Kevin Richardson (born 4 December 1962) is an English football coach and former

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 ...

who is under-18's coach at

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 Fo ...

side Newcastle United. As a player he played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in England's top flight for Everton and Arsenal before a spell in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

with Real Sociedad. He later spent time in the newly-formed

with Aston Villa,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He also played in the Football League for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, Barnsley and Blackpool. He was also

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

. Since retiring, Richardson has worked on the coaching staff of Sunderland,

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, Darlington and Newcastle United in a variety of roles.

Playing career

Richardson was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

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

, the young Richardson often had to be content with deputising for the likes of

Paul Bracewell Paul William Bracewell (born 19 July 1962) is an English former professional football player and manager. Bracewell played as a midfielder. He was a member of the Everton side that won the League title in 1985 and 1987 as well as the Europe ...

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

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 Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

after a replay and won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 1984. He picked up a First Division title medal and a

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

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

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

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 Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cas ...

, Richardson was sold to Arsenal for £200,000. Richardson succeeded

Graham Rix Graham Cyril Rix (born 23 October 1957) is an English former professional football player who later became a coach and manager. He is the current manager of Fareham Town. He played for Arsenal for thirteen years, then Brentford (on loan), Cae ...

on the Arsenal left wing, and played in the 1988 League Cup Final as Arsenal lost to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, 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 Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

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 George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...

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 Dalian Robert Atkinson (21 March 1968 – 15 August 2016) was an English professional footballer who played as a striker. During his club football career, he played in England for Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Manchester Ci ...

and former Liverpool striker

John Aldridge John William Aldridge (born 18 September 1958) is a former football player and manager. He was a prolific, record-breaking striker best known for his time with English club Liverpool in the late 1980s. His tally of 330 Football League goals is ...

. 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 Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

'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

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in a 5–0 friendly victory over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

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

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 Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Co ...

. He left Coventry in September 1997, having scored once in the League Cup against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, and had spells at

, Barnsley and finally Blackpool. Richardson retired from playing in 2000, his career finishing on a low after Blackpool were relegated to

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...

in his final game.

Coaching career

After retirement, Richardson took up coaching. He became youth team manager at Sunderland, and then

Carlton Palmer Carlton Lloyd Palmer (born 5 December 1965) is an English football manager, former footballer and football television pundit whose last management role was as manager of Grantham Town. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1984 to 2005, play ...

's assistant at

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 Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and S ...

. 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 Stephen Staunton (born 19 January 1969) is an Irish football manager, scout and former professional footballer. He played as a defender with two separate spells each with Premier League sides Aston Villa and Liverpool. He also played in the Fo ...

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 *

: 1983–84 * FA Charity Shield:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

(shared) *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: 1984–85 Arsenal * First Division: 1988–89 Aston Villa * Football League Cup: 1993–94

References

External links

* * *
Stats and photos
at Sporting Heroes

in ''The Independent'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Kevin 1962 births Living people Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English footballers England international footballers English expatriates in Spain 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 footballers in Spain Stockport County F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players