Kevin Drinkell

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Kevin Drinkell
Personal information
Full name Kevin Smith Drinkell[1]
Date of birth (1960-06-18) 18 June 1960 (age 63)[1]
Place of birth Grimsby,[1] England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s)
Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1984 Grimsby Town 272 (89)
1985–1988 Norwich City 121 (50)
1988–1989 Rangers 36 (12)
1989–1991 Coventry City 41 (5)
1991 → Birmingham City (loan) 5 (2)
1992–1994 Falkirk 55 (13)
1994–1995 Stirling Albion 21 (3)
Total 551 (174)
Managerial career
1994–1998 Stirling Albion
1998–2000 Montrose
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kevin Smith Drinkell (born 18 June 1960) is an English former professional

centre forward
, noted for his aerial ability and the number of headed goals he scored as a result.

Career

Drinkell began his career with hometown club

Ken Brown signed him for a fee of £90,000. Norwich were rebuilding their squad after relegation from the first division and had looked set to sign striker Trevor Senior from Reading
, however when he opted to stay with the Royals they turned their attention to Drinkell. The fee was set by a Football League tribunal and the figure angered Grimsby, who considered his value to be much higher.

Drinkell quickly proved that Norwich had indeed got a bargain. In his first season at

Heysel disaster
in May 1985.

It won him the Golden Boot for being the division's top scorer as well as the first of two consecutive

1987–88, though the Canaries finished in the bottom half of the table this time – a decline in form which had seen Brown dismissed as manager in favour of coach Dave Stringer
in December 1987.

In total, Drinkell scored 57 goals in 150 games for the Canaries.

In 1987, Drinkell rejected the chance of a move to Manchester United, just after the appointment of Alex Ferguson as their manager.[3]

Drinkell's exploits earned him a £600,000 move to

1989–90 season
and played just four more games for Rangers before his return to England in October 1989 when he signed for Coventry City in a deal worth around £800,000.

Despite scoring on his debut against his hometown team, Grimsby, in the

1990–91 season,[4] and after a short loan spell with Birmingham City in the autumn of 1991 he began his coaching career in Scotland with Falkirk. He coached and managed Stirling Albion, gaining promotion to the First Division as Second Division champions in 1996, before becoming Montrose
manager in 1998.

In 2002, Norwich City fans voted Drinkell an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

As of 2012, Drinkell was working as a football player agent.[5] He had a brief spell as assistant manager of Second Division club East Fife in 2013.[6]

Since 2014 he has been working as a Mercedes-Benz Sales Executive in Perth for Arnold Clark Mercedes.

Honours

Grimsby Town

Norwich City

Rangers

  • Scottish Premier League Championship 1988–89
  • Scottish League Cup 1988–89

Falkirk

  • Division One Championship Winner (promoted 1994) 1993/94
  • 1993–94[7]

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c "Kevin Drinkell". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-84502-327-0. Archived from the original
    on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Football photographic encyclopedia, footballer, world cup, champions league, football championship, olympic games & hero images by sporting-heroes.net".
  5. ^ "Tribunal to judge Fenlon gesture". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Drinkell leaves East Fife". Scottish Professional Football League. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  7. ^ McKinney, David (13 December 1993). "Football: Falkirk find their fire". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
Sources
  • Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001),
    ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Drinkell&oldid=1218338119"