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Kevin Richardson (born 4 December 1962) is an English former footballer who made more than 500 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, playing for Everton, Watford, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Southampton, Barnsley and Blackpool, and also spent a season in La Liga with Real Sociedad. He was capped once for England.

Since retiring, Richardson has worked on the coaching staff of Sunderland, Stockport County, Darlington and Newcastle United in a variety of roles.

Playing career

Richardson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne where he played football for Montagu and North Fenham Boys club. 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 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.

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.

After one season at Vicarage Road, Richardson was sold to Arsenal for £200,000. Richardson succeeded Graham Rix on the Arsenal left wing, and played in the 1988 League Cup final as Arsenal lost to Luton Town, before moving over to play as a central midfielder for Arsenal's 1988–89 title-winning season to replace 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 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.

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. 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, in which he won the Man of the Match award. 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.

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. He left Coventry in September 1997, having scored once in the League Cup against Hull City, and had spells at Southampton, Barnsley and finally Blackpool. 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 and became first team coach following the club's takeover by a consortium headed by Niall Quinn. Incoming manager Roy Keane initially retained Richardson in this capacity before replacing him with former Manchester United coach Neil Bailey. 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. He was reappointed as a youth team coach at Newcastle, where he coaches the club's under-17 outfit.

Honours

Everton

• First Division: 1984–85
• FA Cup: 1983–84
• FA Charity Shield: 1984, 1986 (shared)
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1984–85

Arsenal

• First Division: 1988–89

Aston Villa

• Football League Cup: 1993–94

References

1. ^ "Kevin Richardson". Englandstats.com. 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. Lamb, Liz (14 November 2008). "Club's Generations of Goals And Glory" (reprint). Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Entrepreneur Media. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
7. ^ Fort, Didier (25 February 2001). "England – League Cup Finals 1961–2001". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
8. ^ "Kevin Richardson: Profile". Everton FC.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
9. "Kevin RICHARDSON – League Appearances – Everton FC".
10. "Kevin Richardson Arsenal FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
11. "it-was-a-wrench-leaving-arsenal".
12. Spurling, Jon (2001). All Guns Blazing-Arsenal in the 1980s. Aureus. p. 192.
13. "Open questions to Alan Smith". The Daily Telegraph. London.
14. Goals, class, a red Ferrari: Aldridge, Richardson and Atkinson at la Real, Sid Lowe, The Guardian, 25 February 2021
15. "Kevin Richardson". 11v11.com.
16. "Kevin Richardson Aston Villa FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
17. "Alan Hardaker Trophy Winners". The Football League. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
18. "Previous Managers". Coventry City F.C. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
19. "Coventry 2 (2) – 0 (0) Hull". Soccerbase. 20 September 1995. Archived from the original on 21 May 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
20. "Kevin Richardson Barnsley FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
21. ^ Laws, Ian (29 November 2007). "Black Cats offload Richardson". Sunderland Echo. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
22. "Quinn searches for world class boss". Sunderland Echo. 25 July 2006. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
23. Wilson, Scott (5 October 2009). "Darlington appoint Staunton as manager". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
24. "Newcastle United youth team coach Kevin Richardson". Chronicle Live.co.uk. 14 February 2015.
25. ^ "Aston Villa the class of 94: Where are they now?". Birmingham Mail.co.uk. 21 September 2021.
26. "Charity Shield". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
27. "Charity Shield". lfchistory.net. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
28. "Kevin Richardson: Profile". Eurosport.com.
29. "Kevin Richardson". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2017.

External links

• Kevin Richardson at Soccerbase
• Kevin Richardson at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
• Kevin Richardson at Englandstats.com
• Stats and photos at Sporting Heroes
• 1993 profile in The Independent

• 1962 births
• Living people
• Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne
• English men's footballers
• England men's international footballers
• English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
• Men's association football midfielders
• Everton F.C. players
• Watford F.C. players
• Arsenal F.C. players
• Real Sociedad footballers
• Aston Villa F.C. players
• Coventry City F.C. players
• Southampton F.C. players
• Barnsley F.C. players
• Blackpool F.C. players
• English Football League players
• La Liga players
• Premier League players
• Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
• Stockport County F.C. non-playing staff
• Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff
• Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff