Stephen Kelly

[joema]

Spurs ace handed Irish debut


May 23, 2006

Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly will win his first senior cap in Wednesday’s international friendly against Chile, having been named in Steve Staunton’s starting XI for the Lansdowne Road clash.

Kelly, the former Irish under-21 captain, replaces fellow youngster, Bolton Wanderers’ Joey O’Brien, who sits out this game through injury.

Veteran defender Gary Breen, without a club after his departure from Sunderland, returns to the side to win his first cap in almost two years to partner Richard Dunne, first-choice Andy O’Brien having been ruled out by a back injury.

Completing the back four is Kevin Kilbane, who wins his 70th senior cap, while Steve Finnan is named on the right side of midfield after recovering from groin trouble.

John O’Shea and Steven Reid continue as the new-look first-choice midfield pairing, with Damien Duff on the left side of midfield and Kevin Doyle continuing alongside Robbie Keane in attack.

The substitutes will include 16-year-old Tottenham striker Terry Dixon, who would become the youngest ever senior international should he come off the bench, Shelbourne striker Jason Byrne and the uncapped pair, Jay Tabb of Brentford and Cork City midfielder Joe Gamble.
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Does anyone else think hes a poor player? I've seen him play a good few times and he has never impressed me, he is half decent going forward but is a poor defender and a shocking passer of the ball IMO. I dont understand why he is so highly rated and was he has done to warrant a start tomorrow night. Hope Im wrong but I just dont think hes good enough for us

[DmanDmythDledge]

It's only a friendly, it's worth trying him out.

[joema]

It's only a friendly, it's worth trying him out.

I'd normally agree with you. And I definitly thought that Kerr was too conservative in friendlies and welcom Stans more adventurous approach but we only have two friendlies before the competitive games start.

[DmanDmythDledge]

I don't think having only 2 friendlies is a problem in this situation. It's not like there's a whole host of RBs to look at- everyone knows what Carr and Finnan can do and O'Brien looked good enough against Sweden I believe.

[Fergie's Son]

Very surprised that Dixon is on the subs bench. I guess Staunton really does want to tie him down.

[joema]

I've taken the time to go to White Hart Lane and watch Kelly. He is quick, his passing is accurate and he is not afraid to get strong tackles in. Stephen Kelly also has a wicked shot on him. He is not the finished product by any stretch of the imagination, but he has more right to be in that squad than some of the names being bandied about. He's young and has enormous potential. Give him time.
I'm delighted Staunton is actually using friendlies to try lads out and experiment.

I've seen him play in the flesh on a number of occasions aswell!! Disagree about his passing ability - I think its sloppy - hope he proves me wrong though!

[CraftyToePoke]

I've taken the time to go to White Hart Lane and watch Kelly. He is quick, his passing is accurate and he is not afraid to get strong tackles in.

watched him myself as well and his passing was far from accurate, too many chipped/floated passes to tightly marked players and a few aimless punts into channels where no-one was running also while in quality posession, but im sure he will have been made aware of this and will have focussed on it, but theres definately room for improvement;.

[Junior]

he looked pi$$ poor tonight. Admittedly I've not seen much of him apart from this.

[joema]

Hate been proved right but he was terrible tonight IMO - having said that the more experienced players around him didnt help him too much - but still - 4/10

[Soko]

Look lads, just over four years ago only die-hard Everton fans had heard of Wayne Rooney.



Not true, Rooney had been pegged for greatness well before that. I was him in the FA Youth Cup and he nearly broke the crossbar from 30 yards at 15 years of age. This has no correlation to Terry Dixon.

[FarBeag]

Kelly was brutal. Well they can’t blame tiredness on his performance

[joema]

Pre match Moran said that Kelly had a "fantastic" season with Spurs, ffs he barely played

[LeixlipRed]

moran is an idiot. kelly was woeful tonight. you think after a season of barely playing he'd be fit and dying to run his heart out on his debut. but no, he was crap. cant see him ever getting ahead of finnan, carr or o'brien

[Fergie's Son]

He can't seem to dislodge Salteri and it looks like he is moving on to another club.

Was Dixon really on the bench?

[yiddo]

Pre match Moran said that Kelly had a "fantastic" season with Spurs, ffs he barely played

And Sky kindly showed clips of Kelly from the 2004/5 season to back up Moran's views :confused:
Kelly was very poor last night and unlike some of the others couldn't blame a long hard season for it. Don't think he's the answer at full back in the long term.

[el punter]

Didnt think he was as outrageously bad as is being made out by lots of people on the forum today. Certainly wasn't a great performance by him, but I wouldn't throw him on the scrapheap yet.

[John83]

Didnt think he was as outrageously bad as is being made out by lots of people on the forum today. Certainly wasn't a great performance by him, but I wouldn't throw him on the scrapheap yet.
He was just very poor, and given that he wasn't after a 50 games season, he didn't have asmuch of an excuse.

[eirebhoy]

He was just very poor, and given that he wasn't after a 50 games season, he didn't have asmuch of an excuse.
It doesn't matter how many games you play imo. With the amount of training they do, 90 minutes of football is not going to make you much more tired come Sunday morning.

[pete]

Very poor full debut. Certainly shows no sign of getting in ahead of Finnan, Carr or O'Brien.

[NeilMcD]

To be fair to him also he was playing on the right side of a 3 mad defence in an experimental system in his first game and Stephen Reid did not perform well in front of him in my view. I thought after the first 30 mins he improved. He needs first team football and I think he is better than Staltieri but it looks like Spurs are going for Chimbonda.

[John83]

It doesn't matter how many games you play imo. With the amount of training they do, 90 minutes of football is not going to make you much more tired come Sunday morning.
Yes, it will.

[Stuttgart88]

BLUES TARGET KELLY AS PART OF THEIR REBUILDING
Birmingham are set to renew their interest in Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly
as a possible replacement for Mario Melchiot.
The Holland international left the Blues on a free transfer at the end of the
term, and manager Steve Bruce has identified the 22-year-old Irishman as someon
capable of replacing him.
Birmingham initially moved for the Republic of Ireland international in
January, but had a #500,000 move blocked by Spurs for the defender.
Regular full-back Lee Young-Pyo had returned to South Korea because of family
reasons, and Spurs manager Martin Jol was concerned his side may have been shor
of cover had the move been allowed to go through.
Kelly has happy memories of St Andrews, scoring for Tottenham in a 1-1 draw 13
months ago, but has seen his opportunities of first team football restricted at
White Hart Lane.
end
-0- May/25/2006 13:10 GMT

[Paddy Garcia]

Hope Bruce was not watching last night then.

[eirebhoy]

Yes, it will.
The point I'm making is Robbie Keane will not be more tired now than Kelly just because he played more games. Having played football for years, I wouldn't be more tired at the end of a season if I played double the amount of matches. Professional footballers train about 20 (?) hours a week. The 90 minutes of a football match isn't going to make a difference. At the end of the day running is running. The constant travelling might take it's tole though.

[John83]

The point I'm making is Robbie Keane will not be more tired now than Kelly just because he played more games. Having played football for years, I wouldn't be more tired at the end of a season if I played double the amount of matches. Professional footballers train about 20 (?) hours a week. The 90 minutes of a football match isn't going to make a difference. At the end of the day running is running. The constant travelling might take it's tole though.
Running is running. Ball-work isn't. Matches are mentally and physically more tiring than the equivalent length of time spent doing training.

Don't believe me? Why do players got injured so much more often in matches than in training? All the more so when you factor in that 40:3 time ratio?

[LeixlipRed]

He can't seem to dislodge Salteri and it looks like he is moving on to another club.

Was Dixon really on the bench?


AFAIK kelly just signed a new contract with Spurs and Jayo wasnt on the bench yet he came on. I think all the squad were available for substitutions

[Fergie's Son]

Surprised Spurs signed Kelly.

Would have been interesting to see Lawrence and Dixon on. Will be interesting to follow young Dixon's career.

[Stuttgart88]

Stan said he would have started Lawrence but he was injured.

[tetsujin1979]

Will be interesting to follow young Dixon's career.
He came out with the rest of the subs to warm up during half time, spent most of it doing keepy-uppy's and various tricks. I'll say this for him, he had a bigger build than most of the other lads he was out with, he'd make 2 of Jay Tabb!

[tetsujin1979]

According to this - http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2009/01/03/blues-boss-mcleish-hopes-stephen-kelly-can-now-bounce-back-from-injury-97319-22595130/ - it looks like Kelly would have played at the weekend against Wolves, if the game hadn't been called off.
Hope he gets a run out against Blackpool at the weekend

[irishultra]

the kelly situation, like doyle in goal is pretty weird. the birmingham fans think both are great but somehow they cant make their way into the team. real strange

[Stuttgart88]

Hasn't Kelly been injured since start of the season?

Doyle finished the season before last brilliantly, keeping Taylor out of the side during their promotion run. He started the Premiership season really badly and was rightly dropped. I guess Taylor needs to lose form for Doyle to get back.

[tetsujin1979]

Kelly came off the bench tonight against Wolves

[Drumcondra 69er]

Gone to Stoke on loan, nice that he'll be playing at a higher level at least. Just been on Today FM.

