Pressman: Kevin Paul (Kevin)

2005-2005 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Goalkeeper

Born: Fareham: 06-11-1967

Debut: None

6’1” 15 st 5lb (2007)

Pressman signed his first professional contract for Sheffield Wednesday on his eighteenth birthday in 1985 and made his debut versus Southampton on 5th September 1987. A Wednesday supporter since childhood, Pressman's career was nearly wrecked on New Years Day 1990 when he suffered cruciate knee-ligament damage which sidelined him for over eight months. He was unlucky not to play in the 1991 League Cup Final victory against Manchester United, as he had played in every round of the competition that year, as well as a significant amount of League matches, up until the Semi-Final stage where he was replaced by the more senior goalkeeper and future Wednesday manager and Leeds loanee, Chris Turner. Pressman was also on the substitutes’ bench at three further Wembley finals, all in 1993, after a short loan spell with Stoke City in which he played four League games. They were the League Cup Final, FA Cup Final and FA Cup Final Replay, all against Arsenal and resulting in defeats in both competitions for Wednesday. In his prime, Pressman was considered one of the best goalkeepers in the EPL. He had a tendency to play particularly well in Sheffield derby games. He also became known for both saving and scoring penalties, most notably the winner in a shoot-out against Watford in the FA Cup in 1998. Pressman entered the record books on 13th August 2000 when he was sent off after just thirteen seconds in a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The dismissal, given for handling outside the area, was the fastest ever in English football history. Pressman showed great resilience to fend off many fellow goalkeepers for the Number One shirt at Hillsborough, outlasting Chris Turner, Chris Woods and Pavel Srnicek, to name just a few. He was at West Bromwich Albion on loan in February 2003 but never played a League game. His last game for the Owls came on the final day of the 2003–04 at Hillsborough against Queens Park Rangers. His impressive appearance record with the Owls finished at four hundred and twenty League starts and four more from the bench and a total of four hundred and eighty in all competitions. In July 2004 he joined Leicester City and played thirteen League games for them before he found himself on the outer after a change of Manager. After being released by Leicester, Leeds found they were short of cover for Neil Sullivan after Scott Carson had been sold to Liverpool and took Pressman on loan on 25th February 2005. However he never made a first team appearance. His total involvement was the two occasions he was on the bench, in the away fixtures with Millwall on 6th March 2005 and Nottingham Forest on 16th March 2005. After that Leeds released Pressman as Sasa Ilic took over bench duties for the rest of the season. Pressman then went to Coventry City on a similar mission and played no League games and was released. In the summer of 2005, Pressman was signed by Mansfield Town, managed at the time by his former Sheffield Wednesday team-mate Carlton Palmer, and was first-choice goalkeeper for the majority of the following season, playing forty-one League games. Pressman announced his retirement from the game in July 2006 after being released by Mansfield Town, although there were some rumours that he would return to Wednesday in a coaching role. He became a member of Sheffield Wednesday Masters’ team and was considered to be a legend at Hillsborough and came out top in a poll to find Sheffield Wednesday's greatest ever keeper on an internet website. At the end of September 2006 Pressman signed a short-term deal with Northern-Irish side Portadown, who had a goalkeeping crisis. He won the Portadown fans with some impressive displays between the sticks despite his age of thirty-nine and helped the club in their rise up the League table. Despite training in Doncaster during the week and flying to Northern Ireland for matches, Pressman signed a contract extension with Portadown FC in late December 2006 that kept him at the club until the end of 2006–07. At the end of that season Kevin decided to call time on his impressive career after winning Portadown's 'Player of the Season' award. Pressman was never capped at senior level even though he was called up to the senior squad on numerous occasions, but did play for England at Schoolboy, Youth and Under-Twenty-one level as well as winning three "B" caps between 1994–1998. The Under-Twenty-One cap came on 13th September 1988 as a substitute for Nigel Martyn in a 0-0 draw with Demark at Vicarage Rd Watford. The first "B" cap was on 10th May 1994 when he started but was later replaced by Nigel Martyn in a 4-2 win over Northern Ireland at Hillsborough, followed by another start against the Republic of Ireland in a 2-0 win at Anfield on 13th December 1994 in which he was later replaced by David James. The third and final "B" cap was a full game on 10th February 1998 at the Hawthorns as England were beaten by Chile 1-2. He holds an FA B coaching licence. In May 2007 he was appointed as goalkeeping coach at Championship side Scunthorpe United. He was still available as a player in an emergency was named on the substitutes' bench at Plymouth in December 2007 following a suspension for Joe Murphy. In May 2008 he also became joint Manager of Belper Town F.C. Reserves. He was later Assistant Manager to Ian Barraclough at Scunthorpe United but both were terminated by the club in March 2011. He joined Bradford City as goalkeeping coach on 20th August 2011, he also spent time as goalkeeping coach at Manchester City before he then moved on to Millwall in a similar capacity on 21st June 2012.