Kenny Jackett dies aged 64

Pompey mourn the passing of ex-boss Kenny Jackett

Kenny passed away yesterday (11 June 2026) aged just 64 and will be remembered as the nearly man at Pompey winning over 50% of his games in charge, a record high for post war managers.

Born in Watford Kenny played over 400 times for his home town club and won 31 cap for Wales.  After his retirement through injury at the age of 28 he then worked for the Hornets in a backroom capacity becoming manager in 1996/97.  He then managed Swansea, Millwall and Wolves achieving promotion at them all and has always been seen as playing a major part in the ongoing success of all these clubs since.

When Paul Cook left Pompey after winning the League Two title in 2017 the club looked to Jackett to carry on the job of climbing the leagues and in the next three seasons the finished 8^th, 4^th and 5^th but failed at the play off hurdle.  It was Wembley that would mark the highs and lows of Kenny’s Pompey career.  On 31^st March 2019 with over 40,000 Pompey fans present Kenny masterminded a comeback victory over Sunderland by penalties after the Black Cats had totally dominated the opening 45 minutes.  Tactical switches swung the pendulum in Pompey’s favour and who will ever forget the Jamal Lowe goal that but Pompey in front and Ollie Hawkins’ winning penalty!

However, when the 2020 final with Salford was delayed by Covid19 and then played a year later behind closed doors Pompey were woeful and missed chances to win before losing 4-2 on penalties.  Would that have happened with over 50,000 Blues fans present?  Probably not but a few days later Kenny was sacked.

Pompey fans had mixed views of Jackett mainly aimed at the cool exterior he showed on the touchline particularly compered to his predecessor, Paul Cook.  However, that image disguised a great tactical brain at work; the brain of one of football’s nice guys.

The Pompey History Society offer their heartfelt condolences to wife Samantha and sons David and Ryan the latter who is on the staff at Watford following in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather.