Graham Kavanagh

Graham Kavanagh

Personal information
Full name	Graham Anthony Kavanagh
Date of birth	2 December 1973 (1973-12-02)
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Carlisle United (player-coach)
Number	8
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1991	Home Farm
1991–1996	Middlesbrough	35	(3)
1996	→ Stoke City (loan)	3	(1)
1996–2001	Stoke City	202	(33)
2001–2005	Cardiff City	142	(28)
2005–2006	Wigan Athletic	48	(0)
2006–2009	Sunderland	14	(1)
2007	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	7	(1)
2008	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	16	(1)
2008–2009	→ Carlisle United (loan)	14	(3)
2009–	Carlisle United	50	(4)
National team‡
1992–1993	Republic of Ireland U21	5	(0)
1998–2006	Republic of Ireland	16	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:04, 20 February 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:39, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Graham Anthony Kavanagh (born 2 December 1973) is an Irish footballer. He is assistant manager for Carlisle United, having also played for Home Farm, Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and two loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday. He has also played and scored for the Republic of Ireland national football team.

Club career

Kavanagh began his career at Home Farm, before joining Middlesbrough in 1991 but struggled to ever hold down a first team place and was sold to Stoke City in 1996, after a short loan spell at the club, for £250,000. He was eventually to move to Cardiff City in 2001 for £1 million, and went on to score fifteen times in his first season at the club and help them to promotion the following year when they beat Queens Park Rangers in the Division two play-off final. He scored one of Cardiff's goals as they memorably knocked out then Premiership Leeds United in the FA Cup third round in 2002.

During the 2004–05 season Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam revealed that the club was in serious financial trouble and as such a number of players left the club to attempt to regain losses, including Kavanagh who signed for Wigan Athletic for a fee close to £400,000. Whilst at Wigan he started in the 2006 Football League Cup Final. On 31 August 2006, he signed a three-year deal with Roy Keane's Sunderland for £500,000. During that season he played 14 games, scoring one goal against Leeds, before he was ruled out for the majority of games due to lingering injury problems.

He joined Sheffield Wednesday on 21 September 2007 on a loan deal to regain his fitness where he played seven games, scoring one goal against Watford on 2 October. On 29 December, Leicester City made a bid for Kavanagh, together with Márton Fülöp. However, on 31 January 2008 Kavanagh again joined Wednesday on a loan deal until the end of the season.

Kavanagh joined League One side Carlisle United on a month's loan on 10 October 2008. This loan was extended for a further month on 7 November. It was again extended on 18 December and would expire on 3 January 2009. On 9 January, Kavanagh was released by Sunderland and returned to Carlisle on a permanent basis as a player-coach.

International career

Kavanagh has 16 international caps for the Republic of Ireland, the last of which he picked up on 16 August 2006 against the Netherlands.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Middlesbrough	1991–96
	Total	35	3	4	1	1	0	7	0	47	0
Stoke City	1996–97	38	4	1	0	2	0	0	0	41	4
	1997–98	43	5	0	0	5	5	0	0	48	10
	1998–99	36	11	2	0	2	1	2	1	42	13
	1999–2000	45	7	1	0	4	1	9	2	59	10
	2000–01	43	7	2	0	5	0	4	1	54	8
	Total	205	34	6	0	18	7	15	4	244	45
Cardiff City	2001–02	41	13	4	2	1	0	2	0	48	15
	2002–03	43	5	4	1	2	0	3	0	52	5
	2003–04	30	7	1	0	1	0	0	0	32	7
	2004–05	28	3	2	0	1	0	0	0	32	3
	Total	142	28	11	3	5	0	5	0	164	34
Wigan Athletic	2004–05	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	2005–06	35	0	2	0	5	0	0	0	42	0
	2006–07	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total	48	0	2	0	5	0	0	0	55	0
Sunderland	2006–07	14	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	1
	Total	14	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	1
Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	2007–08	23	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	25	2
	Total	23	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	25	2
Carlisle United	2008–09	34	5	3	1	0	0	0	0	36	6
	2009–10	29	2	4	0	1	0	5	3	39	5
	2010–11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Total	64	7	7	1	1	0	5	3	77	11
Career Total		531	75	31	5	31	7	32	7	625	94

Footnotes

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the Football League play-offs, and Football League Trophy.

Personal life

Kavanagh is married to the sister of Liam O'Brien.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

With Stoke City

• Auto Windscreens Shield: 1999–2000

With Cardiff City

• FAW Premier Cup: 2001–02
• Football League One play-off winners: 2002–03

With Wigan Athletic

• Football League Championship runner-up: 2004–05
• Football League Cup runner-up: 2005–06

With Sunderland

• Football League Championship: 2006–07

External links

• Graham Kavanagh career stats at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kevin Nugent	Cardiff City Captain 2001-2005	Succeeded by Darren Purse