For the Hollyoaks actor, see Kieron Richardson english association football musician

Kieran Edward Richardson ( born 21 October 1984 ) is an english former professional football player who played as a winger, left-back, or central midfielder.

Richardson began his career as a trainee at West Ham United, going on to play elder football at Manchester United, Sunderland, Fulham, Aston Villa and Cardiff City. He was capped eight times for England, scoring doubly .

Club career [edit ]

early career [edit ]

Richardson was born in Greenwich, London [ 1 ] and was schooled at the secret and non-selective Riverston School in Lee, London. [ 2 ] Growing up he would watch Arsenal with his church father Clyde who was a season ticket holder. [ 3 ] He began playing football at Parkwood Primary School and his talent was very apparent at this young long time, he was made master of his school team and was invited to train with Arsenal. [ 4 ] He then moved to West Ham United where he would begin training professionally. however, before he made his debut for the Londoners, he was signed by Manchester United in 2001. [ 4 ]

manchester United [edit ]

During his first season at Manchester United, Richardson established his place as a regular on United ‘s reserve team. [ citation needed ] He was given police squad number 42 for the first team, but he failed to make his introduction with them. [ citation needed ] He made his first gear appearance for Manchester United on 23 October 2002 when coming on as a former substitute in a meet against Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League. [ 5 ] He then scored his first goal for United in the League Cup on 5 November 2002 against Leicester City. [ 6 ] Richardson enjoyed his first breakthrough during the 2002–03 season appearing nine times and scoring a finish for the inaugural team. [ 7 ] He besides played a role in Manchester United ‘s young person team ‘s win of the 2003 FA Youth Cup. [ 8 ] At the start 2003–04, he was given police squad issue 23 and entirely appeared three times, all of them in League Cup and FA Cup. [ 9 ] During 2004–05, he started to become more involve with the first team. He had already made nine appearances and scored one goal during the first half of the season. [ 10 ] however, during the January transfer window, Alex Ferguson decided to loan him out in order for him to gain more first team experience. Richardson was linked with a lend travel to Norwich City, but Ferguson said there was no casual as other players had gone on loan. [ 11 ] Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson, director of West Bromwich Albion, enquired about loaning Richardson, the cope was done neat away. [ 12 ] Under Robson, Richardson made an blink of an eye impact on West Brom ‘s quest to escape relegation. He was a regular in West Brom ‘s first eleven, playing in central midfield. He scored three goals from 12 appearances [ 10 ] as West Bromwich successfully avoided delegating, despite starting the final day of the season on the bottomland of the table. [ 13 ] At the begin 2005–06, Richardson declined a foster loan while at West Brom in an attack to win a regular place at Old Trafford. [ 14 ] He made his break in Manchester United ‘s foremost eleven in September 2005, when he appeared as an emergency left back, in space of the injured Gabriel Heinze. [ citation needed ] He soon returned to midfield however, where he made several good performances. [ citation needed ] In October 2005, Richardson celebrated his twenty-first birthday by signing a raw four-year contract with United. [ 15 ] He went on to appear 36 times and score six goals that season. [ 16 ] In 2006–07, Richardson ‘s chances to establish himself in the first team were limited, chiefly playing in the League Cup and the FA Cup. [ 17 ] however, Richardson felt Alex Ferguson ‘s wrath as the child shouldered some of the blasted for United ‘s below-par performance against Crewe Alexandra in the League Cup. [ citation needed ] Ferguson publicly declared that Richardson and others would benefit from spending some prison term in United ‘s allow team. [ citation needed ] He scored one of United ‘s goals in the 4–1 FA Cup semi-final succeed over Watford, that put them into the final at the new Wembley Stadium. [ 18 ]

sunderland [edit ]

Richardson playing for Sunderland in 2011 On 16 July 2007, Richardson joined Sunderland for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £5.5 million. [ 19 ] He signed a four-year condense with Sunderland, [ 20 ] under the management of his former United captain Roy Keane. [ 21 ] After an immaterial startle, it was discovered that he had a try fracture of the spine. This led to him being out of action for about four months. [ 22 ] He scored his first goal for Sunderland on 29 December 2007 against Bolton Wanderers. [ 23 ] Richardson scored two goals in the 2–0 succeed against Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light on 13 January 2008, besides striking the legal profession to miss out on his hat-trick. [ 24 ] Since then he suffered a hamstring injury in training then this injury recurred in Sunderland ‘s 3–0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. [ citation needed ] On 23 August 2008, Richardson scored against Tottenham Hotspur in the 56th minute, in a 2–1 succeed at White Hart Lane. [ citation needed ] Richardson took a loose kick that hit the post three times at Fulham on 18 October, and later had another exempt gripe disallowed as Pascal Chimbonda was adjudged to be pushing in the wall. [ 25 ] On 25 October 2008, Richardson scored the winning goal in the Tyne–Wear bowler hat, with a free kick. [ 26 ] Richardson attracted matter to from Bolton Wanderers in the 2009 January transfer window, but coach Ricky Sbragia insisted that he was not for sale. [ 27 ] Richardson scored his first goal of 2009–10 with an counterweight against West Ham United, which ended 2–2. [ 28 ] Richardson was used in several positions throughout the season, whilst predominantly featuring in central midfield he besides played at left back – his performances there led to many touting him as a surprise World Cup inclusion. [ 29 ]

