Kevin McNaughton

Kevin McNaughton

McNaughton while at Cardiff City
Personal information
Full name	Kevin McNaughton
Date of birth	28 August 1982 (1982-08-28)
Place of birth	Dundee, Scotland
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Cardiff City
Number	2
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2006	Aberdeen	176	(3)
2006–	Cardiff City	209	(1)
National team‡
2004–	Scotland B	2	(0)
2002–	Scotland	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 February 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 November 2009

Kevin McNaughton (born 28 August 1982) is a Scottish footballer who plays for Cardiff City as a defender. Nicknamed 'The Silver Fox' by teammates due to his grey hair, McNaughton is a versatile player who can play anywhere in defence and can also play in more defensive minded midfield roles.

Club career

Aberdeen

Beginning his career in the Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen after coming through the clubs youth programme, McNaughton was thrust into the first team at 18, making his debut on 5 October in a 2–1 win over St. Mirren, and became a regular for the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons in a team containing lots of young players brought through the youth system like Darren Mackie, Russell Anderson and Darren Young. A knee injury sustained in 2002 kept him out for 12 weeks and on his return McNaughton struggled to return to form. It wasn't until new Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood arrived, that he managed to recover his previous form.

During the 2005–06 season, McNaughton was linked with moves to Celtic and Fulham, but nothing came of either and he remained at Pittodrie.

Cardiff City

On 26 May 2006, it was announced that he would be joining Football League Championship side Cardiff City on a free transfer. McNaughton quickly became an important part of manager Dave Jones's plans as he played in the left full-back position, and his form once again earned him a recall to the Scottish national team, although injury robbed him of the chance to take his place in the squad. During his second season at Cardiff, having switched to right-back, McNaughton played in all 6 matches of the clubs run to the 2008 FA Cup Final, including scoring his first goal for the club on 27 January 2008 with a 20-yard volley in a 2–1 victory over Hereford United in the fourth round. His first league goal came just a few months later when he scored on the final day of the season against Barnsley in a 3–0 win.

The start of the 2008–09 season saw McNaughton his 100th appearance for the club when he played against Watford on 21 October.

During a pre-season friendly against Celtic on 22 July 2009 he suffered an ankle injury which kept him out for the opening two months of the season. After appearing for the club's reserve side, he returned to the first team on 17 October 2009 as an unused substitute during a 1–1 draw with Crystal Palace but suffered a recurrence of the injury kept him out until 17 November 2009 when he played 45 minutes of a reserve team game against Hereford United. He returned to the line-up on 21 November 2009 against Barnsley, but was taken off in the 21st minute for Paul Quinn with a back injury. On 23 November McNaughton was sent to have a scan on the back injury, which the club's medical staff believed to have caused the problem and resulted in him being out for two weeks. On 5 December 2009 McNaughton played his first 90 minutes of the season in a 1–0 win over Preston North End. The next season his injury worries ceded and he has played in every league up to and including the game against Barnsley. McNaughton was Cardiff's most consistent defender throughout the 2010-11 season, and won the Player of the Year award.

On May 2, 2011, McNaughton was involved in an incident where he collided with assistant referee Sian Massey. He was later cleared when the FA ruled the incident an accident. Also McNaughton had captained the side for the first time in their 3-0 loss to Reading in their play-off second leg, on 17 May.

McNaughton was named as captain during club captain, Mark Hudson's absence starting on 22 November against Coventry City, he went onto make four appearances as captain, in which he made his 200th league appearance for Cardiff in a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on 26 November 2011. He also played a part in the club's League Cup run to their first ever final, which they lost 3-2 on penalties to Liverpool.

International career

McNaughton's first call-up for the Scotland squad came in 2002 when he was told by manager Berti Vogts that, at the age of 19, he would earn his first cap in a match against France. However before the match Vogts told the media in a press conference that McNaughton would not be playing as Vogts deemed he was too nervous, despite not telling McNaughton himself. Instead his first cap came against Nigeria in Scotland's next match.

In his second appearance he was hauled off at half-time in a friendly against Denmark. In 2007 McNaughton claimed that Vogts had set his career back by two years with his actions during that time. His move to Cardiff reignited his international career, winning his fourth cap in a match against Czech Republic in May 2008 and being called-up several times.

Club stats

As of 27 February 2012

Club Performance

Club	Season	League		National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Aberdeen	2000–01	33	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	38	0
	2001–02	34	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	39	0
	2002–03	22	1	1	0	0	0	3	0	26	1
	2003–04	17	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	20	0
	2004–05	35	2	3	0	2	0	0	0	40	2
	2005–06	34	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	38	0
	Subtotal	175	3	13	0	7	0	5	0	201	3
Cardiff City	2006–07	42	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	44	0
	2007–08	35	1	6	1	2	0	0	0	43	2
	2008–09	39	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	44	0
	2009–10	21	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	26	0
	2010–11	44	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	47	0
	2011-12	28	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	33	0
	Subtotal	209	1	14	1	9	0	5	0	237	2
Total		384	4	27	1	16	0	8	0	438	5

Honours

Club

Cardiff City

• FA Cup Runner-up (1): 2007–08
• Football League Championship play-offs Runner-up (1): 2010
• Football League Cup Runner-up (1): 2011–12

Individual

• Cardiff City Player of the Year (1): 2010-11

External links

• Official Cardiff City website profile
• Kevin McNaughton Controversy
• Kevin McNaughton career stats at Soccerbase