433 Jason Kennedy

Position : Midfield

Played : 2009-10 to ?

Appearances : 87

Goals : 4

Jason was signed from Darlington in the summer of 2009. He started his career at Middlesbrough in 2005 and though he only made 4 appearances in the Premiership he had three games in the UEFA Cup run of 2005-06. Seemingly falling out of contention the following season he had 13 games in loan at boston scoring once then 12 games on loan at Bury. It was the same storyy the following season, the receiving clubs being Livingston and then Darlington. His deal covered the play-offs and he scored a superb goal against us in the first leg but failed to convert the crucial penalty in the second. Nevertheless they signed him permanently and he had a great season for them scoring 5 goals in 44 games. However their financial problems forced them to let him join us for nothing Jason pointedly saying he wanted to join a stable club.

Jason got off to a quiet start not making the immediate impact that some were expecting. Even now there are are still some who don't fully appreciate him. The reason for this unfortunately is that he does better when his partner in midfield isn't G Jones Esq. The stats don't lie and when Jonah got injured in mid November and the two Jasons became the midfield pairing we were unbeatable winning seven out of 9 games and going to the top of the table. They were the perfect partnership, Taylor the defensive strongman and Kennedy linking play further forward. Jason isn't particularly fleet of foot but has an excellent football brain knowing what he's going to do with the ball before he receives it. I think we'd have won the title if they'd been allowed to continue together for another month.

Jason's only real weakness was his awful shooting but he partly rectified that last season with some great strikes. That being said it was still a difficult season for him. When we played 4-3-3 at home against not particularly threatening sides he could look a bit redundant halfway between Barry-Murphy and Jonah and there was a post entitled "What does Jason Kennedy actually do ?" on the rivals site which was missing the point.

As the much younger player , Jason will eventually see off Jonah ; let's hope he's got the patience .