Graham Anthony Kavanagh (born 2 December 1973) is an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former professional player. Kavanagh had a 19-year-long career and played for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

. He also played 16 games for the

Republic of Ireland national football team The Republic of Ireland Men's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in men's international Association football, football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The team made their debut at the Ir ...

, scoring once.

Club career

Kavanagh began his career at Home Farm, before joining

in 1991 but struggled to ever hold down a first team place and was sold to

in 1996, after a short loan spell at the club, for £250,000. In 1996–97 he made 41 appearances scoring four goals including the final goal at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. Kavanagh also had the honour of scoring Stoke's first goal at the

Britannia Stadium The bet365 Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the cl ...

in a League Cup match against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. He scored 10 goals in 1997–98 as Stoke suffered relegation to the third tier. In 1998–99 he top-scored with 13 goals as failed mount a sustained promotion challenge under Brian Little in 1998–99. In 1999–2000 Kavanagh scored 10 goals as Stoke reached the play-offs where they lost to Gillingham. He also played and scored in the 2000 Football League Trophy final as Stoke beat

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

2–1. He was again a regular in 2000–01 as Stoke again failed in the play-offs this time losing to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

. He left Stoke in the summer of 2001 after making 244 appearances scoring 45 goals. He joined

in July 2001 for £1 million, and went on to score fifteen times in his first season at the club and help them to promotion the following year when they beat

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

in the Second Division play-off final. He scored one of Cardiff's goals as they memorably knocked out then Premiership Leeds United in the FA Cup third round in 2002. He also scored the winning goal in the

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Wales, Welsh association football, football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English fo ...

final against rivals

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

During the 2004–05 season Cardiff chairman

Sam Hammam Samir Georges Nassib Hammam (; born 17 July 1947) is a Lebanese businessman, well known for his high-profile involvement in British football clubs, and who most recently relinquished the life presidency of Cardiff City in March 2022 following a ...

revealed that the club was in serious financial trouble and as such a number of players left the club to attempt to regain losses, including Kavanagh who signed for

for a fee close to £400,000. Whilst at Wigan he started in the

2006 Football League Cup Final The 2006 Football League Cup Final also known as the 2006 Carling Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, was played between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic on 26 February 2006. Manchester United won the match comfortably, by four goals to nil. L ...

. On 31 August 2006, he signed a three-year deal with

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach, and former professional player. He is best known for his career in the Premier League, in particular his captaincy of Manchester United. He is the joint most ...

for £500,000. During that season he played 14 games, scoring one goal against Leeds, before he was ruled out for the majority of games due to lingering injury problems. He joined

on 21 September 2007 on a loan deal to regain his fitness where he played seven games, scoring one goal against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on 2 October. On 29 December,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

made a bid for Kavanagh, together with Márton Fülöp. However, on 31 January 2008 Kavanagh again joined Wednesday on a loan deal until the end of the season. Kavanagh joined League One side

on a month's loan on 10 October 2008. This loan was extended for a further month on 7 November. It was again extended on 18 December and would expire on 3 January 2009.

Managerial career

On 9 January 2009, Kavanagh was released by Sunderland and returned to Carlisle on a permanent basis as a player-coach. In April 2013, Kavanagh continued his post as Assistant Manager at the end of the 2012–13 season, after signing a new one-year deal. In September 2013 manager Greg Abbott was sacked and Kavanagh was installed as caretaker manager. Kavanagh was then appointed manager on a permanent basis on 30 September 2013 signing a two-year contract. Carlisle were 22nd on the ladder at the time of Kavanagh's caretaker appointment, and finished the 2013–14 season in the same position, to be relegated to League Two. After a poor start to the 2014–15 season Kavanagh left Carlisle on 1 September 2014.

International career

Kavanagh earned 16 international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, the last of which was on 16 August 2006 against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Personal life

His son Calum is a professional footballer for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, having started his career at

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

Stoke City *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 1999–2000 Wigan Athletic *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2005–06 Carlisle United *Football League Trophy runner-up: 2009–10 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1998–99 Second Division, 1999–2000 Second Division, 2000–01 Second Division, 2001–02 Second Division, 2002–03 Second Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanagh, Graham 1973 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Home Farm F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Darlington F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. managers English Football League managers Republic of Ireland association football managers