsenal Liverpool Swansea Hartlepool
caps(goals) = 158 0(53) 275 0(51) 042 00(2) 023 00(3)
nationalyears = 1976-80
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 017 00(3)

Raymond Kennedy (born 28 July 1951) is an English former football player who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s.

Life and playing career

Kennedy was born at Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He trained as an apprentice with Port Vale but was told by manager Stanley Matthews at the age of 16 that he wasn't good enough to be a professional footballer. Accepting that a man who had once been England's greatest player was probably speaking the truth, Kennedy returned to his native north-east and started playing as an amateur and working in a sweet factory.

He was then spotted by a scout for Arsenal, who signed him in 1968. A year later he made his first team debut on 29 September 1969, against Glentoran in the 1969-70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup; that season Arsenal progressed to the competition's final and the young Kennedy had a starring role, coming on as a substitute in the first leg, with Arsenal losing 3-0 to Anderlecht, Kennedy scored a crucial late goal. Arsenal completed the comeback in the second leg with a 3-0 win at Highbury, and won 4-3 on aggregate; it was their first European trophy.

Kennedy had only played six times in 1969-70, but the following season (1970-71) he only missed one game in all competitions, as part of the Arsenal side which became only the second in the 20th century to win the coveted Double of League Championship and FA Cup. A tight, dramatic finale to the title race saw Kennedy score the only goal of the game against Arsenal's fiercest rivals Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane to secure the title for Arsenal, their first since 1952-53. Three days later, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 after extra time to win the FA Cup. Kennedy didn't score in the final, but did end the season with 27 goals, making him the club's top scorer.

Arsenal returned to Wembley to defend the FA Cup the following season but lost 1-0 to Leeds United; Kennedy came on as a substitute for John Radford but was unable to net the equaliser; he still finished as Arsenal's top scorer for 1971-72, scoring 19 goals. For the next two seasons he continued to be a regular for Arsenal, scoring consistently (and finishing as top scorer again in 1973-74) but did not win another trophy as the Double-winning side was slowly broken up. After the end of the 1973-74 season, Kennedy was sold to Liverpool for £180,000. He turned out to be the last signing made by manager Bill Shankly, who announced his retirement on the same day.

Ray made his Liverpool debut in a league match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the 31 August 1974, it took Kennedy just 22 minutes to open his goalscoring account as the Reds went on to comfortably beat the Londoners 3-0.

Despite his ability as a striker, Kennedy's chances to play in his favoured centre forward role at Liverpool were restricted due to the presence of the prolific Kevin Keegan and John Toshack. Shankly's successor Bob Paisley, however, had other plans for Kennedy. Giving him the number 5 shirt, Paisley converted the burly striker into a cultured attacking midfield player, based on the left flank, Kennedy flourished in this role for the rest of the decade. Indeed, his form was so good, that Jimmy Greaves would later describe Kennedy as 'the player of the seventies'. Kennedy also won his first of 17 caps for England in this position. He never played as an orthodox centre forward again. Kennedy though was forced to compete with Trevor Brooking for the left midfield role, and believed England manager Ron Greenwood favoured his old West Ham protege Brooking.Fact|date=October 2007 The Liverpool man also believed that his influential old Liverpool colleague and then England skipper, Kevin Keegan, preferred Brooking in the side, and these two factors played a large part in Kennedy informing Greenwood he no longer wished to play for England in late 1980.Fact|date=October 2007

Don Revie gave Kennedy his first cap on the 24 March 1976 in a friendly with Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, Kennedy scored the opening goal as England won the game 2-1.

With Liverpool, Kennedy won the League title and UEFA Cup in 1975-76, scoring in the final of the latter. The following season, he came close to equalling his Double achievements with Arsenal when Liverpool ventured to Wembley for the FA Cup final having already regained their title. Victory over Manchester United would make Kennedy the first player to win the Double with two different clubs, but Liverpool lost the game 2-1. Kennedy nearly forced extra time in the last minute when his long-range shot hit the crossbar.

