Richard Adrian Newman (born 5 August 1970) is an English football coach and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

. He notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

for several seasons and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

. Described as a "tough tackler", he also played non-League football for Maidstone United and

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parish, about southeast of Guildford in Surrey, England. It lies on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner of the Weald, a large remnant forest, the ma ...

. Following retirement he briefly moved into coaching and managed Aldershot Town's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

during the 2008–09 season.

Career

Crystal Palace

Newman began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

and signed his first professional contract in January 1988. Palace's promotions through the divisions meant that Newman had a slow start to life at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

and he time on loan at

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

club Maidstone United late in the 1991–92 season. After winning a First Division championship medal at the end of the 1993–94 season, he went on to become a regular in the

during 1994–95, making 46 appearances and scoring three goals. Newman left Crystal Palace in July 1995, having made 62 appearances and scored three goals during seven-and-a-half years as a professional at Selhurst Park.

Millwall

Newman joined First Division club

for a £500,000 fee on 19 July 1995. He made 41 appearances and scored one goal during a 1995–96 season in which the Lions occupied either of the two automatic promotion places between August and December 1995 and collapsed in the second half of the season to suffer relegation to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Newman remained with Millwall for four further seasons in the Second Division and departed

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it ...

in July 2000, having made 168 appearances and scored five goals.

Reading

On 18 March 2000, Newman joined Second Division club

on loan until the end of the 1999–00 season. He made seven appearances and scored one goal during his spell and joined the Royals on a permanent basis on 25 July 2000. He featured as virtual ever-present during the 2000–01 season, before suffering a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury after 49 minutes of a 2–2 draw with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on 21 April 2001. After two operations on his right knee, Newman returned fit for the 2002–03

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

. With the Royals now playing in the First Division, a back injury delayed Newman's comeback until 7 September 2002 and he went on to make 32 appearances during the season. He signed a new one-year contract during the 2003 off-season and turned down a move to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

to secure another extension one year later. Newman was released by the Premier League-bound club at the end of the 2004–05 season and in just over five years at the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Reading. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in the EFL Championship. It also provides the finish for the Rea ...

, he made 137 appearances and scored two goals.

Brentford

Newman joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on a one-year contract on 10 June 2005. The move reunited him with manager

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and So ...

, previously assistant manager at Reading. Newman was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, but was sidelined by an injury to his right knee in July, which required three operations to correct. Newman finally made his debut in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

first round

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

defeat to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

on 18 October 2005 and played the full 120 minutes. He was a presence in the

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, amassing 10

yellow cards Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

and one red during the course of the 2005–06 season. Promotion-chasing Brentford's season came to an end after a 3–1 aggregate defeat to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

in the playoff semi-finals. Newman was released in May 2006 and made 39 appearances and three goals during the 2005–06 season.

Aldershot Town

Newman dropped down to the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

to join

on a free transfer on 1 August 2006. He made 41 appearances during the 2006–07 season and signed a new one-year contract at the end of the campaign, but was forced to undergo surgery on a

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck an ...

problem in July 2007. Newman returned to the team on 1 September 2007 and had a successful season, winning the Conference Premier title (which secured promotion to the

) and the

Conference League Cup The Conference League Cup (formerly known as the Setanta Shield for sponsorship reasons, and before that the Bob Lord Trophy) was a football competition open to clubs playing in the Football Conference. History The competition was formed for ...

. In May 2008, Newman signed a new one-year contract and was named as

coach by manager Gary Waddock. He made 19 appearances during his final season of professional football and was released in May 2009, due to budget constraints. During his three seasons at the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, Newman made 92 appearances and scored two goals.

Cranleigh

Newman returned to football when he joined

Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) The Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) is one of the three intermediate football leagues which has most of its teams in the English county of Surrey and is the smaller of the two feeder leagues to the Surrey Elite Intermediate League. ...

First Division club Cranleigh early in the 2010–11 season. He had a successful first season with the club, scoring 11 goals in 24 appearances and winning promotion to the Premier Division. He played on with the club in the Premier Division for three further seasons and made his final appearance, at age 43, on 25 January 2014.

Career statistics

Honours

Crystal Palace *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1993–94 Reading *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

: 2004–05 Aldershot Town *

: 2007–08 *

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of 1914 to 1919 when it was p ...

: 2006–07 Cranleigh *

First Division: 2010–11

References

External links

*
Ricky Newman
at premierleague.com
Ricky Newman
at readingfc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Ricky 1970 births Sportspeople from Guildford Living people Association football midfielders English footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Millwall F.C. players Reading F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players Footballers from Surrey