Chris Kirkland

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Chris Kirkland
Personal information
Full name Christopher Edmund Kirkland
Date of birth 2 May 1981 (1981-05-02) (age 27)
Place of birth    Barwell, England
Height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Wigan Athletic
Number 1
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1999–2001
2001–2006
2005–2006
2006
2006–		 Coventry City
Liverpool
→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)
→ Wigan Athletic (loan)
Wigan Athletic		 24 (0)
25 (0)
10 (0)
09 (0)
54 (0)   
National team2

2006		 England U21
England		 08 (0)
01 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 11:18, 12 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 14:14, 14 February 2007 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Christopher Edmund "Chris" Kirkland (born 2 May 1981 in Barwell, Leicestershire) is an English football goalkeeper. He currently plays for Wigan Athletic in the English Premier League.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Coventry City

Kirkland shot to prominence as one of the most promising young English keepers in the country in the 2000–01 season while with his first club, Coventry City. He made his debut in the League Cup against Tranmere Rovers on 22 September 1999. He was bought by Liverpool for £6m on the last day of the transfer window at the start of the 2001–02 season. At the time he was the most expensive goalkeeper in British transfer history, at only 20 years old.

[edit] Liverpool

Injury to Liverpool's first-choice goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek gave Kirkland his debut in the first team, against Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League, but he had to wait until the following season for his first run in the team. Costly errors by Dudek in a league fixture against Manchester United handed the jersey to Kirkland for 14 matches, during which he kept 6 clean sheets. However, Kirkland was then himself injured, and a succession of recurring problems has seen him only make sporadic appearances since then.

At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Kirkland found himself with the chance to make an impact on the fortunes of Liverpool and England, having ousted his friend Jerzy Dudek as first-choice Liverpool keeper. His good form and lack of injury was seen as welcome news for Liverpool and England fans.

2005, however, did not start well for Kirkland, with his Liverpool career once again interrupted by injury. Having begun his Anfield career as the future England Number 1, a series of ineffective performances for the Reds, coupled with a string of injuries, meant that Kirkland had slipped down the goalkeeping pecking order behind Jerzy Dudek and new signing Scott Carson.

[edit] West Bromwich Albion

In the summer of 2005 Kirkland agreed to go on a season-long loan to West Bromwich Albion in order to kick-start his career again;[1] he had been moved to fourth in the pecking order, behind new signing Jose Reina, Dudek, and Carson. He kept a clean sheet on his Albion debut as the team drew 0–0 away at Manchester City.[2] His move to The Hawthorns bore immediate fruit for Kirkland as he was called up to replace Manchester City player David James as second-choice keeper for the England squad. An injury to Kirkland in the first half of the season saw Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak replace him and remain West Brom's first choice goalkeeper for the rest of the season.

[edit] Wigan Athletic

In July 2006, Kirkland joined Wigan Athletic on a six-month loan spell.[3] This move became permanent on 27 October 2006 when the two clubs and Kirkland made a compromise.[4] He signed with Wigan Athletic for three years, until the end of the 2008–09 season. He was given the number 1 jersey for the 2007–08 season and became the first-choice goalkeeper of new manager Steve Bruce. Kirkland won the club's Players' Player of the Year and Media Player of the Year awards for 2007–08.[5] He committed his future to Wigan in May 2008 when he signed a new contract, tieing him to the club until 2012.[6]

[edit] International career

He won six caps with the England under-21 team and was regularly selected for the senior squad from 2003 on, but did not make an appearance until he came on as a substitute for the second half of a friendly against Greece in August 2006. When Kirkland was eleven years old, his father and some family friends had placed bets of £100 each at 100/1 odds that he would play for England before the age of thirty.[7] Kirkland's appearance netted the syndicate £10,000 each.

[edit] Life outside football

He and his wife Leeona welcomed a daughter, Lucy, on 14 November 2006, which caused him to miss an international friendly match against Netherlands the next day.[8]

In April 2008 Kirkland teamed up with fellow professionals Kevin Davies and Brett Emerton to help launch the Get Started programme, a national scheme which aims to tackle re-offending. He visited Hindley Youth Offenders' Institution in support of the scheme, which is delivered by the Prince's Trust in partnership with the Premier League, the PFA and the Football Foundation.[9]

He has expressed a desire to become a firefighter when his playing career comes to an end.[10]

[edit] Statistics

Club Performance
Club Season Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Wigan 2007-08 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 0
Wigan 2006-07 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Wigan 2006-07 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
WBA 2005-06 10 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Liverpool FC 2005-06 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2004-05 10 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 14 0
2003-04 6 0 1 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 12 0
2002-03 8 0 2 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 15 0
2001-02 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 4 0
Coventry City 2001-02 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2000-01 23 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 27 0
1999-00 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 105 0 6 0 10 0 11 0 0 0 132 0

[edit] Career Honours

[edit] Honours As Player

[edit] Flag of England Coventry City

Runner Up

[edit] Flag of England Liverpool

Runner Up

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Kirkland completes West Brom move", BBC Sport, 2005-07-16. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  2. ^ "Manchester City vs WBA", West Bromwich Albion F.C., 2005-08-13. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  3. ^ "Wigan clinch Kirkland loan deal", BBC Sport, 2006-07-11. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
  4. ^ "Permanent Wigan deal for Kirkland", BBC Sport, 2006-10-27. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. 
  5. ^ "NO. 1 SIGNING OF THE SUMMER", Wigan Athletic F.C., 2008-05-21. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  6. ^ "Kirkland signs new Wigan contract", BBC Sport, 2008-05-21. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 
  7. ^ "Funny old game", BBC Sport, 2003-08-19. Retrieved on 2006-08-16. 
  8. ^ "Eight out, Richardson in", TheFA.com, 2006-11-13. Retrieved on 2007-02-26. 
  9. ^ "Famous players tackling problems in prison", Wigan Evening Post, 2008-04-18. Retrieved on 2008-04-20. 
  10. ^ "Chris Kirkland: 'My passion to be a firefighter has always been with me'", The Independent, 2008-01-19. Retrieved on 2008-04-20. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Wigan Athletic F.C. – current squad

1 Kirkland • 2 Taylor • 3 Edman • 5 Palacios • 6 Sibierski • 8 Kilbane • 9 Heskey • 10 Koumas • 11 Brown • 12 Pollitt • 14 King • 15 Aghahowa • 16 Valencia • 17 Boyce • 18 Scharner • 19 Bramble • 20 Olembé • 21 Cywka • 23 Bent • 24 Skoko • 25 Melchiot • 26 Bouaouzan • 27 Kupisz • 28 Moore • 29 Montrose • 30 Saunders • 31 Figueroa • 32 Hagen • Manager: Bruce


Persondata
NAME Kirkland, Chris
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 2 May 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Barwell, Leicestershire
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH