Biography
Young goalkeeper Kevin Dearden spent a month on loan to Hull City in January 1991 to fill in while regular netminder Iain Hesford took some time off to recover from an ailment. He played competently but unspectacularly in his three starts before Tommy Wright, another loan goalie, replaced him.
Kevin Charles Dearden was born in Luton and was a junior at his local league side until the age of 16 when he joined the youth team setup at Tottenham Hotspur. Dearden was a Tottenham player for seven years but spent much of that time on loan to various lower league clubs. He made his Spurs debut in October 1990 when he started in a League Cup tie against Hartlepool United, then made his second and last appearance in April 1993 when he came off the bench to replace Erik Thorstvedt in a Premier League match against Nottingham Forest.
In September 1993 he transferred to League Division 2 side Brentford and quickly established himself as the Bees’ regular first team goalkeeper. Between 1993 and 1998 he missed fewer than 20 League games, but after Brentford were relegated in 1998 Dearden was replaced by Jason Pearcey and Andy Woodman as the Bees won the League Division 3 title. In June 1999 Kevin moved to Wrexham where he was again a first team regular for two seasons. He moved to Torquay United in August 2001 and spent four seasons in Devon. When he played his final game for Torquay in December 2004 Dearden had made 504 senior appearances in 15 year career.
After spending the latter part of the 2005/06 season playing for Southern League side Boreham Wood, Dearden went into goalkeeper coaching. Between 2006 and 2008 he worked for Brentford, Millwall, Luton Town and Stevenage. In June 2008 he was appointed full time goalkeeping coach at Leyton Orient and spent time in the assistant manager role during 2009. He left Leyton Orient in 2014 and became goalkeeper coach at his home town club Luton Town, rising to Head of Goalkeeping in 2019. In June 2023 he switched to become Team Operations Manager as Luton Town rose to the Premier League and subsequent return to the Championship a year later.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 8 March 1970, Luton
Hull City First Game: 12 January 1991, Sheffield Wednesday H (Division Two), 20 years, 310 days old
Hull City Final Game: 1 February 1991, Bristol Rovers H (Division Two), 20 years, 331 days old
Clubs
Tottenham Hotspur (1986-1993), Woking (1989, loan), Cambridge United (1989, loan), Hartlepool United (1989, loan), Oxford United (1989, loan), Swindon Town (1990, loan), Peterborough United (1990, loan), Hull City (1991, loan), Rochdale (1991, loan), Birmingham City (1992, loan), Portsmouth (1992, loan), Brentford (1993-1999), Barnet (1999, loan), Huddersfield Town (1999, loan), Wrexham (1999-2001), Torquay United (2001-2005), Boreham Wood (2006)
Hull City Record
Career: 3 apps, 0 goals
Kevin Dearden| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990/91 | 3 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |