Kenny Hibbitt

Football player infobox2
playername= Kenny Hibbitt


fullname =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1951|1|3
cityofbirth = Bradford
countryofbirth = England
height =
position = Midfielder
years = 1967–1968
1968–1984
1982
1984–1986
1986–1988
clubs = Bradford Park Avenue
Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Seattle Sounders (loan)
Coventry City
Bristol Rovers
Total
caps(goals) = 015 00(0)
466 0(89)
014 00(4)
047 00(4)
053 00(5)
581 0(98)
manageryears = 1990–1994
1996
2001–2002
managerclubs = Walsall
Cardiff City
Hednesford Town
nationalyears = 1970
nationalteam = England Under-23
nationalcaps(goals) = 001 00(0)

Kenny Hibbitt (born January 3, 1951 in Bradford) is a former English footballer. He is most known for his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers, for whom he played from 1968 to 1984.

Career

Hibbitt joined Wolves from his home town club Bradford Park Avenue for £5,000 in November 1968. He finally made his club debut as a substitute in a 0-1 defeat to rivals fc|West Bromwich Albion on April 12, 1969, aged just 18. He did not feature again though until September 12, 1970, when he scored his first of many goals in a 2-2 draw at Chelsea.

During his time at Molineux, Hibbitt won 2 League Cups (1974 and 1980) and played in the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, where the club lost narrowly to countrymen fc|Tottenham Hotspur. He also helped the club win two promotions back to the top flight.

He finally left Wolves in 1984, moving to fc|Coventry City on a free transfer. In total, he played 544 games for Wolves, scoring 114 goals.

His playing career came to an abrupt halt in February 1988, when he broke his leg playing for fc|Bristol Rovers against Southend. He remained with the club after this, as assistant to manager Gerry Francis and helped the team win the (old) Division 3 title in 1990.

After this success, he was appointed manager of Walsall, who he took to the Division 3 play-offs in 1993/94. He took over as manager of Cardiff City from Eddie May in the summer of 1995, but moved upstairs to a director of football role with the arrival of Phil Neal the following year. However, Neal's time in charge was brief, departing after only a couple of months to become assistant to Steve Coppell at Manchester City. Hibbitt took over the team once again before handing the reins over to Russell Osman. In February 1998, Osman was sacked and Hibbitt took over team affairs for the third time, before being replaced by Frank Burrows. The arrival of Burrows saw Hibbitt's influence greatly diminished, and at the end of the 1997/98 season he left the club altogether.

He returned to management with non-league fc|Hednesford Town in September 2001, but despite rescuing the club from a poor start and preserving their place in their division, he was sacked at the end of the season. He now works for the Premier League, reviewing the performances of the referees.

His older brother Terry was also a footballer.