In the buildup to 2010–11, Richardson committed his future to the golf club by signing a newly three-year narrow. [ 30 ] soon after, he became first-choice leave back at the golf club citing brazilian full-back Maicon as inhalation for taking up his newfangled place, saying “ I watched the World Cup and saw the way guys like Maicon were bombing forward – and I thought “ I can do that ”. [ 31 ] He opened his scoring bill for the season on 22 January away to Blackpool scoring two goals in the first base half. [ 32 ] After deploying him in an attack character, Sunderland coach Steve Bruce hailed Richardson ‘s versatility saying “ I must have asked him to play in five or six positions this season and surely in that position he enjoys it, it ‘s something he revels in ”. He then added “ He was the outstanding player on the peddle. In the beginning half he was brilliant, his pace was superb. ” [ 33 ] Richardson scored directly from a free recoil in Sunderland ‘s future match, a 4–2 home get the better of to Chelsea. [ citation needed ] Richardson made his hundredth Premier League appearance for Sunderland at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 12 February, assisting Asamoah Gyan ‘s opener in a 2–1 kill. [ citation needed ] Richardson ‘s inaugural goal of 2011–12 came in a 2–1 defeat at Norwich. [ citation needed ] Richardson was on prey again in a frustration at Wolves under caretaker coach Eric Black, following Steve Bruce ‘s deviation. In this equal against Wolves on 4 December 2011, Richardson scored the open goal, a retentive image shot from the entrust, and celebrated by removing his shirt, revealing a jersey with the motto “ I belong to Jesus ”. [ 34 ] He was booked for removing his shirt. Sunderland went on to lose the match 2–1.Under newly coach Martin O’Neill, Richardson began to make impressive advance after being shifted into his choose left wing position, making another contribution in his team ‘s 3–2 victory away to Queens Park Rangers on 21 December 2011 after setting up two goals from corner kicks. [ citation needed ] On 18 February 2012, he scored his first base FA Cup finish for the club against Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in the fifth round in which he scored the first base finish in Sunderland ‘s 2–0 win. [ citation needed ]

Fulham [edit ]

Richardson playing for Fulham in 2013 On 31 August 2012, Richardson signed for Fulham from Sunderland for an undisclosed fee, reported to be approximately £2 million. [ 35 ] He scored his beginning goal for the clubhouse in a 2–2 draw against Southampton on 7 October. [ 36 ]

Aston Villa [edit ]

On 11 July 2014, Richardson signed for Aston Villa on a biennial contract and was reunited with his early coach at Sunderland, Roy Keane, who was Villa ‘s assistant coach at the time. [ 37 ] He made his debut in a 1–0 victory against Stoke. [ citation needed ] Richardson got his inaugural assist in a 2–1 victory against Hull City at Villa Park, sliding in a humble cross which Andreas Weimann slotted home plate from 10 yards. [ citation needed ] Richardson received a straight red menu on 13 December 2014 for a late challenge on Stéphane Sessègnon during a 1–0 away get the better of to West Brom. [ 38 ] After Villa ‘s relegation from the Premier League, on 10 June 2016, it was announced that Richardson would leave Villa on the death of his contract. [ 39 ]

belated career [edit ]

On 12 October 2016, Richardson joined Championship club Cardiff City on a compress until January 2017. [ 40 ] On 29 December 2016, Richardson was released from his contract. [ 41 ] On 12 April 2017, Richardson joined La Liga club Granada CF on test with a view to narrow until the end of 2016–17. [ 42 ]

International career [edit ]

During his quell at West Brom, he won his beginning detonator for the England under-21 team on 8 February 2005 in a friendly equal against the Netherlands. [ citation needed ] After a series of convincing performances for West Brom, he won a late call-up for England ‘s trip to the United States at the end of 2004–05. [ citation needed ] He started the match against the United States and scored doubly on his England debut, including one directly from a release kick. He earned praise from England director Sven-Göran Eriksson, who described Richardson ‘s debut as “ fantastic ”. [ 43 ] He besides appeared as a alternate on England ‘s second gear match in the United States against Colombia. [ 44 ] After earning senior caps, Richardson besides returned to the under-21 team, playing in both legs of the 2006 UEFA european Under-21 Championship qualification play-off against France, which they lost 3–2 on sum. The critical goal came in the 85th minute of the second base branch, when Richardson brought down Lassana Diarra in the box and the resulting penalty was converted. [ 45 ] He then made two far ersatz appearances during England ‘s World Cup qualifiers against Wales in Cardiff and Austria at Old Trafford. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] The latter was his base England debut. [ citation needed ] however, he was not selected by Sven-Göran Eriksson in England ‘s 2006 World Cup team. [ 48 ] In 2006–07, he continued to be selected by newly appointed England coach Steve McClaren and made several stand-in appearances. [ citation needed ] He went on to make promote appearances for the England U21 police squad, for whom he was eligible to play until the end of the 2007 UEFA european Under-21 Championship, where he made three appearances. [ citation needed ] however, he has neither started nor scored for the England senior team since his debut. [ citation needed ]

personal life [edit ]

Richardson is married to Natalie with whom he has two daughters, and who was the catalyst for him becoming a give birth again Christian. [ 3 ] In 2007 he said, “ I barely want to praise Jesus Christ and go to heaven. That ‘s all I care about ”. [ 49 ]

career statistics [edit ]

clubhouse [edit ]

As of 29 December 2016

International [edit ]

As of match played 15 November 2006[60]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
England 2005 4 2
2006 4 0
Total 8 2

International goals [edit ]

As of match played 15 November 2006. England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Richardson goal.[61]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 28 May 2005 Soldier Field, Chicago, United States 1  United States 1–0 2–1 Friendly [62]
2 2–0

Honours [edit ]

Manchester United Youth
Manchester United
Aston Villa

References [edit ]