Stewart Kennedy is a retired Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 professional football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 goalkeeper who played for clubs including Dunfermline

Dunfermline Athletic F.C.

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Dunfermline, Fife, commonly known as just Dunfermline. They currently compete in the Scottish Premier League....

, Stenhousemuir

Stenhousemuir F.C.

Stenhousemuir FC is a Scottish football club located in Stenhousemuir. The club is a member of the Scottish Football League and currently plays in the Scottish Second Division....

, Rangers

Rangers F.C.

Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

 and Forfar

Forfar Athletic F.C.

Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Football League and currently play in the Second Division...

.

He joined Dunfermline as an 18 year-old in 1967 from local junior

Scottish Junior Football Association

The Scottish Junior Football Association is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the Junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "Junior" refers to the level of football played...

 side Camelon

Camelon Juniors F.C.

Camelon Juniors F.C. are a Scottish Junior football club based in Camelon, in Falkirk district.The club, founded in 1920, currently play in the Scottish Junior Football Association's East Region Super League after winning the Lothians League Division 1 in 2005–06.Camelon parted company with...

, before returning to junior football in 1969 with Linlithgow Rose

Linlithgow Rose F.C.

Linlithgow Rose F.C. are a Scottish junior association football club from Linlithgow, West Lothian who play in the East Region Super League...

. Two years later he returned to the senior game, signing for Stenhousemuir. It was from here, after another two year stint, he was signed by Rangers for £10,000, mainly as back-up for established goalkeeper Peter McCloy

Peter McCloy

Peter McCloy is a retired football goalkeeper who played for Motherwell and Rangers. He was a member of the Rangers team which won the 1972 Cup Winners Cup, and was Rangers' first-choice goalkeeper for most of his 16-year spell at the club despite competition from players such as Gerhardt Neef and...

. A number of goalkeepers came to and left Rangers during McCloy's long career as number one, but Kennedy was the most successful, amassing 131 appearances and 45 clean sheets.

Standing tall and weighing , he made a major contribution to Rangers 1975

1974-75 in Scottish football

The 1974–75 season was the 78th season of Scottish league football. It was the final season of the old, two-division set up. At the end of the season, the top ten teams in Division One formed the new Premier Division. The remaining eight teams, together with the top six from Division Two went...

 league win, their first in eleven years, playing in every match. From then until 1978 Kennedy and McCloy exchanged the position, both playing regularly. He was capped

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

 five times by Scotland

Scotland national football team

The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...

 in the 1974-75 season, his last appearance coming in a 5-1 defeat to England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 at Wembley.

Kennedy received two league championship winner's medals, in 1975 and 1978, and two for the League Cup

Scottish League Cup

The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...

, in 1976 and 1978. He left Ibrox

Ibrox Stadium

Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium located on the south side of the River Clyde, on Edmiston Drive in the Ibrox district of Glasgow. It is the home ground of Scottish Premier League club Rangers and has an all-seated capacity of 51,082...

 in 1980, moving to Forfar on a free transfer. He continued playing there until the age of 40, and had a testimonial match

Testimonial match

A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, notably football and especially in the United Kingdom, where a club puts on a match in honour of a player for service to the club....

 against Rangers in 1985. He then came out of retirement to play one match for St. Johnstone in the 1991–92 season, when the club suffered an injury crisis.

External links

• Newcastle Fans profile