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QPR bid farewell to Kenny the Moneyball goalkeeper
QPR bid farewell to Kenny the Moneyball goalkeeper
Wednesday, 11th Jul 2012 19:05 by Clive Whittingham

Popular goalkeeper Paddy Kenny has today left Queens Park Rangers to rejoin Neil Warnock at Leeds United. LoftforWords reflects on his time in W12.

If Billy Beane managed a football club, chances are Paddy Kenny would be his goalkeeper.

Beane, general manager of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics and subject of the excellent Michael Lewis book Moneyball, competes on an uneven playing field by picking up players exactly like Kenny. While traditional baseball scouts talk about "the good face" Beane has made a living out of taking a chance on those nobody else wants because they're too fat, too short, too old, too this or too that.

If you passed Paddy Kenny in the street and had three guesses at his profession I'd guess that sportsman would probably rank below astronaut. I still recall the look of surprise on the now ex-Mrs Clive's face when she saw him warming up for the first time and asked disbelievingly: "Is that really your goalkeeper?"

The modern day goalkeeper looks like Peter Cech – although not always wearing a silly hat for no good reason whatsoever of course. The modern goalkeeper is big - almost always more than 6ft 3ins tall with a chest like Jodie Marsh and hands as big as a Nissan Micra. Manchester United believe they have a decent goalkeeping prospect in David De Gea but have ordered him onto a steak and weights regime this summer so he starts looking more like a Premiership stopper and less like an unemployed poet. Paddy Kenny is only just 6ft tall and has a chest like John Prescott’s.

In the Champions League final penalty shoot out I looked at Cech in goal at one end and the imposing figure of Manuel Neuer at the other and thanked God I wasn't down for a spot kick. Where on earth would you put the ball? Even if you hit the ball at maximum power and accuracy towards the very bottom right hand corner Neuer is prone to dropping from 6ft 4ins in the air to flat on the ground with his hand outstretched to the post in time to meet it as it arrives and turn it aside.

These giants of men stomp around their penalty areas guarding them like centurions, reaching high above any oncoming striker to claim crosses out of the clouds before even Peter Crouch would be able to show an interest in them. If things go wrong they collapse to the ground and receive a free kick.

Paddy Kenny does none of this; he's like no goalkeeper you'll see in professional football today. He's the Sunday league goalkeeper made good. Paddy Kenny scampers around, surviving seemingly more by luck than judgement on many occasions, producing saves and clearances that can almost always be termed "unorthodox." But it’s not luck if it keeps happening. Kenny is somehow wonderfully effective and, because of how he looks and his style of play, grossly underrated by everybody in the sport except those who have played with him, managed him or watched him for any length of time. Ask somebody who doesn't support QPR, Sheffield United or Bury and the first word out of their mouth will be "fat", ask fans of those three clubs and there's a fair chance it will be "fantastic".

Kenny signed for QPR in the summer of 2010 for a fee in the region of £600,000 from Sheffield United. It was a fee roughly a third of what he was worth, reduced by a nine month drug ban served during the previous season which he blamed on cough syrup but the QPR fans quickly hinted through song was down to his party-boy reputation that had once seen him lose an eyebrow in a Halifax nightclub fight.

The very first thing he did - in the opening game of the 2010/11 season against Barnsley - was stride confidently from his line, walk underneath a high long ball into the box, palm it horribly backwards into his own six yard box and cause a mass panic during which several QPR and Barnsley players were killed and the ball was eventually scrambled behind for a corner and stadium-wide asthma attack. Kenny kept a clean sheet that day and QPR won 4-0. And that rather sums up what Kenny is about: he gets the job done, but not in the same way as other keepers, and not always in a way you can explain or fathom afterwards.

You would regularly find Kenny standing behind his goal swigging water and bantering with supporters – QPR and opposition – while play was at the other end, but he was no class clown. Kenny kept 24 clean sheets in his first season, a league record, and finished with the Player of the Year award from the players and supporters. Adel Taarabt won the overall division award, but then like I say the fans of 22 of the other Championship teams that year would probably refer to him as "fat" before anything else.

Fans of the twenty third, Sheffield United, were less than enamoured by the way Kenny jumped ship after the club had stuck by him through his drug's ban. Kenny pointed out that he'd been put on greatly reduced terms during his absence but he took dog's abuse on his return to Bramall Lane in our second league game of the season. Typically, he kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 win and then did likewise when Rangers recorded the same scoreline against the Blades later in the campaign. United were relegated that season, and his replacement Steve Simonsen missed a crucial penalty in this year's League One play off final preventing an immediate return. Sometimes you just get the feeling the gods are with Paddy Kenny.

He's one of those goalkeepers where you don't worry about penalties being awarded quite as much. I mean, you still worry about penalties being awarded, but I always fancy him to save them. At Swansea in a crucial midweek game against a promotion rival he palmed one aside from David Cotterill and then a couple of weeks later did the same at Portsmouth only to have a scandalous accusation of early movement from the goal line go against him.