With dreams of the traditional Double gone, Liverpool went to Rome to contest their first European Cup final against Borussia Monchengladbach and won the game 3-1, earning Kennedy his third European honour. Kennedy and Liverpool retained the trophy the following year and again in 1980-81, while also winning the two more League crowns and their first League Cup.

After the emergence of young midfielder Ronnie Whelan in 1981, Kennedy left Liverpool (having played enough games to guarantee a final title medal) for £160,000 in January 1982 to join the renaissance of Swansea City under his former team-mate Toshack, who had previously recruited fellow Liverpool legends Tommy Smith and Ian Callaghan. He made his Swans debut on the 30 January '82 at the Vetch Field, Man United were the visitors and were seen off by 2 goals to nil.

Kennedy's spell at Swansea ended acrimoniously, with Toshack accusing Kennedy publicly of not trying, when the truth was that Parkinson's disease was setting in. Kennedy tried to resume his career in his native north-east at Hartlepool United joining them in November 1983, but his condition worsened and he was forced to retire in 1984 just before his 33rd birthday. He wrote Hartlepool's application letter for re-election to the Football League in 1983-4 which may have helped them to survive.Fact|date=September 2008 His condition was finally confirmed by a specialist when he was 35.

Retirement

Kennedy's only work in football after he finished playing was a brief spell at Sunderland as a coach. He has spent the majority of life since retirement and diagnosis working towards publicising and raising funds for the research and treatment of Parkinson's. Arsenal and Liverpool played each other in a testimonial game at Highbury in 1991 to raise money for the cause, 18,000 turned out to support the cause.

To this day Kennedy lives a quiet, homebound life with decreased mobility and a dependency on drugs to control the discomfort of his condition. He had to sell his medals, caps, shirts and other memorabilia after falling on financially hard times. The "Ray of Hope Appeal", organised by Arsenal and Liverpool fans to help Kennedy, was featured in the Daily Mirror on 26 January 2008. [ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2008/01/26/please-give-brave-kennedy-a-ray-of-hope-89520-20298586] ]

Ray is still a favourite amongst Liverpool supporters and was voted in at No.28 on the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. [ [http://liverpoolfc.tv Official Liverpool Football Club web-site] ]

Honours

"*" Arsenal F.C (1968 - 1974) - 212 appearances, 71 goals
* Fairs Cup winners medal (1970)
* Division 1 (Level 1) (winners medal 1971)
* FA Cup winners medal (1971)
* Division 1 runners-up medal (1973)
* FA Cup runners-up medal (1972)

"*" Liverpool F.C (1974 - 1982) - 393 appearances, 72 goals
* 5 Division 1 (level 1) winners medals (1976, 1977, 1979, 1980 and 1982)
* 3 European Cup winners medals (1977, 1978 and 1981)
* UEFA Cup (1976)
* League Cup winners medal (1981)
* European Super Cup winners medal (1977)
* 4 Charity Shield (1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980)
* Division 1 runners-up medal (1978)
* FA Cup runners-up medal (1977)
* League Cup runners-up medal (1978)
* European Super Cup runners-up medal (1978)
* World Club Championship runners-up medal 1981

"*" Swansea City F.C (1982 - 1983) 42 appearances, 2 goals
* Welsh Cup winners medal 1983

"*" England flagicon|England (1976 - 1980) - 17 caps, 3 goals

Footnotes

References

*cite book
author=Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.)
title=Arsenal Who's Who
publisher=Independent UK Sports
year=1995
id=ISBN 1-899429-03-4
*cite web
url=http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N146927041130-1517.htm
title=Ray Kennedy Interview
work=Liverpool FC Official Website
accessmonthday=7 August
accessyear=2006

External links

* [http://www.kbag.co.uk/rarint.html Ray Kennedy Interview May 2008 With Retro Reds]
* [http://www.thisisanfield.com/columnists/2005/04/forgotten-heroes-ray-kennedy/ Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Heros]
* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/kennedy2/ Official Liverpool FC profile]
* [http://jkarlsson.netfirms.com/players/k/kennedy_r/ Statistics from Gunnermania]
* [http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=344 LFChistory.net player profile]
* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N158549080123-1638.htm Ray of Hope appeal]