Richard Flash

Richard Garfield Flash (born 8 April 1976) is an English former footballer. He made eleven appearances in the Football League for Watford, Lincoln City and Plymouth Argyle, before retiring due to injury in 1999.

Richard Flash
Personal information
Full name Richard Garfield Flash[1]
Date of birth (1976-04-08) 8 April 1976
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
000?–1992 Aston Villa
1992–1995 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995 Manchester United 0 (0)
1995–1996 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 (0)
1996–1998 Watford 1 (0)
1997–1998 → Lincoln City (loan) 5 (0)
1998–1999 Plymouth Argyle 5 (0)
Total 11 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Flash was born in Birmingham. As a schoolboy he was scouted by Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester United; Manchester United scout Geoff Watson persuaded him to sign schoolboy forms, and he went on to captain United's West Midland youth team, the Manchester Eagles, for three years, winning the Keele Classic at under-14 level. In 1990, he turned down the opportunity to move to the F.A's National School of Excellence at Lilleshall to train locally with Aston Villa and Birmingham City, in addition to Manchester United. However, an injury to his right knee at age 14 hampered his development.

Youth career

In 1992, he joined the ranks at Manchester United with Michael Appleton, Terry Cooke, David Johnson and Jovan Kirovski. During his seven-year club career, he played at youth team and reserve level and was roommates with David Beckham[2] and Terry Cooke. However, another knee injury sustained early in his Manchester United career, this time a dislocated right patella, forced him onto the sidelines for two years.[3]

Senior career

In 1995 Flash was signed by Graham Taylor and moved to reserve team level at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Graham Taylor re-signed him at Watford, where he made his senior debut as a substitute on 5 May 1997, but this was his only appearance for the club. After a brief spell on loan at Lincoln City he was injured again and sidelined for 6 months. Graham Taylor released him in 1998 but recommended him to Kevin Hodges at Plymouth Argyle, where he suffered a career-ending dislocation of his left patella in the 1998–99 season.

Personal life

Flash has a master's degree and has been manager of a branch of Goals Soccer Centres, a five-a-side football company;[3] as of October 2014 he is head of the academic department at UCFB.[2]

gollark: I mean, my phone can get 3G at home.
gollark: *2*G?
gollark: no.
gollark: Link?
gollark: I wonder, do they eventually delete servers with banned owners, pass adminship to someone else, or what?

References
  1. Cowdery, Rick & Curno, Mike (2009). Plymouth Argyle: Miscellany. Durrington: Pitch Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-905411-40-5.
  2. Andrew, James (4 October 2014). "Richard Flash once lived with David Beckham... but their lives went different ways after injury cut short midfielder's career". Daily Mail.
  3. "Interview: Richard Flash". Watford Legends. 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.