Kevin Betsy

Kevin Eddie Lewis Betsy (born 20 March 1978) is a football coach and a former professional footballer having played at the Championship level, briefly in the Premier League, and for the Seychelles national team. Betsy is currently the first team development coach at championship club Queens Park Rangers.

Betsy started his career with Woking but went on to make a name for himself with Fulham as part of the squad that earned promotion to the Premier League. He made one appearance in the top tier of English football, becoming the first Seychellois player to play in the Premier League. He then also spent time on loan with AFC Bournemouth, Hull City, and Barnsley before joining the latter on a permanent deal in 2002. Betsy made 94 league appearances, scoring 15 goals in a two-year period with the Barnsley Tykes before moving to Hartlepool United, Oldham Athletic and then Wycombe Wanderers. In 2007, Betsy signed for Bristol City and whilst there spent loan spells with Yeovil Town and Walsall. A year after signing for City he moved on again to Southend United before returning to Wycombe following a loan spell. In 2012, he re-signed for Woking.

Born in England, Betsy qualified to represent the Seychelles through his grandparents. He played for the Seychelles national team, earning his first cap in 2011.

Following a move into coaching, Betsy worked as a coach for the England U16 team, later taking up similar roles with the U17 and U18 teams. He later spent a season as U23 coach of Arsenal before managing Crawley Town briefly in 2022. In June 2023, Betsy was announced as assistant head coach at Cambridge United, spending a year there before joining Queens Park Rangers as first team development coach in July 2024.

Playing career Early career Betsy started his career at Woking, representing England at semi professional level and being named Conference Player of the Year in 1998. In September 1998, Betsy was signed by Fulham for a fee of £80,000, which would potentially rise to £125,000, with manager Kevin Keegan describing him as one of the best young players he had seen at his age. He made his debut at Anfield against Liverpool in the League Cup and spent three years at Fulham. Betsy's only goal for Fulham came in their victorious 1998–99 Division Two campaign against Millwall. He made five league appearances during Fulham's 2000/01 season after which they were promoted to the Premier League. He made one appearance in the Premiership for Fulham under Jean Tigana in a game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He had loan spells at AFC Bournemouth and Hull City.

Barnsley and Oldham Athletic On 1 March 2002, Betsy joined Barnsley on a one-month loan. After five appearances, He made over 90 appearances for the club and scored 17 goals and was the club's top goal scorer in 2002–03 season with 11 goals from midfield. Betsy had a short loan spell with Hartlepool United in August 2004, making six appearances and scoring once. He was ever present in the city line up helping the Robins gain Promotion to Championship, scoring once in the process against Northampton. Betsy joined Yeovil Town on loan in October 2007. He returned to Bristol City on 7 November as Yeovil could not afford to extend the loan, having scored once for Yeovil against Swansea City. He turned down a loan deal to Cheltenham Town in November 2007. On 31 January 2008, Betsy joined Walsall for the rest of the season on loan.

Southend United and return to Wycombe Wanderers Betsy signed for Southend United on 7 August 2008, on a two-year contract.

On 1 September 2009, Betsy re-signed for Wycombe Wanderers on a loan until 2 January 2010. On 15 January 2010, after a successful loan, Betsy signed for Wycombe on a permanent basis until the end of the season, having been released from Southend. Betsy also led the team in assists with eight, scoring five goals and being voted (OWWSA) Wycombe Supporters Player of the year. In May 2010, Betsy agreed a new two-year deal with the club. Betsy was a regular in the Wycombe promotion side in 2010–11, but found first team opportunities limited in 2011–12, and left the club by mutual consent on 20 December 2011.

Return to Woking On 17 February 2012, Betsy re-joined Woking as a free agent until the end of the 2011–12 season. After re-joining he has made a big impact in the team and in his fourth game back, he won two penalties in the space of five minutes. He went on to win the Conference South title with Woking having beaten Maidenhead United 1–0 away. After the success at the end of the 2011–12 season, Betsy signed on for another season at Woking. In June 2014, Betsy signed a new one-year contract. He remained at Woking until the end of the 2014–15 season before deciding to stop playing football so he could focus on his coaching career.

International career Betsy is of Seychellois descent and, after having rejected the chance to play for the Seychelles national team in 2005, was finally called into the squad and made his international debut against a visiting French league side on 3 June 2011, scoring twice in a 3–0 friendly victory. Betsy was called up to the Seychelles squad for the football tournament at the 2011 Indian Ocean Island Games. He started all five of the Seychelles' games in the tournament, scoring in the final against Mauritius, which finished 1–1. Betsy scored again in the resulting penalty shootout, which the Seychelles won 4–3.

Coaching career In 2016, he was appointed head of England under-15s, having previously coached youth teams at Fulham.

Having moved on to lead the U16 and U17 squads, Betsy was appointed head coach for England U18s on 24 September 2020.

On 3 August 2021, Betsy was appointed head coach of Arsenal U23s. In his single season at Arsenal U23, Betsy took them from a 10th-placed finish in 2020–21 under Steve Bould to a 3rd-place finish, whilst implementing a "very fluid possession-based style of play" and using various formations, mainly variations on the 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 formations.

On 6 June 2022, Betsy was announced as the new manager of EFL League Two club Crawley Town on an initial two-year contract. However, after a disastrous start to the league season Betsy left the club on 9 October 2022 following a 3–0 defeat to Grimsby Town which left the club bottom of the league. His most notable achievement was a 2–0 win over his former team Fulham in the EFL Cup.

On 29 November 2022, Betsy was appointed as a first team coach for Championship club Wigan Athletic as part of new manager Kolo Touré's entourage, however left the club following Touré's sacking after only seven matches.

On 19 June 2023, Betsy was announced as new assistant head coach at EFL League One club Cambridge United.

On 3 July 2024, he left Cambridge to join Championship club Queens Park Rangers as the first team individual development coach.

Personal life In 2010, Betsy was studying for a BA Honours Degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at Staffordshire University.

Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals

1997–98 Football Conference 1998–99 Football Conference

1998–99 Second Division

1999–2000 First Division

2000–01 First Division

2001–02 Premier League

15!!1!!1!!0!!3!!0!!1!!0!!20!!1 AFC Bournemouth (loan) 1999–2000 Second Division

2003–04 Second Division

2004–05 League One

94!!16!!6!!1!!2!!0!!3!!0!!105!!17 Hartlepool United (loan) 2004–05 League Two

2006–07 League Two

71!!13!!3!!0!!8!!0!!7!!0!!89!!13

2006–07 Championship

18!!1!!0!!0!!1!!0!!0!!0!!19!!1 Yeovil Town (loan) 2007–08 League One

2009–10 League One

43!!3!!4!!0!!2!!0!!1!!0!!50!!3 Wycombe Wanderers (loan) 2009–10 League Two

2011–12 League One

67!!10!!3!!0!!2!!0!!4!!2!!76!!12

2011–12 Conference South

2012–13 Conference Premier Team of the Year: 2014–15