Causes never really seem lost with Paddy Kenny until the ball actually hits the net. Against Doncaster Rovers at Loftus Road he produced a staggering save in the top left hand corner after initially starting on the right side of the goal, clawing the ball out from under the cross bar and onto the inside of the post. Against Leicester at the same end of the ground later in the season he successfully retreated ten yards at pace whilst also launching himself into the air and getting a firm hand to Yakubu's perfectly executed lob just as it was about to drop under the cross bar and in. Astonishing saves both.

He continued QPR's recent tradition of employing goalkeepers who are a bit odd. We had Lee Camp for a while, whose height should surely have prevented him from being a professional goalkeeper but somehow never seemed an issue while he was at Loftus Road – not as much of an issue as his propensity to wonder around outside the penalty area with the ball at his feet at least. Tony Roberts stayed long enough to earn a testimonial despite having as much command of his penalty area as Nick Clegg does in the coalition government and an ability to cause havoc where there was none to be caused. Sieb Dykstra and Ademole Bankole came and went in between – eccentric individuals to say the least.

Which all makes it rather a shame that we're today bidding farewell to Paddy Kenny as he heads off to Leeds United in a cut price deal. It's no surprise really, given that current Leeds boss Neil Warnock has signed him at three clubs including QPR prior to this and is in need of a keeper, but it's also not the disaster it would have been this time last year. Kenny struggled at times in the Premiership last season. That was possibly a fitness issue as he missed games in November and again around Christmas with a hip complaint that the club was disconcertingly vague about. When he returned in the New Year his form initially ranged from mediocre to dreadful, with two of the three goals in a defeat at Blackburn Rovers likely to have been saved by a better goalkeeper, but improved as the season wore on peaking in the home match against Arsenal where he thwarted Robin Van Persie.

His final performance in a QPR jersey was at Manchester City on the never-to-be-repeated last day of the season. His display at Eastlands was vintage Kenny - with a string of unorthodox, gravity and logic defying saves as City laid siege to the QPR goal - but it also included a goal-costing mistake in the first half. Had we not parted ways this summer I can't help but think Kenny's fantastic relationship with the QPR fans may have soured somewhat next season as his advancing years and declining form catch up with him.

He's leaving at the right time because we can wish him heartfelt good wishes and thanks for, overall, a superb two years of goalkeeping. The way he goes about his work makes him as entertaining as the strikers paid far more to score the goals and he's done QPR proud during his time here.

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E17hoop added 19:30 - Jul 11
The stats say it all - 32 goals conceded in 46 games in our promotion season. A record like that isn't earnt by a dodgy keeper, irrespective who they have playing in front of them.
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Kingy27 added 19:31 - Jul 11
Great write up.
I'll always hold him in high regard. Without his performances in our promotion year there would have been no promotion. Simple as that.
I wish him all the best.
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Neil_SI added 20:00 - Jul 11
A tremendous goalkeeper with the type of character and personality all clubs dream their keepers to have. Eccentric in the right way.

Nobody can convince me that he's not worthy of playing for a Premiership team, he was first class for us and I'm really sad to see him go. He deserves to play in the top-flight and I hope he makes a speedy return.
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GetMeRangers added 20:16 - Jul 11
May I add one who was similar... John 'Budgy' Burridge. No idea what he record was like at conceeding goals but was always able to pull some unbelievable stops. Perhaps the best was at Charlton away (4-0, I think) where he dived one way and then changed direction mid-air to save a shot curling high and away from him to the left. I still to this day dont know how he did it... a feat Paddy repeated on so many occasions.

Really sad to see him go, but with MH recruiting Green, I suppose it was inevitable. I wish im all the best at Leeds and hope for his sake there is another record season in him.
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EastR added 20:18 - Jul 11
PK was nothing short (excuse the pun) of awesome in out title winning season. There were so many times when he made crucial saves at critical times in games and, in the end, was the difference between automatic promotion as Champions and a solid play off place.

My 9 yr old was gutted today when I told him the news.

Best of luck Paddy and thanks.
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MrsJeff added 20:25 - Jul 11
My feelings towards Paddy Kenny were always the same as my feelings towards Jamie Mackie: he's not perfect, but he's ours. All the best and hope to see him again soon.
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GloryHunter added 20:39 - Jul 11
"... whose height should surely have procured him from being a professional goalkeeper"? I suspect you wanted to say "proscribed". But "prevented" would have been the right word. Not detracting from a great write-up, though.
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Monahoop added 21:01 - Jul 11
Funny, I never rated him much before he joined us, but I quickly warmed to him along with many others during that promotion campaign. Turned out to be one of our best stoppers for at least the last ten years or so.

