Kenneth Francis Jackett was born on 5th January 1962 and grew up in Watford.
Kenny joined his local club at the age of 12 and went on to make his first team debut six years later as a substitute at Sunderland.
Whilst with the Hornets, Kenny made his international debut for Wales on 22nd September,1982 against Norway, and he went on to win 31 caps in total.
His playing career at Vicarage Road was cut short at the age of 28 after over 400 appearances, due to ongoing knee injuries.
But he remained with the Hornets as a member of the coaching staff.
In 2001 he joined the R’s as assistant to Ian Holloway.
During his three years at Loftus Road, Rangers reached a play-off final, which was then bettered with promotion at Hillsborough from the old Second Division to the re-named Championship.
Kenny went on to manage the likes of Millwall, Portsmouth, and Leyton Orient.
The sad news emerged last month that Kenny had passed away on 11th June, at the age of 64.
It didn’t seem that long ago that I’d spoken to him at a QPR Development game at Hanwell.
Joe Gallen made this moving tribute:
“It had been on the cards for some time, and Kenny had been ill for a while.
At the turn of the year things weren’t looking great for him, but in true Kenny fashion he fought it through and made it to June.
There’s been so many messages from players, clubs, and supporters. Kenny was a football man.
He wasn’t one who tried to find favour in the media, or say outrageous things to make him popular.
Kenny was proud to be a manager of all of his clubs and his way to show appreciation for that was to work.
He was always the first in and the last out. I’ve never seen anyone show the diligence and professionalism he showed. He was unbelievably professional and would give his all to the club.
Kenny was very respectful. He would never let his guard drop, but he was a gentleman definitely. He was never late, would give his time and answer questions respectfully.
At the same time I’d doubt he would become your best pal, but he’d give anyone his time.
I thought surely he’d come in disheveled one day or turn up late, but that day never arrived.
He was always professional, always prepared, always looked smart, and was always in early. I hated it!
I was with him for sixteen years and he never changed from that. He was a one-off in that respect.
As a manager you will make decisions people won’t like, but he’d still treat people with respect and be upfront with them.
But he could be ruthless as well and when his mind was made-up he wouldn’t care. If someone had to go, they had to go, that was it.
You wouldn’t mess with him, he was highly intelligent. Very good with people and good on the training ground. His emotional intelligence was very high and his discipline was unbelievable.
We had a rule that we would not talk about budgets.
Kenny never got booked by a referee (as a manager) because he would never blame them. He’d say we don’t do that, we take responsibility for ourselves. It was highly unusual.
I’m not saying he was the best, but I’ve never seen a man act in that way. People do blame the ref or the budget, but not Kenny.
So, he was a one-off in that way. It was the job that mattered. He was paid to do a job and would give everything to it.
I’d tell the players he’d never miss a thing they do on the pitch, and they’d ask, ‘How’s that? My response was that he’d watch the game on Saturday and then he’d go home and watch it again that night.
He’d then get up on Sunday morning and watch it – and watch it on Monday morning for a fourth time. His wife would tell me that was his routine.
So, he’d pick up on every bit of body language because of that level of professionalism. He was the ultimate professional – that was Kenny.”
His funeral took place earlier this month at the North Chapel of West Herts Crematorium.
Rest in Peace.
Steve Russell