Kevin Donovan (born 17 December 1971) is an English

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 ...

coach, former professional player and sports co-commentator. He runs his own football academy that is linked to Brighouse Town. As a player, he was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

from 1988 to 2007 with lengthy spells at

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 ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

which saw him win two play-off finals at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. He also played in the

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 ...

for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, Halifax Town,

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and

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 ...

before finishing his career off in non-League football with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

and

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

Playing career

Donovan started playing for Elland Athletic in the Halifax league as an 8-year old before he joined

, training at the centre of excellence, at 16 he became an apprentice and turned professional in October 1989. He joined Halifax Town on loan during February and March 1992, before moving to

for £70,000 in October of that year. He made his Albion debut against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in the same month. Donovan scored in Albion's 3–0 win over Vale in the Division Two play-off final the following May at Wembley as the club clinched promotion. In July 1997 he signed for

for a £300,000 fee, joining up with his former manager at Albion,

Alan Buckley Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside. As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest, ...

. His time at Grimsby was arguably the best of his career. In his first season, he scored 21 goals to help the club win twice at

in the

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 ...

, and in the play-off final, in which Donovan netted the only goal of the game. However, Donovan failed to score a single goal in the following season for the club. Two more rather impressive seasons were spent at

Blundell Park Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9,05 ...

before Donovan confirmed the Grimsby supporters' worst fears and left to join rivals

. His time at

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium. While the na ...

was mainly blighted by injury problems, and he experienced relegation with the club, and at the end of the 2002–03 season he was released by The Tykes. During his spell at Barnsley he scored once against Walsall in December 2001. Donovan was snapped up by

, who had managed him at West Brom and Grimsby, and gave him a one-year deal for

However, after another fruitless campaign, playing only seven times for 'Dale, Donovan was released by the club. His next port of call was at

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

club

on a one-year contract, following a loan spell. At York he linked up with former Grimsby teammate Paul Groves, but neither really flourished. At the end of the season Donovan moved into the

Conference 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 Leagues and step 2 o ...

, joining

for a season before retiring from the game.

Personal life

Donovan runs a football school and coaches the junior side at Brighouse Town. He occasionally co-commentates for

BBC Radio Humberside BBC Radio Humberside is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the former county of Humberside which includes the unitary authorities of England, unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North Lincolns ...

on Grimsby Town games.

Honours

Grimsby Town *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

play-offs: 1997–98 *

: 1997–98 West Bromwich Albion *

play-offs: 1992–93 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 ...

: 1997–98 Second Division *Grimsby Town Supporters' Player of the Year 1997–98

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Kevin 1971 births Living people Footballers from Halifax, West Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players