Keith Andrews (footballer)

Keith Andrews

Personal information
Full name	Keith Joseph Andrews
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Blackburn Rovers
Number	17
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:37, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Keith Joseph Andrews (born 13 September 1980 in Dublin, County Dublin) is an Irish professional footballer currently playing for Blackburn Rovers.

Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Andrews began his career as a trainee at Wolves, progressing from their academy to the first team. He made his senior debut on 18 March 2000 in a 2-1 win at Swindon. He continued his progress with the First Division club in the 2000/01 season, becoming a regular player as Dave Jones took over midway through. The final match of that season saw him become their youngest captain for over a hundred years, at 21 years old, in a game against QPR.

He signed a new four deal deal the following season but found himself out of the starting line-up after several new midfielders were acquired in the summer, resigning him to the substitutes bench and sporadic appearances over the next few seasons. To gain playing time, he spent half of the 2003/04 season on loan at Stoke City and the latter half at Walsall. He did however return to Molineux in between to make his only Premier League appearance (against Newcastle United).

The midfielder returned to Wolves team post-relegation in 2004–05 and gained his most appearances for the club during that season. However, he moved on at the end of his contract to join Hull City. In total, he made 72 appearances for the Midlanders, scoring once (in a League Cup tie at Rochdale).

Hull City

His new start with the Tigers saw him sidelined again though, as he picked up an injury in only his second appearance for the team - in a match against his previous team, Wolves. He returned to the team in December after nearly four months out and featured in all but one of their remaining fixtures in what proved to be his only season for the club.

Milton Keynes Dons

After a single year at Hull, he moved to Milton Keynes Dons of League Two for the 2006-07 campaign where he became club captain. He lost out on promotion in the play-offs, despite scoring in the semi-final tie with Shrewsbury Town.

However, the next year, now under the managerialship of his former Wolves team-mate Paul Ince, brought Andrews success. He scored the winning goal in a match at Stockport County on 19 April 2008 that saw the club promoted to League One, and also scored the opening goal of their 2-0 victory over Grimsby Town in the Football League Trophy at Wembley. The season ended with him being voted into PFA Team of the Year and having already won the League Two Player of the Year Award at the Football League Awards.

LEGEND

International career

Andrews made his full international debut for Republic of Ireland on 19 November, 2008, coming on as a second half substitute and scoring a goal as part of a 2–3 home defeat in a friendly match against Poland.

Honours

Club

Milton Keynes Dons

• Football League Trophy: 2008
• Football League Two (Level 4) Champions: 2008

Individual

• PFA League Two Team of the Year: 2008
• League Two Player of the Year Award: 2008

External links

• Keith Andrews at Soccerbase