Richard Carpenter (born 30 September 1972) is an English

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 ...

, born in Sheerness, who 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 ...

for Gillingham, Fulham, Cardiff City and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. He made more than 500 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

over a 15-year professional career.

Career

Carpenter began his football career with Gillingham, and was part of the team promoted to Division Two in the 1995–96 season. He went on to make more than 250 appearances for

, and captained the side. In 2004, Carpenter was required to pay undisclosed damages to

Chris Casper Christopher Martin Casper (born 28 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player who is now the director of football at League Two side Salford City. As a player he was a defender who played in the Premier League for Manches ...

following a tackle in a league match on Boxing Day 1999, during his time playing for Cardiff City, that left Casper with a double fracture to his leg that subsequently saw him retire from professional football. In February 2007 his contract was terminated by mutual consent, and he signed for Conference South club

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

, where he became club captain and briefly caretaker manager, before leaving the club at the end of the 2007–08 season. In February 2010, Carpenter played a one-off game for

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

in a sixth round FA Vase tie at Gresley Rovers to solve an injury crisis, as a favour for the Hawks' manager Darren Freeman. He then came out of retirement to play for

during their first season in

Isthmian League Division One South The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Personal life

In 2012, Carpenter was sentenced to 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to an assault charge following a brawl in The Red Lion pub in

Hernhill Hernhill is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in southeast England. The parish includes the hamlets of Crockham, Dargate, The Fostall, Lamberhurst, Oakwell, Staple Street, Thread, Waterham and Wey Street. Churches Duri ...

References

External links

* 1972 births Living people People from Sheerness English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Gillingham F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Welling United F.C. players English Football League players Welling United F.C. managers Whitehawk F.C. players English football managers English Romani people {{England-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub