James McKeown

James McKeown
McKeown playing for Grimsby Town in 2011
Personal information
Full name James Karl McKeown
Date of birth (1989-07-24) 24 July 1989
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.87 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1998–2000 Coventry City
2005–2007 Walsall
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2011 Peterborough United 6 (0)
2007Kettering Town (loan) 2 (0)
2007Worcester City (loan) 1 (0)
2010–2011Boston United (loan) 17 (0)
2011 RKSV Leonidas 5 (0)
2011–2022 Grimsby Town 432 (0)
2022–2023 Finn Harps 12 (0)
2023–2024 Cleethorpes Town 17 (0)
Total 492 (0)
International career
2007–2008 Republic of Ireland U19 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:09, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 07:43, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

James Karl McKeown (born 24 July 1989) is a former professional footballer and coach who played as a goalkeeper.

Born in Birmingham, McKeown began his career aged 15 with Coventry City and Walsall youth teams, but was unable to establish himself and departed two years later. He then joined Peterborough United; he spent time on loan with Kettering Town and Worcester City in 2007 prior to breaking into the Peterborough first team in 2008, however, his appearances where limited during his time there. McKeown was then loaned to Conference North side Boston United during the 2010–11 season where he made a total of 14 clean sheets in 18 games.

A sixth-month stint at Dutch semi-professional outfit RKSV Leonidas had led to a trial with Eredivisie side Willem II, however, his previous managers at Boston signed him for Grimsby Town; he was ever present in the starting XI and five years on helped Grimsby to win promotion out of the National League in 2015–16 and 2021–22. He moved on to play for League of Ireland side Finn Harps before finishing his career with non-league side Cleethorpes Town. McKeown has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-19 level.