Agree with GetMe Rangers, he had many goalkeeping similarities and quirks with John Burridge and a physical similarity too.

Sad to see him go, but the Championship is probably the right level for him now.
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YorkRanger added 21:05 - Jul 11
A very different keeper to Parkes, Seaman, Stejksal, Woods, Hucker etc but will be remembered as fondly as any of them. The save against Leicester at home where he clawed one out of the top corner that he had no right to reach sticks in the mind.
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extratimeR added 22:06 - Jul 11
Good luck Paddy!

The Yacuba save, (as mentioned by Clive), was as good a save as I have ever seen, (in F Block we were right behind the shot) and is up their with Banks against Pele in Mexico).

Thanks Clive, great summary of a Rangers favourite.
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WokingR added 22:09 - Jul 11
We'll always love you Paddy
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Myke added 23:15 - Jul 11
Great report Clive. Huge time for Kenny. Not at all convinced that Green (with 2 relegations to his 'credit') is an improvement. Similarly don't see Park, our so-called 'marquee signing' any kind of an inprovement on Mackie and fear the latter will not be ours by the kick-off. Park is a highly industrious but technically fairly limited right sided midfielder/winger. Sound familiar? Plus Mackie's 5 years younger than Park. In Hughes we trust and all that, but these 2 transfers have me puzzled to say the least
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WallyRanger added 23:31 - Jul 11
Really disappointed we've let Paddy go, although not entirely surprising as it's been expected since the rumour of Green possibly joining, but in my opinion I think Paddy is just as good as Green is, I haven't seen Green play much aside from whenever I'd seen West Ham and England on telly and I'm undecided really.
Oh well, good luck at Leeds Paddy! A Rangers legend for younger supporters like myself.
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Northernr added 23:39 - Jul 11
I don't understand why we'd extend Mackie's contract to then sell him Myke :-/
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qprmick added 01:08 - Jul 12
Uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time. Still think he could have gone another season at least, if his injuries are in the past. Good luck Paddy you have been a great man to have.
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Waithere added 07:55 - Jul 12
A classic QPR player who I hope we don't miss too much in the coming season. Good luck to you Paddy
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JB007007 added 07:57 - Jul 12
All the best to Paddy. Some wonderful memories from the promotion season. One on one you always fancied Paddy that year, he saved our butts a number of times. Last season I felt he conceded too many from distance and didn't make hs area his own. Leeds have got a very good Championship keeper now.
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DesertBoot added 09:27 - Jul 12
Absolutely brilliant in our promotion season and perhaps never fully fit last term.
Blocking RVP's attempt on goal when the Dutchman was clean through a stand-out for me.
Good luck Paddy, a real shame to see you go.
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smegma added 11:12 - Jul 12
Hes written his name in huge letters in the history of our club. Thank you Paddy for these past two years. Wish you all the best back in yorkshire.
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sligoranger added 12:02 - Jul 12
Great and very fair article on one of my favourite QPR players of the past few years.
Always rated Paddy from his time with Sheffield United where, like with us, he put in countless fantastic displays. Going back to the Championship with Leeds I think he still has enough in him to have a good season and he has always worked well with Niall Warnock. Pity its with bloody Leeds!
Want to wish him well in his future career, he was a good asset to QPR and was an integral part of getting us back into the Premiership and dispite a few dodgy efforts last season played a big part in keeping us up there.
Sorry to see him leave, but with Green now here his chances would probably be limited, sorry also that he did not get more caps with Ireland.
Good Luck mate.
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themodfather added 12:20 - Jul 12
helped get us up and helped keep us up..good luck paddy
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TacticalR added 13:42 - Jul 12
A man who restored my faith in the position of goalkeeper.

There's still the question of whether some of the problems he had in the Premiership were due to better opposition or due to his mystery injury. This season he seemed to have a problem stretching and getting down quickly at the same time. If he performs for Leeds as well as he did for us in the Championship, that would imply it's the opposition. If he does badly that would imply the injury.

Good luck to him, and I hope Warnock can bring the best out of him again.
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Myke added 14:23 - Jul 12
Maybe not straight away Clive, but some contracts are put in place simply to ensure a fee. Hogan Ephraim being a good example. (Other contracts like Dyer are completely inexplicable) I just don't think we need Park. I actually don't think we need Hoilett either, even though he's a wonderfully gifted player - and young. But we have such a player in Tarrabt and with Fabio's arrival, one has to assume that Traore is intended to be used as a left sided mid-fielder. We seem to be overloading ourselves with mid-fielders, when to me we need at least one dominant centre-half. Samba or his like would be a superb signing
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Doughnut added 14:25 - Jul 12
One of the best and one of the reasons we're in the Premiership. I wish him all the best and many thanks from an indebted R.
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Antti_Heinola added 14:26 - Jul 12
Myke, do you really think Park is 'technically limited'? Really?
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