[tetsujin1979]

According to this - http://www.stoke.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=142068 - it looks more like a permanent deal?
Nothing on sky sports, football365, birmingham or stoke's home pages about it though

[eirebhoy]

It's the same with Arshavin to Arsenal though. Arsenal say faxes were in to the FA by 4.30. We won't get confirmation of all the deals until tomorrow.

[dr_peepee]

Didn't see that one coming... Nice to read some positive news during the run in to the end of the window.. (Still indifferent to Givens move to Man City at the minute)

[tetsujin1979]

Statement from Stoke on the transfer of Kelly: http://www.stokecityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~1543833,00.html
Looks like it is only on loan, at least for the time being

[Uncle_Joe]

Good move to Fulham. with the exception of Hangerland, fulham back line is pretty ordinary but well disciplined. Hopefully Kelly can recover from last year and push on with Ireland

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/fulham/8103966.stm

[elroy]

This is a fantastic move for him I think. Really solid defence there so hopefully he will make the starting XI and progress.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Good to be working with Hodgson but will be relying on injuries or suspension to get a look in ahead of Paintsil who was quite good last season. Defence is not an area of the pitch where managers would rotate players. I'd prefer if he moved to a club where he would play regularly.

[Uncle_Joe]

Fulham struggled last season with their small squad. they will want to make a go of europe this year and this will mean more games so I'd expect Kelly to get his chance.

[paul_oshea]

plus he could slot in at left or right back, which i assume is the reason hodgson got him.

[reder]

Fulham struggled last season with their small squad. they will want to make a go of europe this year and this will mean more games so I'd expect Kelly to get his chance.

Erm, it was their highest finish ever in league football. Their home form was up there with the top clubs. They had a few slip ups but many including me thought Hodgson was manager of the season. Are you sure you are not thinking of the season before last when the avoided relegation on the last day of the season?

Anyhoo, a great move for Kelly. European football as well. I cant see him getting in at right back unless Pantsil gets injured. Pantsil was excellent overall last season. Konchesky at left back is the weakest link in the Fulham defence. He would need to be replaced if Fulham wish to advance to the later stages of Europa Cup and perform well in the league.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Erm, it was their highest finish ever in league football. Their home form was up there with the top clubs. They had a few slip ups but many including me thought Hodgson was manager of the season. Are you sure you are not thinking of the season before last when the avoided relegation on the last day of the season?

Anyhoo, a great move for Kelly. European football as well. I cant see him getting in at right back unless Pantsil gets injured. Pantsil was excellent overall last season. Konchesky at left back is the weakest link in the Fulham defence. He would need to be replaced if Fulham wish to advance to the later stages of Europa Cup and perform well in the league.


I'm assuming he maens they struggled if they had any injuries due to their small squad, obviously results wise they were solid.

I agree that's it a good move for him, can Pantsil play on the left, might Hidgson think of moving him over if he thinks he's more adaptable then Kelly?

Think he'll improve under Hodgson as well, excellent manager for me, was my choice for our job once Stan was sacked, Trap was obviously a pipe dream at that stage!

[OwlsFan]

Can't deny that Hodgson has done a good job at Fulham but he reminds me of David Pleat a bit, very articulate but not sure he's up to it when the going gets tough. The season after a good season is always the hardest. Fans' expectations have been raised and if it becomes a relegation battle, the manager is soon sacked.

Nice move for Kelly. Hope he can prosper in a good footballing side.

[Uncle_Joe]

I
'm assuming he maens they struggled if they had any injuries due to their small squad

Thats it exactly. Fulham dont have the squad depth to carry too many injuries. I moved over to Fulham last year and saw7 or 8 matches. The team was pretty much the same every game.

[carloz]

Can't deny that Hodgson has done a good job at Fulham but he reminds me of David Pleat a bit, very articulate but not sure he's up to it when the going gets tough. The season after a good season is always the hardest. Fans' expectations have been raised and if it becomes a relegation battle, the manager is soon sacked.

Nice move for Kelly. Hope he can prosper in a good footballing side.

Last season was his season after a good season. remember he came half way during the 2007-08 season when Fulham looked doomed and somehow kept them up.

[NeilMcD]

Can't deny that Hodgson has done a good job at Fulham but he reminds me of David Pleat a bit, very articulate but not sure he's up to it when the going gets tough. The season after a good season is always the hardest. Fans' expectations have been raised and if it becomes a relegation battle, the manager is soon sacked.

Nice move for Kelly. Hope he can prosper in a good footballing side.

Eh what about the good job he has done at loads of other clubs plus at international level too with Finland and the Swiss. Great manager in my view. One of the best out there and would have been a great Irish manager too but Trap is doing pretty well so far.

[OwlsFan]

I admit I am probably a bit myopic as I just remember him being sacked by Blackburn. I wouldn't be too familiar with his successes further afield.