Kevin Andrew Gallen (born 21 September 1975) is an English former 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 played as a striker. He notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

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 ...

over several seasons, and would have two spells with the

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

club. 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

and Barnet, before finishing his career in Non-league with Braintree Town, Leverstock Green and Aylesbury United. A former England Under-21 striker, Gallen signed a professional contract for QPR on his 17th birthday after setting phenomenal scoring records whilst in the youth team, breaking

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players, he is England's fifth- ...

' long-standing record at that level.

Career

Queens Park Rangers

Gallen was born in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

. He made his

league debut in the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

on the opening day of the 1994–95 season, and later went on to form a partnership with

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit. A striker, his playing career included notable spells in the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, ...

, scoring more than ten goals. Gallen's form dipped the next season after Ferdinand departed for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, as QPR were relegated to The First Division. After just two games of the 1996–97 season, in which he scored three goals, Gallen sustained a serious knee injury whilst playing against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, which resulted in him missing the rest of the season. His return to the team saw mixed performances, but by the 1998–99 season he was back to his best form, before injuries again held him back and the arrival of Rob Steiner and

Chris Kiwomya Christopher Mark Kiwomya (born 2 December 1969) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the manager of British Virgin Islands national football team. He played as a forward from 1987 until 2002 notably in th ...

kept him out of the team. The 1999–2000 campaign saw Gallen fall behind Kiwomya, Steiner, Steve Slade and

Mikkel Beck Mikkel Venge Beck (; born 12 May 1973) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He scored three goals in 19 games for the Denmark national team, and represented Denmark at the international Euro 1996 and Euro 2000 ...

in the pecking order. He did, however, manage to score a winning goal on the last day of the season at the ground where his injury troubles had started – Portsmouth.

Huddersfield and Barnsley

In August 2000 he left QPR to find first-team football at

. His return to

as an opposition player saw him score, but then miss a penalty. Gallen soon found himself out in the cold once more as Huddersfield changed managers, and his contract was not renewed at the end of the season. Gallen spent the summer of 2001 training with QPR, now in Division Two, with a view to joining on a free transfer, but a compromise on wages could not be reached. He instead joined

on a two-year contract.

Return to QPR

The deal at Barnsley proved to be a short-lived, as Gallen re-joined Queens Park Rangers on 19 November 2001. Two days after returning to his boyhood club he scored one and set up two others in an emphatic 4–0 home win over

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

. A change in fortunes soon followed for Gallen and QPR, with Gallen earning the club captaincy, netting another 55 goals over the ensuing five seasons and helping the club to establish itself back in the second tier of English football. Overall, Gallen scored 97 goals for QPR, making him the sixth highest scorer in the club's history.

Plymouth and MK Dons

On 11 January 2007 Gallen linked up with his former QPR manager

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who is the manager of club Swindon Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League with ...

, joining

on loan until the end of 2006–07 season. During his spell at

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in the area of Milehouse, Plymouth, Devon, England. With a capacity of 17,900, the ground has been the home of Plymouth Argyle Football Club since 1903, and was also used between 1900 and 1903 by Argyle Athlet ...

he scored once in the league, during a 3–2 victory over Coventry City. He was released by QPR in July 2007. He was offered a contract by

, but instead opted to join a lower-level club –

. Gallen played 31 games and scored nine goals as MK Dons won both promotion to League One as champions, and The Football League Trophy.

Later career

On 14 November 2008, Gallen joined League Two side

on an initial one-month loan, which was later extended by a further month. His run in the team at Luton coincided with a seven match unbeaten run for ''The Hatters'', with Gallen often being used as 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 ...

. At the beginning of January, Gallen had his contract at MK Dons terminated by mutual consent, and he subsequently signed for Luton as a free agent. Gallen signed a one-year extension to his Luton contract at the end of the season, a campaign that ultimately ended in Luton's relegation to the

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 ...

, keeping him at the club until June 2010. Now in

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

, Gallen found himself utilised back in his familiar position as a striker, scoring eighteen goals in the 2009–10 season, including his first ever

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on 5 April 2010 in a 6–0 win over

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

. His goalscoring prowess saw him sign a further one-year extension to his contract, running until the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. In October 2010 Gallen joined Barnet on a three-month loan deal. He scored one goal in nine appearances during his time at the club, before returning to Luton on 8 January 2011. On 31 January 2011, Gallen was released from his Luton contract. He made a total of 74 appearances for Luton, scoring 21 goals. On 31 March 2011, Gallen signed for Braintree Town. After a short spell with Leverstock Green in 2011–12, Gallen signed for Aylesbury United of the Molten Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division at the start of the 2012–13 season.

Personal life

Gallen was born in England to Irish parents from Donegal and Mayo. He has two brothers in football, Joe and

Steve Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation) ...

, who have both also worked as coaches for QPR. In January 2015, Gallen was a finalist alongside

Rufus Brevett Rufus Brevett (born 24 September 1969) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, Fulham and West Ham United. He was part of ...

for the Harrow Borough job, although the job was handed to Steve Baker instead. Gallen has appeared on The Magic Sponge podcast by Dave which is hosted by comedians

Rob Beckett Robert Anthony Beckett (born 2 January 1986) is an English comedian, actor, and presenter. He was a co-host on the ITV2 spin-off show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!'' from 2012 to 2014. Since 2016, Beckett has been a team captain ...

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

and ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard. He has appeared twice as a guest, one time being a late replacement for Chris Iwelumo. Gallen became a cult hero on the podcast and occasionally steps in for Jimmy Bullard as a co-host when Jimmy is absent.

Honours

Queens Park Rangers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

second-place promotion: 2003–04 Milton Keynes Dons *

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

: 2007–08 *

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 ...

: 2007–08 England U18 * UEFA Under-18 Championship:

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

References

External links

*
England FA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallen, Kevin 1975 births Living people People from Chiswick English men's footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Hounslow Men's association football forwards England men's under-21 international footballers English people of Irish descent Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Leverstock Green F.C. players Aylesbury United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff