Kevin Donovan

Football player infobox


playername = Kevin Donovan
fullname = Kevin Donovan
height =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|12|17
cityofbirth = Halifax
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Midfield (retired)
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1989–1992
1992
1992–1997
1997–2001
2001–2003
2003–2004
2004–2006
2006-2007
clubs = Huddersfield Town
→ Halifax Town (loan)
West Bromwich Albion
Grimsby Town
Barnsley
Rochdale
York City
Alfreton Town
Total
caps(goals) = 020 0(1)
006 0(0)
168 (19)
154 (23)
054 0(1)
007 0(0)
031 0(2)
N/A
440 (46)

Kevin Donovan (born December 17, 1971 in Halifax) is a retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder who notably played for Grimsby Town and scored the winning goal for the club in their play-off victory at Wembley Stadium in 1998.

Career

Donovan joined Huddersfield Town as an apprentice in April 1988 and turned professional in October 1989.cite book | last = Matthews | first = Tony | title = The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion | publisher = Breedon Books | date = 2005 | pages = p. 69 | isbn = 1-85983-474-4] He joined Halifax Town on loan during February and March of 1992, before moving to West Bromwich Albion for £70,000 in October of that year. He made his Albion debut against Port Vale in the same month. Donovan scored in Albion's 3–0 win over Vale in the Division Two play-off final the following May at Wembley as the club clinched promotion.

In July 1997 he signed for Grimsby Town for a £300,000 fee, joining up with his former manager at Albion, Alan Buckley. His time at Grimsby was arguably the best of his career: in his first season, Donovan scored 21 goals to help the club win twice at Wembley in the Auto Windscreens Shield, and in the play-off final, in which Donovan netted the only goal of the game. Funnily enough, Donovan failed to score a single goal in the following season.

Two more rather impressive seasons were spent at Blundell Park before Donovan confirmed the Grimsby supporters' worst fears and left to join rivals Barnsley. His time at Oakwell was mainly blighted by injury problems,and he experienced relegation with the club, and at the end of the 2002/2003 season, Donovan was released by The Tykes.

Donovan was snapped up by Alan Buckley, who managed him at West Brom and Grimsby and gave him a one-year deal playing for Rochdale. But after another fruitless campaign, playing only seven times for Dale, Donovan was released by the club.

His next port of call was at Conference club York City following a loan spell. At York he linked up with former Grimsby team mate Paul Groves, but neither really flourished. At the end of the season Donovan moved into the Conference North, joining Alfreton Town for a season before retiring from the game. Kevin now coaches youngsters in his native Yorkshire.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=2125|name=Kevin Donovan