Dean Kiely

Born in Salford, Lancashire, Kiely trained with the West Bromwich Albion youth system as a schoolboy before being accepted into the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall. After Albion he progressed through the Coventry City youth system as a trainee before signing a professional contract on 30 October 1987. He went to Ipswich Town on loan in November 1989 but failed to make any league appearances. Kiely joined York City on loan on 9 March 1990 before joining permanently in May, when he was given his first chance at regular first-team football. He made 210 league appearances for them between 1990 and 1996, and played in their 3–0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the League Cup. Following a trial with Plymouth Argyle, Kiely signed for Bury on 15 August 1996 for a tribunal-decided fee of £125,000. He spent three seasons at Bury, making 137 league appearances in the process. He was instrumental in Bury winning the Second Division title in the 1996–97 season, most notably with an 88th-minute penalty save in the penultimate game of the season from Watford's Tommy Mooney. Bury requiring a point to guarantee a second automatic promotion in as many seasons had Kiely to thank after he kept the scoreline at 0–0 in a memorable day at Vicarage Road. Kiely moved to Charlton Athletic for a fee of £1 million on 26 May 1999 and made his debut on 7 August against Barnsley. He was Charlton's regular keeper from 1999 to 2005, and was popular with the club's fans as well as having a…

Kiely played for England at under-15 (13 caps), under-16 (13 caps) and under-18 (four caps in 1988) levels. He made one appearance for Republic of Ireland B, starting in a 4–3 win over League of Ireland XI on 9 February 1999, in which he was substituted for Nick Colgan. He went on to represent the Republic of Ireland at full international level, earning his first cap as a substitute in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying play-off against Turkey in November 1999. He retired from international football in February 2003, but in April 2008 Ireland's assistant manager Liam Brady suggested that Kiely could make a return to the squad. The rumours were then confirmed when he returned to the Ireland squad in Giovanni Trapattoni's first squad as manager in May 2008. He won his first cap in five years when he appeared in the Republic's 1–1 draw with Serbia that month, playing the full 90 minutes. On 28 May 2009, he walked out of the Ireland squad after Trapattoni informed him that he would be replacing Shay Given with Keiren Westwood for the second half of the friendly International against Nigeria at Craven Cottage on 29 May. He was capped 11 times by the Republic of Ireland, last appearing in 2008.

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International

Away from football, Kiely made a guest appearance on Bravo's Saved by the Ball lifestyle makeover programme in 2006, and has also worked as a match summariser for BBC Radio 5 Live. He plays golf and is interested in horse racing, and is friends with WBA fan & ITV presenter Adrian Chiles. Kiely married Tracey in Las Vegas in May 1999. The couple have three children; Millie, Chris and Mason. Chris is a former professional goalkeeper.