Keiren Westwood

Keiren Westwood

Westwood on international duty with the Republic of Ireland in 2012
Personal information
Full name Keiren Westwood[1]
Date of birth (1984-10-23) 23 October 1984[1]
Place of birth Manchester, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Sheffield Wednesday
Number 1
Youth career
000?–2002 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Manchester City 0 (0)
2004 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 0 (0)
2004–2008 Carlisle United 131 (0)
2008–2011 Coventry City 131 (0)
2011–2014 Sunderland 19 (0)
2014– Sheffield Wednesday 89 (0)
National team‡
2009– Republic of Ireland 19 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:37, 16 October 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 2 September 2016

Keiren Westwood (born 23 October 1984) is an English-born Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Championship club Sheffield Wednesday and the Republic of Ireland national team. He was for a time Ireland's first choice keeper, following the international retirement of Shay Given.[3][4]

Club career

Manchester City

Westwood was born in Manchester.[1] After being rejected by Manchester United as a boy,[4] he started his career at Manchester City where he never played a first team game and was released as he was understudy to David James and Nicky Weaver. Weeks before his release he had broken his hand while on loan at Oldham Athletic.[4] He then had unsuccessful trials at Bradford City and Accrington Stanley.[4] After this he contemplated giving up football, to start a new career as a police officer.[4]

Carlisle United

Westwood then joined Carlisle United, becoming the understudy to Matt Glennon. Although he played in most cup games, in March 2005, when Glennon was injured, Westwood played some Conference games for Carlisle before being replaced by the fit-again Glennon.

In the 2005–06 season, Glennon left Carlisle and they signed Anthony Williams as his replacement. It looked like Westwood would be the club's number two goalkeeper again, though he finally got his chance to compete for the number one shirt and he succeeded in taking his chance. He started 35 League Two games in their title season and continued to be the club's number one goalkeeper. At the end of the 2007–08 season in League One, Westwood was named in the PFA Team of the Year and also won all of the club's Player of the Season awards.

Coventry City

On 18 June 2008, Westwood signed a three-year contract with Championship club Coventry City for an undisclosed fee.[5] He was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for 2009 in his debut season at the club. He won the club's player of the year award for the 2009–10 season.[6]

Sunderland

It was confirmed on 22 June 2011 that Westwood would join Sunderland on 1 July on a free transfer. He made his first start for Sunderland on 23 August in the League Cup defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion. His first Premier League appearance came against Aston Villa on 29 October, when he was brought on to replace the injured Simon Mignolet. Westwood later denied former Sunderland striker Darren Bent a goal after the striker was through one on one, with the game level at 1–1.[7] In the following game, away to Manchester United, Westwood made a 'magnificent double save' to deny Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra, but United won 1–0. Despite Sunderland struggling for results, which saw Steve Bruce sacked on 30 November, Westwood remained in good form. However, after missing Sunderland's 1–0 victory over Manchester City on New Year's Day 2012, Westwood found himself second choice to Mignolet for the remainder of the season.

Westwood remained behind Mignolet in the pecking order at the start of the 2012–13 season, with the Belgian playing in Sunderland's first two league games, although Westwood did play in Sunderland's League Cup victories over Morecambe and Milton Keynes Dons before a 1 – 0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the fourth round, a game in which Westwood also played. Following Mignolet's departure to Liverpool at the end of the season, Westwood regained his place as Sunderland's first choice keeper, with competition now coming from Vito Mannone.

At the end of 2013–14 season, he was released by the club.[8]

Sheffield Wednesday

On 7 July 2014, Westwood signed for Championship club Sheffield Wednesday on a two-year deal.[9] where he was given the No.1 jersey for the forthcoming season.

His signing for the club bolstered the Goalkeeping department at Hillsborough, with former England International Chris Kirkland already on the books. As it transpired, Westwood would play all but 2 of Wednesday's league matches during 2014/15, with Kirkland relegated predominantly to Cup matches.

Westwood saved a penalty against Reading on the 20th September, meaning he had conceded only 2 of the 4 penalties he had faced in the 2014/15 season.

