Kevin Richardson (footballer)

Kevin Richardson (born 4 December 1962) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. Richardson featured for English clubs Everton, Watford, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Southampton, Barnsley and Blackpool. He also had a spell in La Liga with Real Sociedad. He was also capped for the England national football team.[4][5] During October 2009 he was appointed as the assistant manager of Darlington. Richardson is currently a coach at Newcastle United's academy.[6][7]

Kevin Richardson
Personal information
Full name Kevin Richardson[1]
Date of birth (1962-12-04) 4 December 1962[2]
Place of birth Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[3]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Newcastle United (under 18s coach)
Youth career
Montagu and North Fenham BC
1978–1980 Everton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1980–1986 Everton 109 (16)
1986–1987 Watford 39 (2)
1987–1990 Arsenal 96 (5)
1990–1991 Real Sociedad 37 (0)
1991–1995 Aston Villa 141 (13)
1995–1997 Coventry City 78 (0)
1997–1998 Southampton 28 (0)
1998–2000 Barnsley 30 (0)
2000 → Blackpool (loan) 11 (1)
2000 Blackpool 9 (0)
Total 578 (40)
National team
1994 England 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Richardson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne[4] where he played football for Montagu and North Fenham Boys club.[8] He joined Everton as a schoolboy in 1978 and turned professional in 1980. A versatile midfielder, the young Richardson often had to be content with deputising for the likes of Paul Bracewell, Peter Reid and Kevin Sheedy. However, he still carved out a semi-regular place, and played in the Everton teams that lost the 1984 League Cup Final to Liverpool after a replay[9] and won the FA Cup in 1984. He picked up a First Division title medal and a Cup Winners' Cup medal in May 1985. However, he did not make the squad for the FA Cup final, which Everton lost 1–0 to Manchester United.

In 1985-86, he made 18 First Division appearances for the Toffees and scored three goals as they finished runners-up to Liverpool in the league. A week after the title slipped out of Everton's grasp, they lost the FA Cup final 3–1 to Liverpool, but Richardson was not in the squad.

He made 113 appearances in all for the Toffees, scoring 16 goals.[10]

After making one appearance for Everton early in the 1986–87 season, he was sold to Watford for £225,000, helping the Hornets finish ninth in the First Division and reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup.[11]

After one season at Vicarage Road, Richardson was sold to Arsenal for £200,000.[12] Richardson succeeded Graham Rix on the Arsenal left wing, and played in the 1988 League Cup Final as Arsenal lost to Luton Town,[9] before moving over to the right for Arsenal's 1988–89 title-winning season to cover for the injured Paul Davis. Most notably, Richardson played in Arsenal's dramatic victory at Anfield where they won the title in the last minute of the last game of the season. Now a Championship winner at two different clubs, Richardson continued to be a regular the following season at Arsenal; however, he never totally got on with Gunners manager George Graham[13] and he was transferred to Real Sociedad for £750,000 in the summer of 1990, where he was paired up with new signing Dalian Atkinson and former Liverpool striker John Aldridge. He had made a total of 121 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal, and scored eight goals.[14]

Richardson spent one season in Spain before returning to England in the summer of 1991, signing for Ron Atkinson's Aston Villa for £450,000, and was an ever-present in his first two seasons at the club.[15] Richardson became Villa's captain, and led the club to runners-up spot in the inaugural season of the Premier League and victory over Manchester United in the 1994 League Cup Final,[9] in which he won the Man of the Match award.[16] In May 1994, when at the height of his success with Villa, he also won his one and only cap for England, in a 5–0 friendly victory over Greece on 17 May 1994.[1]

Atkinson was sacked as Villa manager in November 1994, with the club struggling near the foot of the Premier League, and his successor Brian Little signed midfielder Ian Taylor the following month. Atkinson was appointed manager of Coventry City three months later, and swiftly made Richardson one of his first signings in a £300,000 deal.

Richardson spent the next two-and-a-half years at the Sky Blues repeatedly fending off relegation under both Atkinson and his successor, Gordon Strachan.[17] He left Coventry in September 1997, having scored once in the League Cup against Hull City,[18] and had spells at Southampton, Barnsley[19] and finally Blackpool.[4] Richardson retired from playing in 2000, his career finishing on a low after Blackpool were relegated to Division Three in his final game.

Coaching career

After retirement, Richardson took up coaching. He became youth team manager at Sunderland, and then Carlton Palmer's assistant at Stockport County in 2001. He returned to Sunderland as reserve team coach in 2004[20] and became first team coach following the club's takeover by a consortium headed by Niall Quinn.[21] Incoming manager Roy Keane initially retained Richardson in this capacity before replacing him with former Manchester United coach Neil Bailey.[20] Richardson then went to Newcastle United's Academy as a team coach. In October 2009 he was appointed as assistant manager to Steve Staunton at Darlington.[22] He was reappointed as a youth team coach at Newcastle, where he coaches the club's under-17 outfit.[6][7]

Honours

Everton

Arsenal

Aston Villa

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References
  1. "Kevin Richardson". Englandstats. Retrieved 6 January 2009.
  2. "Kevin Richardson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  3. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  4. "Kevin Richardson". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  5. "Kevin Richardson". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  6. "Newcastle United youth team coach Kevin Richardson". Chronicle Live.co.uk.
  7. "Aston Villa the class of 94: Where are they now?". Birmingham Mail.co.uk.
  8. Lamb, Liz (14 November 2008). "Club's Generations of Goals And Glory" (reprint). Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Entrepreneur Media. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  9. Fort, Didier (25 February 2001). "England – League Cup Finals 1961–2001". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  10. "Kevin Richardson: Profile". Everton FC.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  12. "Kevin Richardson Arsenal FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  13. "Open questions to Alan Smith". Telegraph.co.uk.
  14. "Kevin Richardson". 11v11.com.
  15. "Kevin Richardson Aston Villa FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  16. "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". The Football League. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  17. "Previous Managers". Coventry City F.C. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  18. "Coventry 2 (2) – 0 (0) Hull". Soccerbase. 20 September 1995. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  19. "Kevin Richardson Barnsley FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  20. Laws, Ian (29 November 2007). "Black Cats offload Richardson". Sunderland Echo. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  21. "Quinn searches for world class boss". Sunderland Echo. 25 July 2006. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  22. Wilson, Scott (5 October 2009). "Darlington appoint Staunton as manager". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  23. "Kevin Richardson: Profile". Eurosport.com.
  24. "Charity Shield". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  25. "Charity Shield". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  26. "Kevin Richardson". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  27. "Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy 1988". Football Database. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
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