Chris Killen

Christopher John "Chris" Killen (born October 8, 1981 in Wellington) is a New Zealand national football team football (soccer) player, currently playing for Scottish Premier League side Celtic F.C..

Club career

Early career

Killen grew up in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay, Wellington. As a youth he played for Miramar Rangers, whose coach arranged a trial with Manchester City F.C.. The trial was successful, and the 17 year old Killen joined City's youth academy. His first senior club appearances came during a loan spell at Wrexham F.C. in September 2000. He scored his first league goal on 9 September 2000 against Oldham, and in total scored three goals in nine appearances for the Welsh club. The following season he was loaned to Port Vale F.C., scoring six goals in nine league games. In November 2001 he was recalled from loan as a number of Manchester City strikers were injured, and was a substitute in a 2–1 win against Rotherham United F.C.. he made two further substitute appearances that season, and finished as top goalscorer for the reserves.

Oldham Athletic

He joined Oldham Athletic F.C. in July 2002 for £250,000. He remained with Oldham for 3 and a half years, scoring 24 goals in 78 league appearances. Failing to match his price tag and seemingly high wage through continuous injury, Oldham no longer required his services and released him on a free transfer.

Hibernian

In January 2006, Killen joined Hibernian F.C. on a free transfer (soccer). He scored on his debut as he netted the third goal of Hibs' 3-0 defeat of Rangers F.C. at Ibrox Stadium in the Scottish Cup 4th round in February 2006.
His first home goal was the opener in a 7-0 win against Livingston F.C. four days later. Despite arriving in January, he had scored five goals for Hibs by the end of the season. He also scored the opening goal of Hibs 5-0 defeat of Latvia's Dinaburg FC in the Intertoto Cup second round game at Easter Road on July 2 2006..

Following the departure of strikers Garry O'Connor and Derek Riordan, Killen was expected to be an important player for Hibs in 2006-07 in Scottish football. By December 2006 he had scored 11 goals, including two in a 2-1 win over Rangers, however a ruptured Achilles suffered in a 2-2 draw with Aberdeen in a Scottish Cup tie prematurely ended his season in January 2007.

Killen's contract with Hibernian expired in mid-2007. He rejected the offer of a one-year extension from the Edinburgh club and was expected to sign for Cardiff City F.C. before Celtic's intervention.

Celtic

On May 30 2007 Killen was confirmed a Celtic F.C. player.. He signed on a free transfer and committed to a three years contract with Celtic.

Killen made his debut on 5 August 2007, coming off the bench in a 0-0 draw against Kilmarnock F.C. at Celtic Park. His first goal for the club came on 7 October 2007 at Fir Park; with Celtic trailing 1-0 to Gretna F.C, Killen equalised in the 89th minute before Scott McDonald scored the winner for Celtic in stoppage time.

He made his UEFA Champions League debut for Celtic at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica against SL Benfica on October 24 2007. The match ended 1-0 to Benfica.Since then he has found chances hard to come by after Scott McDonald scored 31 goals in his debut season and with the current form of Georgios Samaras and the ever-present Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.So now he mostly plays in the reserves or is on the substitute bench.He also scored a goal against Southampton FC in a pre-season friendly in May/2008.

Honours

- Scottish Premier League (1):
- - 2007-08 in Scottish football