When John Barnes' scintillating success on the Liverpool left wing was brought to a close by injuries that saw the Anfield star convert into a central midfielder, an ongoing search for a new wing wizard eventually stopped off at Millwall Football Club in 1995.
It's 27 years to the day since Liverpool paid a £1.5milllion fee to bring Mark Kennedy to Anfield in what was then a British record transfer fee for a teenager.
When he checked in as a Red, Kennedy said: "Like a lot of other lads from Dublin, Liverpool was the team for me when I was growing up - I think I inherited it from my dad - and I didn't need to be asked twice when Roy Evans contacted the club about me. I think I have matured a lot, mentally as well as physically since coming to London but it was still a dream come through when Liverpool came in with their offer."
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Having scored the goal for the Lions that knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup just two months earlier, high hopes were pinned on the midfielder and he got off to an impressive start, crashing a shot from long range off the crossbar against Leeds United on his debut.
But if that was interpreted as a sign of things to come by Liverpool supporters then in reality the opposite was true. Kennedy would make only four starts for Liverpool during his first season at the club, before disappearing into nothing more than a cameo role for the rest of his Anfield career.
Over the next three seasons. the winger would only manage one more league start for the Reds and 11 substitute appearances. To many it was a mystery as to why Roy Evans had spent - for the time - so much on a player and used him so little.
With his Liverpool dream seemingly over, Kennedy went out on loan to Queens Park Rangers for two months in the second half of the 1997/97 season, making eight appearances for the Londoners and scoring two goals.
At the end of the season, he joined Wimbledon for a fee of £1.75million. A short spell with the Dons was followed by a stint at Manchester City, but Kennedy found greater joy when he stepped down to the First Division to join Wolverhampton Wanderers before the start of the 2001/02 season.
At Molineux, he made 167 league appearances over four fruitful seasons before moving to Crystal Palace on a free transfer - his fourth London club. After a year with the Eagles he moved to Cardiff City at the age of 32 and was involved in significant matches that almost saw the Bluebirds promoted to the Premier League.
Having narrowly missed out on a play-off spot during the 2008/09 season, a year later Kennedy scored what turned out to be the decisive penalty in a semi-final shoot-out against Leicester City after the two sides had drawn 3-3. He would play from the start at left-back against Blackpool in the final, but despite Cardiff leading twice, it was the Seasiders who prevailed, winning 3-2 on the day with one of their goals coming courtesy of Charlie Adam - a future Liverpool player.
In the final switch of his playing career, Kennedy moved to East Anglia with Roy Keane's Ipswich Town in a deal worth £75,000. He played in both legs of the Tractor Boys' League Cup semi-final against Arsenal but a 3-1 aggregate loss ensured that he never made it back to Wembley. After hanging up his boots he joined the coaching staff at Portman Road.
In January 2020, Kennedy moved into management, taking over at the now liquidated Macclesfield Town. In a season badly affected by Covid-19, he managed to team for just 12 matches before resigning as the Silkmen received a points deduction and were subsequently relegated back to the National League.
Having returned briefly to Ipswich Town, Kennedy is now the assistant head coach of Birmingham City in the Championship, under Lee Bowyer.
Kennedy's Liverpool career may have never really got going since he signed 27 years ago today, but his love of English football has seemingly never wavered over the last three decades. Not bad for the little lad from Belvedere Boys Club.
