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Mark Kennedy doesn't have fond memories of Joe Kinnear

From 1995 to 1998, Mark Kennedy spent a short-lived spell at Liverpool. Having spoken to Kevin Ki...



Mark Kennedy doesn't have...
Soccer

Mark Kennedy doesn't have fond memories of Joe Kinnear

From 1995 to 1998, Mark Kennedy spent a short-lived spell at Liverpool.

Having spoken to Kevin Kilbane about the abrupt ending to his Ireland career during their in depth chat, the ex-Boys in Green international also discussed other aspects of his career including his time at Anfield during the years when the team was associated with the Spice Boys tag.

He was candid about why things didn't work out for him at Liverpool in those three years after arriving as the then-most expensive teenager in British football history.

"I didn't play, I couldn't get into the team for various different reasons. I'm quite open [about it]. I was living my life completely wrong," he said, also referencing injury problems that flared up in his first two pre-seasons.

"I had an amazing time. I just basically partied for three years and I'm quite open about that. I had a magnificent experience about six years later [when] I was at Wolves and I used to go and see Muller Wolfhart, the Munich and Germany national doctor - and one day I'd been to see him six or seven times - and one day he sent me down the training ground to get a massage."

At the impressive spa facility, some German and Bayern Munich players of the era were there and seeing the surroundings, it hit home with Kennedy what he had at a big club like Liverpool. 

"The reason I'm telling you this, on the plane home - so now I've left Liverpool about five years - then suddenly it hit me that 'You had all that and you've lost it,'" he told Kevin, although he added that he doesn't have major regrets but does use his own experiences to pass on advice to the next generation in his current role as an academy coach at Manchester City.

In 1998, Kennedy left Liverpool for Wimbledon when Joe Kinnear was in charge. He lasted a season and spoke of the regrets of moving to the club.

"I made the biggest mistake of my life going to Wimbledon because, if I'm being honest, I've got no respect for the manager," said the Dubliner.

"It was Joe Kinnear. I didn't like him. He didn't like me. I've got no time for him."

Kennedy expanded on why he does not look back fondly on his time with the ex-Wimbledon boss. 

"Turn up on the Thursday, pick the team on the Saturday, I'd go in and see him [and ask] 'Why am I not in the team?'

"[He'd say], 'Well, I speak to my coaches'. I'd say, 'I'm not interested in your coaches. I want to know why I'm not in your team. You're the manager'.

"I remember going into see him one day and saying 'Gaffer, I've got to go'. So basically after about three months, I went to see him and said, 'I've made a mistake, you've made a mistake, let's cut this short'. And then thankfully, ironically, Man City came in for me."

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