Westwood continued his outstanding form throughout his debut season with The Owls, as his 17 clean sheets helped to equal the clubs all-time record. This included fine saves against Norwich City, Blackpool and another penalty saves versus Reading. Westwood was one of The Owls most consistent players in the league that season only missing out during his suspension following his red card against Derby County which the club appealed against but lost the appeal. And for the last 3 games Kirkland played in goal following Westwood's injury in the warm up in a game at Bournemouth where he was due to start.

At the end of the Season, Westwood was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year 2014-15, the first Sheffield Wednesday player to appear in such a team since Nigel Pearson, David Hirst and John Sheridan in 1990-91.

International career

On 17 May 2009, Westwood was called up by the Republic of Ireland to attend their training camp in Portugal[10] after impressing against Leeds United in a League One match. Three days later he played as a second-half substitute in a practice match against Portuguese club Lagos, replacing Joe Murphy after 66 minutes. On 29 May 2009, Westwood made his first appearance for Ireland in a friendly against Nigeria.[10] He played in the friendly match with South Africa in Thomond Park on 8 September 2009.[11] On 26 March 2011, Westwood made his competitive debut in a European Championship qualifier with Macedonia.[11] He made a crucial save in the closing minutes of the match.[4]

Westwood was part of the Ireland squad for UEFA Euro 2012, although he did not feature in any games. Following the retirement from internationals by Shay Given after Euro 2012, Westwood assumed the No.1 position for his country. He later lost this place to David Forde. He made his 15th appearance for Ireland on 2 June 2013, in a 4–0 win over Georgia.

In 2015; following a number of injuries which ruled him out of previous squads, Westwood was recalled to the Starting XI for Ireland's post-season friendly fixture versus England in Dublin, Westwood was replaced in the second half by Shay Given with the scores at 0-0.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 16 October 2016.[12]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[a] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Carlisle United 2004–05 4000003070
2005–06 350101070440
2006–07 460101000480
2007–08 460202020540
Total 131 0 4 0 4 0 12 0 153 0
Coventry City 2008–09 460300000490
2009–10 440200000460
2010–11 410200000430
Total 131 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 138 0
Sunderland 2011–12 90001000100
2012–13 0000300030
2013–14 100001000110
Total 19 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 24 0
Sheffield Wednesday 2014–15 430000000430
2015–16 340000030370
2016–17 120000000120
Total 89 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 92 0
Career Total 3720110901504070
a. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the Football League Trophy, FA Trophy & Football League play-offs

International

As of match played 02 September 2016.[13]
Republic of Ireland national team
YearAppsGoals
200930
201020
201130
201260
201330
201400
201510
201610
Total190

Honours

Carlisle United F.C.
Republic of Ireland

Individual honours

Coventry City F.C.
Carlisle United F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 434. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
  2. ↑ [<http://www.safc.com/players-and-staff/first-team/keiren-westwood> "Sunderland official site profile"] Check |url= value (help). Sunderland A.F.C.
  3. ↑ Mellor, Jason (15 May 2008). "Ireland hopeful Westwood focused on Wembley". The Times. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Young, Colin (28 March 2011). "The saviour! He nearly became a policeman but now Westwood is Ireland's goalkeeping hero". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Westwood signs for City". Coventry City F.C. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
  6. ↑ "Westwood wins Player of the Season Award". Coventry Telegraph. 4 May 2010.
  7. ↑ Hunter, James (30 October 2011). "Keiren deserves credit for denying Bent". Sunday Sun. Newcastle upon Tyne. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "Premier League clubs submit retained and released lists". Premier League. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Sheffield Wednesday sign Keiren Westwood". Sheffield Wednesday (swfc.co.uk). Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Keiren Westwood to make debut against Nigeria". Football Association of Ireland. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  11. 1 2 Hannigan, Mary (26 March 2011). "Goalkeeping coach Kelly confident Ireland in safe hands with Westwood". The Irish Times. Dublin. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  12. ↑ "KierenWestwood". Soccerbase. Racing Post. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  13. ↑ "Westwood, Kieren". National Football Teams. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
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