David 'Ned' Kelly was born in Birmingham on 25^th November, 1965.  When 16 he joined Walsall, spending two seasons with the youth set up before signing professional terms shortly after his 18^th birthday.  It wasn't long before he was in the first team and over four-and-a-half seasons Kelly made 190 appearances for the Saddlers.  With a return of 80 goals it came as no surprise higher placed clubs were after his signature, especially after his promotion securing Play-Off hat-trick against Bristol City.  It was West Ham United who prised him away from Fellows Park with a £600,000 payment, this was a long standing club record fee received surpassed only by the January sale of Scott Dann to Coventry City.

Kelly found it hard to settle at 'The Hammers' and in March 1990 Leicester City paid £300,000 to bring the striker back to the Midlands.  A few months later Jack Charlton included Kelly in his Republic of Ireland World Cup '90 squad.  December 1991 saw Kevin Keegan pay £250,000 for his services as Newcastle United were fighting the threat of relegation.  It went to the wire with safety only secured after final game victories against Portsmouth and his former club Leicester City.  The following season was a completely different scenario and Newcastle started off like a steam train, recording 11 successive victories before the run was halted with a home defeat at the hands of Grimsby Town.  Newcastle continued to pick up win after win under Keegan's attacking philosophy, which seemed to suit Kelly who ended the season leading scorer with 25 goals.   'The Toon' secured the second tier Championship, ironically at Grimsby Town.

In preparation for their Premier League campaign Newcastle brought North East legend Peter Beardsley back to St James's Park.  This signalled the end for Kelly who decided it was time to move on and Wolverhampton Wanderers ensured he could return to his West Midlands roots.  While at Wolves the most arguably talked about moment of Kelly's career occurred.  David Kelly opened the scoring for Republic of Ireland against England in an international friendly at Lansdowne Road.  Shortly after the goal the match was abandoned because of crowd trouble, robbing Kelly of a moment which should have been remembered for his sporting achievement rather than the violence which followed.

In August 1995 Kelly left Molineux after losing his first team place to Don Goodman.  He transferred to Sunderland where he was involved in another promotion to the top flight.  It was in the Premiership he enjoyed what he describes as his 'second proudest moment of his career'.  In a unique instance he was applauded onto the field at St James's Park while running on as a substitute for rivals Sunderland, this would usually be a moment greeted by severe hatred.  At Sunderland 'Ned' suffered his worst goal drought of his career and a free transfer to Tranmere Rovers gave him the change of environment that was needed.  He enjoyed success at Prenton Park and was part of the remarkable achievement of then manager John Aldridge, who guided a team of free transfers to the League Cup final.  In the final Tranmere lost 2-1 with fan favourite David Kelly on the score sheet.  He ended the tournament as top scorer.

In 2000 Sheffield United came knocking and he stayed in Neil Warnock's plans for a season before heading north of the boarder to Motherwell, playing under Billy Davies he forged a working relationship which would be called upon later in his career.  Departing for a short spell at Mansfield in 2002, he made one final move to play his final professional game for Derry City who overcame Shamrock Rovers to win the FAI cup final. 

Kelly called time on his playing days to take up an Assistant Manager position back at Tranmere Rovers.  Subsequently he became Billy Davies's right-hand-man at Preston North End and after an enforced period of 'gardening leave' he belatedly followed Davies to Derby County for a short spell of just 4 months, and left with the manager.

The pair quickly found employment just up 'Sir Brian Clough Way' taking charge of Derby's big local rivals Nottingham Forest, with 'Ned' again assisting in the Championship.  Key to this reign is David being able to take up his role from day one as they work towards the aim of returning Forest to the Premiership.