Chris Kirkland

Christopher Edmund "Chris" Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Preston North End. Kirkland started his career at Coventry City, where he was regarded as one of the country's most promising young goalkeepers. He was later signed by Premier League side Liverpool in 2001, where he went on to win one League Cup, one FA Community Shield, one UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League. However, his time at the club was blighted by recurring injuries, which almost caused him to retire from football altogether. He would later sign for Wigan Athletic in 2006, after a successful loan period, and he had further loan spells at both Leicester City and Doncaster Rovers before being signed by Sheffield Wednesday in 2012. Internationally, Kirkland has one cap for the England national team.

Club career

Early life and career

Kirkland was born in Barwell, Leicestershire, where he grew up with his parents, Marie and Eddie, and attended Heathfield School. As a teenager, Kirkland trained with Coventry City and Leicester City. After an unsuccessful trial with Blackburn Rovers, he accepted a contract offer from Coventry. He signed professional terms with the club in July 1998.

Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Championship, the second tier of the English leagues. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the third oldest in the English league.

The Wednesday, as they were known until 1929, were founding members of The Football Alliance in 1889 and its first champions. They joined The Football League three years later and were also one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992. Since joining the Football League in 1892, the club has spent most of its history in the top flight of English football but have not played at this level since being relegated in 2000. The Owls have historically been one of England's more successful clubs, and have won four League titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup. Wednesday have also competed at European level on four occasions, most recently in the UEFA Cup in 1992–93 and UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1995.

Leeds United F.C.

Leeds United Football Club is an English football club in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club was formed in 1919 following the disbanding of Leeds City F.C. by the Football League and took over their Elland Road stadium. They currently play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.

Leeds United have won three First Division league titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup. The club also won two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups. The majority of the honours were won under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s. Leeds lost the 1975 European Cup Final against Bayern Munich and reached the semi finals of the tournament's successor Champions League in 2001.

Leeds United play in white. The club badge features the White Rose of York and "LUFC".

History Summary

Pre-Leeds United

Leeds United's predecessor team, Leeds City, was formed in 1904, and were elected League members in 1905. At first they found it hard to draw big crowds to Elland Road but their fortunes improved following Herbert Chapman's arrival. In 1914 Chapman declared; "This city is built to support top-flight football", but Leeds City were forcibly disbanded and forced to sell off all their players by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War. In 1919, Leeds United was formed and they received an invitation to enter the Midland League. Leeds United were voted into the Midland League on 31 October 1919, taking the place vacated by Leeds City Reserves. Following Leeds City's disbanding, Yorkshire Amateurs bought their stadium Elland Road. Yorkshire Amateurs offered to make way for the new team under the management of former player Dick Ray.

Chris

Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Unlike these names, however, it does not indicate the person's gender although it is much more common for males to have this name than it is for females.

It is the preferred form of the full name of such notable individuals as Chris Tucker and Chris Penn. To find an article about one of these people, see List of all pages beginning with "Chris".

The word is also part of phrases, including Tropical Storm Chris, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and many more which refer to notable people, places, and things. For a list of these, see All pages with titles containing chris.

People with the given name

Leeds

Coordinates: 53°47′59″N 1°32′57″W / 53.79972°N 1.54917°W / 53.79972; -1.54917 Leeds ⁱ/liːdz/ is a city in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in Yorkshire's West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the name referred to a wooded area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has been applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation of a small manorial borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations, to being the name attached to the present metropolitan borough. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a major centre for the production and trading of wool. Then, during the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a major mill town; wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were important. From being a compact market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century. The main built-up area sub-division has a population of 474,632 (2011), and the City of Leeds metropolitan borough of which it is a part which has an estimated population of 757,700 (2011).