Tributes to Mark Kendall

10:15pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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TRIBUTES were paid today to former Newport County goalkeeper Mark Kendall who died of a suspected heart attack on Thursday night, aged 49.

Born in Blackwood in September 1958, Kendall left Bedwellty Grammar School aged 16 to join Tottenham Hotspur as an apprentice.

County paid a club record fee of £45,000 to bring him home in September 1980 and he went on to play almost 350 games for the club.

Len Ashurst was the man who signed Kendall and he remembered a jovial player who was the life and soul of the dressing room.

"It's very sad news, a real shock at such a young age and my heartfelt commiserations go to his family," said Ashurst.

"He was always excellent in the dressing room with a real good sense of humour but he always trained hard too and was a great keeper."

Steve Lowndes played with Kendall in the early 1980s and the pair remained close for the past 25 years.

"Mark was one of my best friends, best man at my wedding and Godfather to my two children," said Lowndes.

"He was an excellent goalkeeper with a fantastic personality, always fun to be with. Away from football he was a wonderful husband to Gaynor and father to Lee and Lori. Words cannot describe how much my family and I will miss him, a genuine nice guy."

Peter Jones, former commercial director at County, said: "Mark was a true gentleman and always the first to volunteer to meet those less fortunate than him.

"He was also a great player and I remember Bill Nicholson at Spurs telling me that Mark was one of the best young prospects he had ever signed."

After six years at Somerton Park, during which he established himself as a crowd favourite with his unorthodox methods and excellent shot-stopping abilities, Kendall was allowed to join Wolves due to the club's poor financial situation.

Nigel Vaughan, who played with Kendall for County and Wolves, said: "I'm devastated by the news. Mark and I used to travel up from Gwent to Wolverhampton, two hours in the car every day, and the time flew by. We were always laughing and joking and he was just a great guy. My deepest sympathies to his family."

Kendall helped the Midlands club to successive promotions from Division Four and Division Three before joining Swansea where he won the Welsh Cup in 1991.

He also represented Wales at schoolboy, youth and under-21 level and played for Ebbw Vale and Cwmbran in the Welsh Premier League.

In his one game for the Crows, against Barry Town in the 2000-2001 season, Kendall's son Lee, now at WPL-side Rhyl, was in the other goal as Cwmbran ran out 3-0 winners.

After hanging up his gloves he joined Gwent Police and was named police trainer of the year in 2007.