Kewell: Harold (Harry)

1995-2003 (Player Details)

Left Wing/Striker

Born: Smithfield, Sydney, Australia: 22-09-1978

Debut: v Middlesbrough (h): 30-03-1996

5’11” 12st 4lb (2003)

#20 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

A product of the Australian Institute of Sport from August 1994 to December 1995 he and Brett Emerton came to Leeds for trials. Due to visa restrictions, Kewell stayed and Emerton returned to Australia to get more experience. As a seventeen-year-old Kewell started the 1995-96 season as a trainee professional in the Northern Intermediate League and finished it as a full International. He made his senior debut against Middlesbrough, the week after United’s Coca-Cola Cup Final defeat at Wembley, when he appeared on the left hand side of midfield. He made a fine debut and played eighty minutes before being replaced by Rod Wallace.He was at left-back for the next game at home to Southampton but was replaced just after half-time by Brian Deane. Three weeks after his debut he was lining up for the full Australian team in Chile. Raised in the suburb of Smithfield located in Sydney's south west, Kewell received his early schooling at Smithfield Public School and secondary schooling at St John’s Park High School before transferring to the newly instituted Westfields Sports High School on a footballing scholarship. Locally, Harry played for the Marconi Soccer Club from Under-Thirteen's through to Under-Fifteen's where many of his team play skills were developed. He was coached by Stephen Treloar who later took the team on a playing tour of England and Italy when Harry was just fourteen. This was Kewell's initial first-hand experience of English football and indeed the first time he had been out of Australia. His deep seated passion for success was further fuelled by his 'first international tour' experience. The Marconi team played against a number of apprenticeship sides including Chelsea and Nottingham Forest and succeeded in winning all their matches. The highlight of the tour was playing the junior side of AC Milan in Milan. During his time at Westfields Sports High School he was a member of many teams both at club and representative level including the New South Wales Academy of Sport under the guidance of the then football director David Lee. Over the years a dedicated David Lee had assisted a number of young Australian players, especially with their individual ball skills. David's experience touched the lives of many notable Australian players including: Brett Emerton, Jason Culina, Michael Beauchamp and many more. At the tender age of fifteen, an already football-wise Kewell was offered the opportunity to travel to England and trial with English Premiership football club Leeds United. This opportunity was possible as the result of the 'Big Brother Programme' first developed at Westfields Sports High School to reward the most outstanding players. Kewell was successful during the four week trial and was offered a contract by Leeds, possible due to his father's English heritage which would help overcome the strict visa requirements. Playing mostly in a left midfield role and in attack, Kewell became one of Leeds' young stars in a troop of highly promising youngsters, including Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Stephen McPhail, Alan Maybury and Matthew Jones, who formed the neucleus of the Leeds FA Youth Cup winning team of 1996-97, who all became International stars. He became a fixture in the Leeds team under George Graham, on the left side of midfield, occasionally slotting in as a winger and playing alongside Rod Wallace up front. For most of the 1997-98 season, Harry tended to play up front in a twosome/threesome with Wallace and Hasselbaink and proved more than a handful for the opposition defences. He looked a little jaded at the start of the 1998-99 season, but his performances from December onwards were considerably improved, and he started to take more of a central attacking role, popping up with some useful goals and coming third in the PFA Young Footballer of the Year poll. He became recognised as one of the best players in the Premier League. Persistent rumours of his departure to Italy followed him for some time, but he committed to Leeds up to the end of his contract. The one cloud on the horizon was the poor relationship that developed between Harry, the club and Soccer Australia over his international appearances, particularly over second-tier tournaments like the Olympics and several meaningless friendlies at a time when Leeds were short of fit players. The relationship between Leeds and Australia improved, but that didn't stop there being a few more ructions as Australia lost out in the play-off for the last World Cup place. In 2001-02, he had a good start to the season, but again proved susceptible to injury. He scored a couple of great goals at Blackburn, but had a lengthy lay-off over the New Year with a mystery back complaint. He took some time to get back to full fitness, and even then felt he had cause for complaint when he went public saying that he'd been fit for a couple of weeks but that David O'Leary refused to play him. Kewell made it known that he felt he was more of a forward than a winger, and with the arrival of El Tel at Leeds, he was given the chance to indulge his ambitions in that area. After a fairly average