Keith Southern

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Keith Southern
Personal information
Full name	Keith William Southern
Date of birth	24 April 1981 (1981-04-24) (age 28)
Place of birth	Gateshead, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Blackpool
Number	4
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2002 2002 2002–	Everton → Blackpool (loan) Blackpool	000 0(0) 016 0(1) 223 (21)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:22, 3 May 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Keith William Southern (born 24 April 1981 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear) is an English professional footballer who plays for Blackpool. He is a central midfielder and is the second-longest-serving player currently at Bloomfield Road. He is known by the nickname Gnashers.^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Honours 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

Southern started his career at Everton where in the 2001-02 season he captained the club's reserve team. After playing in the Toffees pre-season friendlies against Wrexham and Shrewsbury Town, on 6 August 2002 he was signed by then Blackpool manager Steve McMahon, initially on loan for one month at the start of the 2002–03 season.^[2][3] He made his league debut four days later in a 2-0 defeat to Bristol City at Ashton Gate.^[4][5] He scored his first goal on 7 September in a 3-0 victory over Tranmere Rovers at Bloomfield Road.^[6][7]

He made a total of sixteen appearances during a three month loan spell. Then in early November, Blackpool tried to sign him on a season-long loan deal, however, Everton blocked the move, preferring it to be made permanent.^[8] On 8 November Southern signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the Seasiders for an undisclosed fee.^[9] On 22 March 2003 he was injured five minutes into a 2-2 draw with Stockport County at Edgeley Park and missed the rest of the season.^[10] He had an operation on his right knee in April,^[11] then on 1 May he was named the Blackpool Gazette Player of the Year, jointly with Martin Bullock.^[12]

He returned to action on 13 September in a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth.^[13] On 9 December in a Football League Trophy match against Stockport County, Southern collapsed midway through the second half and he needed keyhole surgery on his knee later that month which revealed he had a slight tear in the medial cartiledge, which was removed.^[14] He returned to action on 31 January 2004 as a 68th minute substitute in a 2-2 draw with Swindon Town at Bloomfield Road.^[15] When Blackpool won the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 21 March, Southern was surprisngly left out of the squad by Steve McMahon who chose his son, Stephen ahead of him.^[16] Then, in an interview on the club's official website, following McMahon's departure as manager in May, Southern said, "I have been totally out of favour ever since my gran's funeral before the cup final, he totally didn't want to know me really and he didn't want to play me. He must have his reasons, but I was as bewildered as everybody else. I didn't lose much sleep when I found out he was going, I was delighted to be honest, it is a frseh start for me in the summer."^[17] Later that year he needed another operation on his knee after going down in the warm up before a pre-season friendly against Ballymena United in Northern Ireland in July.^[18] He returned to action on 2 November in a 6-3 win over Huddersfield Town in the Football League Trophy.^[19]

After scoring seven goals in the 2004–05 season, including both goals in a 2-1 win over Brentford on 22 March,^[20] in April 2005 Southern signed a two year extension to his contract with the Seasiders.^[21]

On 21 April 2007, Southern scored an 85th minute winning goal as Blackpool beat Cheltenham Town 2-1 to guarantee the club a play-off position in League One in the 2006–07 season. ^[22][23] On 28 April he was named the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Player of the Year for League One in an online poll voted for by supporters.^[24]

He also scored in the second leg of the Play-Offs semi-final as Blackpool beat Oldham Athletic 3-1 at Bloomfield Road on 19 May.^[25] He played in the Play-Off final at Wembley as Blackpool beat Yeovil Town 2-0 to secure promotion to the Championship.

Southern scored Blackpool's winning goal on 11 August 2007 in their first match back in the second tier of English football for 29 years as they beat Leicester City 1-0 at the Walkers Stadium on the opening day of the2007–08 season.^[26] On 1 December Southern suffered ankle ligament damage in a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Bloomfield Road, and had an operation later in the month.^[27]

He was out for two months, returning on 12 February 2008 in a 0-0 home draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.^[28]

Southern signed a new two-year contract with Blackpool on 6 April 2009.^[29]

[edit] Honours

Blackpool

• League One play-off final winner: 2006-07

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Keith Southern profile at blackpoolfc.co.uk
• Keith Southern career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at PlayerHistory.com

v • d • e Blackpool F.C. – current squad 1 Rachubka · 2 Coid · 3 Crainey · 4 Southern · 5 Barker · 6 Evatt · 7 Clarke · 8 McPhee · 9 Burgess · 10 Ormerod · 11 Vaughan · 12 Taylor-Fletcher · 13 Halstead · 14 Martin · 15 Baptiste · 17 Mitchley · 21 Gilks · 22 Eastham · 23 Nardiello · 24 Edwards · Manager: Holloway