Keith Russell (footballer)

Keith Russell (born 31 January 1974) is an English footballer who plays for Midland Football Combination Premier Division side Pelsall Villa, where he plays as a midfielder.

He played for Blackpool in the Football League in 1997.^[1]

Keith Russell made his professional debut for Chesterfield FC at the age of 17. He then moved to Walsall FC under Kenny Hibbit where he had a successful FA youth campaign reaching the quarter finals, losing out to the famous "class of 92" with such names as David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. Russell then left to join Tamworth F.C with former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Sammy Chung in 1993. After a spell of just 25 games Atherstone FC tempted Russell away from the Lamb. He made 42 appearances for Atherstone scoring 19 goals; his pace and goals were recognised and it was not long before clubs at a bigger stage showed interest. In August 1996 Hednesford Town from the Vauxhall Conference signed Russell for £15,000. He made his debut at Southport and suffered a broken nose but continued to play and help secure a 1-0 win for the Pitmen. Russell then made all the headlines helping Hednesford have a successful F.A Cup run beating 2 conference teams and 2 football league teams, in which Keith scored the all important famous goal to set up a fourth round tie with Brian Robson's Premier League team Middlesbrough. They lost 3-2 and were only three minutes away from one of the biggest shocks in F.A Cup history until Ravenelli got the goal in the 87th minute to win. Six thousand fans were at the Riverside, a record which is still held today for an away support at Middlesbrough. Russell then had several professional clubs wanting his signature, but in January 1997 he chose Blackpool F.C the same team managed by Gary Megson who they had recently knocked out the F.A Cup in the 1st round. It was a record £75,000 to get the 23 year old's signature who was described by Megson as their next million-pound signing. After just three months in charge Megson left the club and went to Stockport County but the owner Owen Oysten would allow no players to leave the club to be signed by him. Russell suffered a major blow in November 1998 whilst out on loan to Altringham F.C in which ended his professional career: he was knocked down by a drunk driver and damaged a disc. Russell underwent surgery and had several epidurals and quarter zone injections into his spine, but doctors told him that he could not continue to play football. Russell left and signed for Altringham F.C for a record fee of £25,000. Despite his injury, Russell averaged a goal a game and helped Altringham to get back into the Vauxhall Conference, scoring both goals against Bamber Bridge to secure their first two trophies in more five years. Eventually KRussell's injury made it too hard to travel and train and in 1999 the manager Mark Ward allowed Russell to part company. In 1999 he returned home from living in Blackpool to have his last season in top flight football under previous manager John Baldwin. Since then Russell has helped progress in his coaching but the strain and stress forced him to leave football altogether. Keith Russell lives in Staffordshire, has two children and owns two transport companies.

References

External links

• Keith Russell career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• Keith Russell profile at altrinchamfc.co.uk