Ray Kennedy

Ray Kennedy

Kennedy in October 1981
Personal information
Full name	Raymond Kennedy
Date of birth	(1951-07-28) 28 July 1951 (age 65)
Place of birth	Seaton Delaval, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder / Centre-forward
Youth career
1966–1967	Port Vale
1967–1968	New Hartley Juniors
1968	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1974	Arsenal	158	(53)
1974–1982	Liverpool	275	(51)
1982–1983	Swansea City	42	(2)
1983–1984	Hartlepool United	23	(3)
1984–1985	Pezoporikos
1985	Ashington
Total		498	(109)
National team
1972–1973	England U23	6	(0)
1976–1980	England	17	(3)
Teams managed
1984–1985	Pezoporikos (player-manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Raymond Kennedy (born 28 July 1951) is an English former footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy played as a forward for Arsenal, and then played as a left-sided midfielder for Liverpool. He scored 148 goals in 581 league and cup appearances in a 15-year career in the Football League, and also won 17 caps for England between 1976 and 1980, scoring three international goals.

Born and raised in former pit village Seaton Delaval, he spent a year at Port Vale as a schoolboy, before returning to Northumberland to work in a sweet factory after he was released at the age of 16. He was then spotted playing for New Hartley Juniors by Arsenal, and went on to turn professional at the club in November 1968. He made his first team debut ten months later, and went on to win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970, the First Division and FA Cup Double in 1970–71, and then play on the losing side in the 1972 FA Cup Final. His form then declined, and he was sold to Liverpool for a club record £200,000 fee in July 1974, at the same time that Bill Shankly resigned as manager. He initially struggled at the club, but after manager Bob Paisley converted him to a left-sided midfielder he went on to help Liverpool to become the dominant club of English football from 1975 to 1982. During his time at the club Liverpool won the First Division five times (1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, and 1981–82), the FA Charity Shield four times (1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980), the European Cup three times, (1977, 1978, and 1981), and the UEFA Cup (1976), UEFA Super Cup (1977), and League Cup (1981). He also picked up runners-up medals in the FA Cup (1977), UEFA Super Cup (1978), League Cup (1981), and World Club Championship (1981), and won the Match of the Day's Goal of the Season award in 1977–78.