In the third of this series where we feature current Rammy players, we are delighted to have the chance to ‘get to know’ the club captain Tom Kennedy.

Tom, who must be one of a rare breed to have played for big local rivals Bury (145 games) and Rochdale (178 games) in his professional career, he can also count Leicester City, Barnsley, Peterborough United and Blackpool on his list of clubs that he played a total of 432 professional games for from 2002 to 2015. He then signed for AFC Fylde – winning the National League North in 2016/17 – and closed his pro days with Bangor City in 2018. He then joined the Rams…. and we love having him with us!

Little known facts about Tom – he is the son of Keith Kennedy, who played 405 games for Bury from 1972 to 1982 although Tom scored more goals – five to his dad’s four… something he predicted he would!! And he is also the nephew of Liverpool’s two-time European Cup and five time English League winning defender Alan Kennedy.

Let’s get to know Tom and his three seasons thus far with the Rams.

Name: Tom Kennedy
Appearances: 93 (2 as sub)*
Goals: 13*
Yellow cards: 7*
Red cards: 0
Seasons: 3 – 2018/19 to date*

How did you come to join Ramsbottom United?
Once I retired from football as my main job, I was thinking of retiring for good and announced it on Twitter. John Blackley (a very old friend and a great lad) tagged Rammy in a tweet saying surely Ramsbottom United would be interested in signing me and not long after, Mark Fell got in contact with me and I thought to myself, If I’m going to finish it might as well be at my local club and, if I’m honest, I didn’t expect I’d enjoy it and how wrong I was.

Rammy highlight?
You know what, it’s hard to pick one moment! It’s just been a great two and a half seasons, it’s re-ignited my love for football after losing it in my last few years of playing pro. Lads that graft on the pitch, take the rip out of each other, laugh and joke then have a beer or ten after the game reminds me of football when I first turned pro at Bury 18 years ago. Rammy is great club with great people running it and fans that live and breathe it.

Favourite game?
Best game was AFC Fylde at home 5-5. The game that had everything. Was end to end football on a mud bath of a pitch against a very good side.

Rammy lowlight?
Lowlight would be last season when it has to be ended due to the Covid pandemic. We gave ourselves a great chance of promotion and was sad for the club as a whole not be able to finish what we started.

Best player you played with?
Best players I’ve played with at Rammy? Striker – Lee Gaskell (the silver fox) – was gutted when he left, but we’ve been friends since we were kids and would have loved to play with him for longer as over the past few years he would have scored 30 goals a season in our team. Midfielders – Richie Baker – played together at Bury and AFC Fylde, always been a great friend and player, just carried a bit of excess timber at times. He’s slower than a week in jail!! Jay Rother – loves a beer, great lad, terrible footballer (only joking) wears his heart on his sleeve and does enough tackling for me and him, so saves me having to do any!! Defender – Luke Thompson – can’t kick it straight and has a first touch like Ted Bundy, but a gladiator on the pitch who will head and kick anything that moves and wants to win every game.

Player to avoid on the pitch?
That would have to be Sefton. He’s a giant and last thing you want is him stepping on your feet with his size 11s!

Funniest moments?
Too many funny moments over the past few years. I’ve met some great characters and friends/drinking partners for life.

* Stats as of 15th November 2020

Thanks to Frank Crook for the photo.