start in that position, he finally regained some of the edge and confidence he had been remembered for, from when he first joined the club, and scored a couple of great individual goals as well as making a few for others. He eventually formed a striking partnership with fellow Australian Mark Viduka. The high point of this period was when they helped Leeds to the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League in 2000-01. However, the club began to suffer financial difficulties and, by 2002-03, having sold many of their best players, Kewell and Viduka's efforts in front of goal merely prevented Leeds' slide from being relegated from the Premiership. His contract was due to expire at the end of the 2003/04 season and although his agent indicated he'd like to sign an extension, the terms that the agent insisted on for the extension were never going to be agreed by the Leeds board. After much acrimonious press coverage, a cut-price deal took him to Anfield with his agent pocketing a fortune and Leeds receiving barely £3 million for one of the biggest talents in the game. Kewell moved to Liverpool for the start of the 2003-04 season, reportedly snubbing an offer from Manchester United. Kewell had been offered higher wages and Champions league football from some of Europe's biggest clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United as well as AC Milan, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid but eventually chose Liverpool, the club he followed as a boy. Kewell went on record saying he wanted to be viewed as one of the greatest players in the world, but opted for a safe and comfortable role at a club that is clearly not at the top tier of European football, and questions remain over his application and ambition. On 25th May 2005, Kewell became the only Australian-born player to win the UEFA Champions League, playing in Liverpool's win over AC Milan on penalties. Kewell was controversially selected by Benitez ahead of the defensive midfielder Dieter Hamann, signalling the club's intent to attack from the outset. The gamble proved unsuccessful, and an injured Kewell was substituted early in the first half with a torn adductor muscle. Liverpool were losing 1-0 at the time and Kewell was infamously booed off the pitch by Liverpool fans with many suggesting he had faked the injury. In November 2005, after recovering from the injury sustained during the final, Kewell spoke to the Liverpool FC Official Website, saying that he had a strong desire to repay his manager Rafael Benitez for showing confidence in him by fielding him in the Champions League Final. He also thanked his wife and friends for the support shown to him while he recovered from injury. He also re-stated the severity of the injury which had forced him off in the Final and told his doubters that they were misguided to question the severity of his injury. Kewell's form for Liverpool in the 2005-06 English Premier League season showed what he was truly capable of, scoring goals and setting up chances for others, lending support to his assertion that his prior mediocre performance was the result of poor health rather than apathy. Kewell scored his first league goal at Anfield in over two years when Liverpool beat Spurs 1-0 in January, he was also the only scorer when Liverpool beat Man City 1-0 at Anfield and scored the last goal in a 3-1 win over Everton in one of his best displays of the season. Kewell was also one of Liverpool's best performers in the FA Cup semi final win over Chelsea which Liverpool won 2-1. Kewell played in the 2005-06 FA Cup Final, only to be substituted in the forty-eighth minute due to abdominal pains (the supporters reaction this time was more sympathetic compared to the previous years champions league final). It was later confirmed by Liverpool that he had torn a groin muscle, but was expected to be fit for the World Cup. On 30th April 2007 Kewell made his comeback from almost a year out of club football. He came on as a fifty-fifth minute substitute for Liverpool Reserves in a 'mini-derby' against Everton Reserves. On 5th May 2007, he came on as a substitute in the second half of Liverpool's match against Fulham at Craven Cottage, not having since the previous year’s FA Cup Final. On 13th May 2007, He came on as substitute in the second half against Charlton in the last game of the Premiership. Speculation on whether he was to be selected in Liverpool's upcoming Champions League Final in Athens rapidly became positive for Kewell after playing an excellent game against Charlton. He provided a cross in for Dirk Kuyt to assist towards a Xabi Alonso goal and then scored a penalty in the ninetieth minute. He played in the Champions League Final in Athens, coming on as a second half substitute for Zenden. Kewell was injured for the start of the 2007-08 season, he faced an uncertain future at Liverpool having suffered yet another injury, which sidelined him for the first month of the Premier League season. Kewell returned as a substitute in Liverpool's Carling Cup victory over Cardiff City on 31st October 2007, coming on in the seventy-first minute. He later came on as a substitute in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League against Blackburn and Besiktas respectively. After his return Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez stated on the club's website and to