Alexander James Robert Kevin Penny (born 16 February 1997) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for club

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

Early life

Penny was born in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

, Warwickshire, but moved away at a young age. He attended

Withernsea High School Withernsea High School is a coeducational secondary school located in Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The school was officially opened on Thursday 28 April 1955 by Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax. In December 2014 works b ...

from 2008 to 2013.

Club career

Penny played for his local club Withernsea before joining

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

's youth system aged 11. Despite being offered an extension to his scholarship in April 2015, he signed for Southern League Premier Division club Bedworth United in September. Having made five appearances, he signed for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division club

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

later that month. In November 2015, Penny signed for

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

Division One club

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England, administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughborough, and is about halfway between L ...

, after making two appearances for Stourbridge. He made 17 appearances and scored two goals for Hinckley in the 2015–16 season, the team finishing fifth in the Midland League Division One. In June 2016, Penny signed for

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

club Nuneaton Town on a one-year contract. He made 28 appearances in 2016–17 as Nuneaton finished 12th in the National League North. He joined

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy ( Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains club Leicester City. He will become a free agent on 1 July 2025. After being released by Sheffield Wednesday at ...

V9 Academy V9 Academy is an English association football, football academy co-founded by Jamie Vardy with the intention of gaining non-League football, non-League players contracts at professional clubs. History The V9 Academy was founded, in 2016, by profes ...

, aimed at helping non-League players into professional football, and impressed

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

scouts during training matches at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...

in May 2017. On 19 July 2017, Penny signed for

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club Peterborough United on a three-year contract after a successful trial. The undisclosed fee set a new record for a transfer fee received by Nuneaton. On 5 August 2017, he made his Football League debut as an 89th-minute substitute in Peterborough's 2–1 home win over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

, on the opening day of 2017–18. He made his first start for the club three days later, playing the first 68 minutes of a 3–1 home defeat to

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

in the

EFL 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 ...

. On 6 June 2018, Penny signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

for an undisclosed fee. His contract was mutually terminated in May 2019. Penny signed for

club Kidderminster Harriers in February 2020 on a two-year contract. On 5 October 2021, Penny scored his first Kidderminster Harriers goal in a 3–0 home win against Ware FC in the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying round. On 5 February 2022, he scored the only Kidderminster goal against

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

in the FA Cup fourth round and went on to extend his deal to the summer of 2023 in April 2022. Penny was subsequently named in the 2021-22 National League North Team of the Season. Following promotion back to the National league during the 2022/23 season, Penny signed a new one-year deal with Kidderminster running through till 2023/24 season

International career

Penny was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

by the Wales national under-16 team, playing at the 2011 and 2012

Victory Shield The Victory Shield is an annual football (soccer), football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland national under-16 football team, Scotland, Republic of Ireland national under-16 football team, Republic of Ireland, Northern Irel ...

Career statistics

Honours

Kidderminster Harriers *National League North Team of the Season: 2021-22 *

play-offs: 2022-23

References

External links

Alex Penny profile
at the Peterborough United F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Alex 1997 births Living people Footballers from Nuneaton English men's footballers Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Hull City A.F.C. players Bedworth United F.C. players Stourbridge F.C. players Hinckley A.F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Southern Football League players Midland Football League players National League (English football) players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players English people of Welsh descent V9 Academy players 21st-century English sportsmen