Kenneth Francis Jackett, better known as Kenny Jackett, is a former Welsh international football player and manager of Portsmouth. Left-footed Jackett had prowess as both a midfielder and in defence, and was capped 34 times for Wales between 1982 and 1988. At club level he made 428 appearances for Watford scoring 34 goals before beginning his successful management career at the club. As a manager he has successfully gained promotion for teams including Swansea, Millwall and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Jackett spent his playing career at Watford, where he joined at the age of 12, progressing to the first team at the age of 18 in 1980 and playing in the club’s FA Cup Final against Everton in 1984 and in their following UEFA Cup campaign. Despite being forced to retire at the young age of 28 due to injury problems, Jackett is still sixth in Watford’s all-time appearance records, and he also racked up 34 caps for his national team.

Jackett stayed on at Vicarage Road joining the club’s coaching staff, where he assisted legendary manager Graham Taylor with promotion for Watford in two successive seasons. After leaving Watford, Jackett became manager of Swansea City, guiding the club to promotion and earning several trophies between 2004 and 2007. Jacket also successfully steered his next two clubs, Millwall and Wolverhampton Wanderers to promotion, with a brief stint at Rotherham before becoming manager of Portsmouth.

In 2019, Jackett lead Pompey to victory in the Checkatrade Trophy against Sunderland in front of a crowd of 85,021 at Wembley, a record-breaking crowd for the competition. Portsmouth narrowly missed out on promotion in 2019, and with Jackett‘s expertise to guide them, they’re undoubtedly one of the favourites to gain promotion in the coming season.