other members of the media that a new contract for Harry to continue his career at Anfield was not out of the question. Many believed that if Kewell could stay injury free until the season’s end he would be offered the chance to remain with the club. Kewell himself has often stated his desire to end his EPL career with the club, before returning to Australia to end his career along with fellow English-based Australians Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton in the Australian domestic competition, the A-League. Because of injuries, his future at Liverpool was uncertain. During the January transfer window, he was linked with a move to Fulham.In May 2008 it was revealed Kewell had turned down a new contract at Liverpool. On 5th July 2008, Turkish champions Galatasaray signed Kewell to a two-year deal. Kewell's transfer to Galatasaray provoked strong criticism from fans of his former team Leeds United as he was a Leeds player when two of their fans were killed in clashes before a UEFA Cup Semi-Final against Galatasaray in Istanbul in April 2000. Kewell responded and in an open letter he stated "I chose the No 19 shirt when I signed for Galatasaray AS as a sign of respect for Leeds because that was the number I got when I first became a regular member of the Leeds United FC starting XI."I felt that it might be a way to demonstrate that I had not forgotten where it all started and I was hoping that in a small way it would help the healing process of the tragedy that occurred on the 5th April 2000. To blame the Galatasaray AS club for the tragedy in Istanbul is simply wrong and discriminatory." This letter failed to help him and he is now held in very ill regard by Leeds fans. Kewell made his debut for Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Cup, where he came on as a substitute after sixty-six minutes, scoring his first goal for Galatasaray in the 2-1 win over Kayserispor. He also provided the assist leading to the second goal. He scored his second goal for Galatasaray in the first League match of the season against Denizlispor, with Galatasaray going on to win 4-1. He has scored five goals in eight competitive matches for Galatasaray, three of which were in the Turkish League. Kewell became the youngest player to début for the Australia national team when he played against Chile in April 1996, aged 17 years and 7 months. In November 1997, Kewell was selected to play for Australia in the country's World Cup qualifying game against Iran. At the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, in front of an estimated crowd of 120,000, Kewell scored his first ever goal for his country and gave Australia a 1-0 lead. Iran eventually drew level and the game resulted in a 1-1 draw, which set up a tense return game in Melbourne. A then-record crowd for Australian football of 85,000, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, witnessed the second leg of this World Cup qualifier against Iran, as well as Kewell's second goal. The Socceroos eventually stretched their lead to two goals but Iran fought back and scored two vital away goals to finish the game 2-2 and qualify for the World Cup. An exceptional dribbler on the wing also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder and as asecond striker, he is often regarded within the media as "Australia's finest football export", despite his career being blighted with injury. Against Croatia he scored the crucial goal to get Australia through to the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup. In November 2005, Australia qualified for the 2006 World Cup taking place in Germany. It was the first time Australia had qualified for the World Cup since 1974 when it was held in West Germany. To reach the World Cup Australia beat Uruguay in a two-legged play-off. Kewell was considered instrumental in the Socceroos' defeat of Uraguay, turning the course of the match when he entered as a substitute. He scored the first penalty for Australia in the deciding penalty shoot-out, which they went on to win 4-2. Kewell played in Australia's opening game of the 2006 World Cup against Japan in Germany. He did not start for Australia in their second group match against Brazil but again entered as a substitute, missing an early opportunity when Dida punched the ball out dangerously. Kewell was reported to FIFA by referee Markus Merk for verbal abuse after the match but he escaped being sanctioned. In the Croatia v Australia game Kewell scored Australia's second goal to equal the score at 2-2. Australia only needed a draw to qualify for the second round for the first time. He was also awarded Man of the Match, which made him Australia's second Man of the Match at a World Cup after Tim Cahill who had won an award earlier in the tournament. Due to suspected gout, (later diagnosed as septic arthritis, a bacterial infection in the joints of his left foot) Kewell was unable to play against Italy in theknock-out stage, which saw Australia eliminated from the World Cup. To date Kewell has scored seven goals in twenty-two appearances for Australia. His other achievements have been FA Youth Cup Winner in 1996-97, PFA Young Player of the Year in 2000, UEFA Champions League Winner in 2004-05, FIFA World Club Championship runners-up 2005, League Cup Runners-up 2004-05, FA Cup Winner 2005-06 and UEFA Champions League runners-up 2006-07.