Kevin Keen

He scored the winning goal in the first Potteries derby at the new stadium but it was a terrible season for Stoke as they finished in 23rd position and were relegated to Division Two.

Kevin Ian Keen (born 25 February 1967) is an English football coach and former player.

Keen is currently the coach of West Ham United under-18 team.

He attended the John Hampden Grammar School, High Wycombe and was a member of the High Wycombe U15 team that won the English Schools Trophy in 1981 and won several England schoolboy caps.

A year later, Keen became the youngest ever player to appear in a first-team game for Isthmian League side Wycombe Wanderers, making his debut at 15 years and 209 days, in September 1982.

He played three games for Wycombe before joining West Ham United as a 16-year-old apprentice.

Keen began his career with Wycombe Wanderers before joining West Ham United in 1983.

He spent seven seasons with the "Hammers" twice gaining promotion and twice suffering relegation.

Keen joined West Ham as an apprentice in 1983 and signed professional forms a year later in March 1984.

He helped the reserve side to win the Combination League and won 15 England Youth caps.

He made his debut as a substitute for Geoff Pike in a 5–2 home defeat against Liverpool in September 1986.

He made 17 league and cup appearances in the 1986–87 as West Ham finished 15th in the First Division table.

This season saw his first West Ham goal, in a 4–1 home win against Leyton Orient Orient in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on 31 January 1987.

He made another 25 appearances in the 1987–88 season and 33 appearances in the 1988–89 season as West Ham reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and were relegated to the Second Division.

A change of West Ham manager from Lou Macari to Billy Bonds saw him become almost ever present in the 1989–90 season, making 57 league and cup appearances and scoring 13 goals, as West Ham finished seventh in the table and again reach the semi-finals of the League Cup.

He made 51 appearances in the 1990–91 season helping West Ham to promotion to the First Division and to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and 39 appearances in 1991–92 as West Ham were relegated once more.

The 1992–93 season saw his best form as he played in every league and cup game, making 56 appearances, as West Ham were promoted.

He left for Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1993 before joining Stoke City in October 1994.

His final game for West Ham was the 2–0 home win over Cambridge United in May 1993 that clinched promotion to the newly created Premiership.

He was runner-up in the Hammer of the Year award for 1993.

Due for a contract renewal, a poor offer by West Ham and manager Bonds after what Keen considered to be a good season for him at West Ham, saw him drop down a division and join Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Keen joined Wolves for a fee of £600,000 in July 1993, where he made 50 appearances in the 1993–94 season, scoring nine goals, and helping Wolves to seventh place in the table.

A year later, he was on the move again and joined up with former West Ham manager, Lou Macari, at Stoke City.

Keen joined Stoke City in October 1994 for a fee of £300,000.

He marked his arrival at Stoke by scoring against his old club Wolves in his second match for the club.

He helped Stoke reach the play-offs in 1995–96 losing out to Leicester City.

He formed a decent midfielder partnership with Ray Wallace as Stoke made a push for promotion to the Premier League in 1995–96 season.

Unfortunately for Keen he picked up an injury against Luton Town in April 1996 and he missed the rest of the season.

Stoke made the end of season play-offs and lost out 1–0 to Leicester City.

He struggled for starts in 1996–97 as he recovered from his injury but was a regular in 1997–98 in what was Stoke's first season at the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke then made the move to the Britannia Stadium but were relegated to Division Two in 1998.

He played in 49 of the club's 52 fixtures in 1998–99 as Stoke failed to mount a consistent promotion challenge under Brian Little.

He spent two more seasons at Stoke helping the club again reach the play-offs and win the Football League Trophy in 2000.

He then spent two seasons with Macclesfield Town during which time he had a spell as caretaker manager.

After three spells as caretaker manager at West Ham, Keen left the club in July 2011 to take up the role of first team coach at Liverpool, where he would be reunited with old West Ham colleague Steve Clarke.

He remained in this post until June 2012 leaving on the appointment of new manager Brendan Rodgers.

In July 2012 he was again reunited with Clarke when he was appointed joint assistant head coach at West Bromwich Albion, and his next job was assistant manager at Reading.

He managed League One club Colchester United between December 2015 and April 2016, but left the club after failing to avoid relegation to League Two.

He joined Crystal Palace's coaching staff in July 2016.

Keen is the son of former professional footballer Mike Keen who played in midfield for Luton Town, Watford and Queens Park Rangers.