| Ian Bennett |
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His career started with Queens Park Rangers F.C. in 1988, before Newcastle United F.C. scouts snapped him up in March of the same campaign. He failed to make an appearance for either QPR or Newcastle, before Peterborough United F.C. gave him the breakthrough he needed between March 22 , 1991 and December 17 , 1993 . He played 72 league games at the club, until he was signed by Barry Fry , then boss of Birmingham City F.C. , for 325,000 pounds in 1993. The 285 league appearances under his belt were by virtue of the fact that he remained the number one keeper at the club for nearly all of the time in which he played for the next five years, eventually losing his number one position to Kevin Poole in November 1998. His 1999-00 season was plagued with injury as he was replaced consistently by Norwegian Thomas Myhre for the last two months of the campaign. During the League Cup of that year, he saved a penalty for Birmingham taken by Alan Shearer , which earned him plaudits amongst fans and critics alike. In recent times, the signings of Nico Vaesen (Summer 2000 ) and Maik Taylor (Summer 2003 ) have meant that he had not been able to play in goal for as many games as he wanted. He made his 350th league appearance against Aston Villa F.C. in 2003/04, and in late 2004 was loaned out to Sheffield United F.C. , after this he was loaned to Coventry City F.C. . On June 17th 2005 Bennett transferred to Leeds United of the Championship. When he made the move to Leeds, Ian knew he would be competing with one of the divisions best keepers, Scottish international Neil Sullivan, who was voted player of the year in 2004-05. Sullivan had an early season injury however, and Bennett played in all the pre-season frendlies, and when Sullivan suffered a reacurrence of his injury, Bennett responded with three clean sheets, before letting in 3 goals in a home match v Brighton, and in the following game was replaced by Sullivan. Ian has had to be content with a place in the bench ever since. |
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