Mark KENNEDY

In March 1993, Liverpool spent £1.5 million on Millwall's 19 year-old out and out left-winger Mark Kennedy. The Dublin-born player was in his third season at The Den having broken into their first team as a 17 year-old and the fee was a record one for a teenager at the time. Regrettably though, things didn't quite work as planned on Merseyside and after just five League starts in four seasons Mark found himself moving back to London, this time to Wimbledon, for £1,750,000 in March 1998. Despite just 17/11 games in a little over a year for the Dons, on July 8th 1999, he found himself the subject of a third million pound transfer (actually £1.6 million), this time to Maine Road.

As Joe Royle's team began what turned out to be a second successive promotion campaign, Kennedy's debut came in a 1-0 home defeat to Wolves on the season's opening day. A goalless draw with Fulham then preceded five consecutive wins with Kennedy not only scoring twice (against Sheffield United in a 6-0 home win and then the only goal of the game at Bolton seven days later) but also beginning to provide some fine service from the wings for the predatory skills of Shaun Goater up front. The Irish international missed just five of City's 46 League games as well as taking part in six more cup matches, two in the FA and four in the Worthington.

For his efforts he was rewarded with ten goals in total with perhaps the most important being the third at Blackburn on the promotion-clinching last day of the season. A combination of niggling injuries and disciplinary problems limited his appearances to 16/11 in 2000/01 with his only goal coming in a 4-2 Worthington Cup win at Gillingham in September. It was a bitterly disappointing season, one in which City were relegated and which ultimately cost Joe Royle his job. New manager Kevin Keegan decided his rebuilding plans did not include the skills of Kennedy's left foot and sold him to Wolves on July 4th 2001 for an initial fee of £1.8 million, rising to £2 million on appearances. The former Youth and Under 21 international scored 11 times in 63/12 appearances during his time at Maine Road. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City)