Raymond Kennedy (28 July 1951 – 30 November 2021)[3] was an English footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Despite his trophy successes with Arsenal and Liverpool, after winning six caps for the England under-23 side, he could not translate his club form into a good international career.

[9] Kennedy returned to his native north-east in March 1967 and started working in a sweet factory whilst playing as an amateur for New Hartley Juniors, where he built a successful attacking partnership with former England schoolboy international Ian Watts.

Though the scouts had initially gone to the game to watch his striker partner, Watts, Kennedy had impressed enough to win an apprentice contract with Arsenal in May 1968.

[13] He had a difficult task though to win a first-team place, as manager Bertie Mee used only 15 players throughout the entire 1968–69 season, during which time Kennedy made 20 appearances for the Reserve team as they claimed the Football Combination Division One title.

[16][17] He went on to appear as a 77th-minute substitute in the first leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final against Belgian club Anderlecht at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, and scored a late goal in a 3–1 defeat.

[18][19] Though he did not appear in the second leg, his goal proved to be decisive as Arsenal claimed a 4–3 aggregate victory to win the first European trophy in the club's history.

[23] Arsenal overtook Leeds United to win the league title on the final day of the season, Kennedy scoring the only goal of the game with a late header in a 1–0 victory over North London derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

[29] He struggled at the start of the 1972–73 season, his confidence and form suffered as defenders marked him more closely and poor diet saw his weight rise to over 14 stone (200 lb; 89 kg).

[34] I couldn't believe it when he left and felt it was a great shame to have broken up our partnership which had wobbled slightly but which I was sure would come together again with a little time.In July 1974, Kennedy was sold to Liverpool for a club record £200,000.

[36] Manager Bill Shankly resigned on the same day as the transfer was made, though had admired Kennedy for years and stated that "maybe it will be said that one of the last things I did at this club was to sign a great new player".

[39] New manager Bob Paisley handed Kennedy his debut in place of John Toshack against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 31 August 1974.

[40] Kennedy featured just 25 times in the league as Toshack formed an effective combination with Kevin Keegan up front and started to become frustrated and disillusioned in the club.

[44] Liverpool won the league title in 1975–76 with a final day victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers to beat Queens Park Rangers into second place.

Liverpool also reached the 1977 FA Cup final but lost the chance to follow Arsenal's feat at achieving the Double as they were beaten 2–1 by bitter rivals Manchester United.

[48] In the European Cup, Liverpool beat Crusaders (Northern Ireland), Trabzonspor (Turkey), AS Saint-Étienne (France), and FC Zürich (Switzerland) to reach the final against German side Borussia Mönchengladbach.

[48] In the final at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, Keegan was fouled by Vogts and won a late penalty which Phil Neal converted to give Liverpool a 3–1 victory.

[64] The pair pleaded guilty to affray and were fined £150 each; despite this and other similar incidents, Kennedy did manage to avoid his off-field antics affecting his form or discipline on the pitch.

[68] They also reached the European Cup final after getting past Oulun Palloseura (Finland), Aberdeen (Scotland), CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria), and Bayern Munich (Germany).

[72] Following the sale of Jimmy Case, Kennedy began to become disillusioned with Liverpool and was sent off twice in the space of a few weeks early in the 1981–82 season – the first red cards of his career.

So much so, in fact, that on the rare occasions he missed a match his absence was felt deeply simply because he was a midfield power house with tremendous vision and knowledge of the game...

[78][79] The Swans had an unsuccessful attempt to win the league title, and five defeats in their final six games saw them end up in sixth place, 17 points behind champions Liverpool.

[81] He became injured with niggling hamstring problems in mid-season, and after one increasingly rare performance the local press described him as seemingly "unwilling to work and his usual composure on the ball was lacking".

[85] The club's financial problems worsened, and players were asked to take a cut in wages to help ease the crisis, but Kennedy refused.

[90] He became increasingly unable to play the game though due to his body's physical decline, and after a poor start to the 1984–85 season he returned to England in December against the board's wishes and handed in his resignation the following month, to allow him to run the Melton Constable public house in Seaton Sluice, Whitley Bay.

[97] Liverpool manager Bob Paisley wrote in his autobiography that "for England he [Kennedy] was played quite wrongly in a defensive role, being asked to pick people up.

[102] Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson said that Kennedy "had an alarming lack of self esteem... but there was an underlying fearsome strength, an assassin's eye and a hard-man interior".

[107][110] His wife, Jennifer, left him in October 1987 after he punched her in the face and kicked her down the stairs of the family home; this ended a difficult 15-year marriage blighted by frequent infidelity on his part.

[112] Other teammates Steve Heighway and Phil Thompson noted that Kennedy was a "quiet man", though "women were always chasing after him" and "off the pitch he needed to be handled quite gently, and everything had to be organised just right otherwise there would be trouble".

[118] In late 1992 he began suffering from extreme paranoia, mostly due to the side effects of his medication, but regained his mental faculties following a short stay in hospital.