Micah Richards

Micah Richards

Personal information
Full name	Micah Lincoln Richards
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Manchester City
Number	2
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 December, 2007

Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988 in Birmingham) is an English footballer who is currently playing for Manchester City in the Premiership. A versatile defender, Richards can play in defence or in central midfield but has become known as a right back who is useful for a goal threat at set-pieces. On making his full England debut in November 2006, he was the youngest defender ever to be called up to the England squad.

Club career

Early career

Though his parents lived in Leeds, Richards was born in Birmingham as his parents were visiting relatives in the area at the time. Richards grew up in the Chapeltown district of Leeds, where he attended Archbishop Cranmer CofE Primary School. , later attending Wetherby High School, Wetherby. His potential was spotted by the school’s football coach David Moore, who drafted him into the school team at the age of seven. His boyhood team was Arsenal and his all-time favorite players are Ian Wright and Patrick Vieira.

Before this, Micah was drafted into the Farsley set up then went onto play for Oldham.

A few years later he played for Leeds City Boys. He went to Wetherby High, in Leeds, and was signed on schoolboy terms by Oldham Athletic at the age of 12. He made the short move to Manchester City in 2001, with Oldham Athletic reputedly having a 20% sell on clause. In July 2006 Manchester City reportedly tried to buy out the clause, but Oldham refused. He also attended the Brazilian Soccer Schools scheme and retains strong links with this programme, with his father Lincoln actually running a Brazilian Soccer School in Chapeltown, Leeds. Lately, in his column on BBC Sport he revealed he had a contract with Leeds United but he was released when he was around eight years old.

Manchester City

He made his first team debut on October 22 2005 against Arsenal, coming on as a substitute and was given his full debut on February 122006 against Charlton Athletic. Since making his first start he has played in the majority of Manchester City's matches, and was named as the club's Young Player of the Year for the 2005-06 season.

Richards came to national prominence when his 94th minute headed goal in a televised FA Cup fixture against Aston Villa gained City a replay. Following the game, an emotional Richards was interviewed by Garth Crooks live on BBC One. During the interview, he was asked about his goal and used the phrase "fucking hell", and then continued with the interview. At the end of the interview, host Gary Lineker apologised to the televised audience and put it down to "the inexperience of the young lad".

During the 2005-06 season, Richards captained the Manchester City youth team which reached the final of the FA Youth Cup. Richards missed the first leg of the final as he was on first team duty, but returned for the second leg. He helped his side to a 2-0 win over Liverpool, but Liverpool youth won the trophy 3-2 on aggregate.

In July 2006, Manchester City rejected a bid of £5m for Richards from Tottenham Hotspur. On July 25 2006 he signed a new four-year contract, quashing rumours of a move away from the City of Manchester Stadium. Throughout 2007, Richards was linked with a big money move away from Eastlands, with Chelsea the main contenders to sign the youngster for £15m+. Stuart Pearce said "I am not actively looking to sell Micah because he has a great future here. Whatever offers come in for him, it is going to take a ridiculously big offer to get him out of this football club.I would love to see Micah stay here, captain the club, and maybe be here for 10 years and carry the club on his back if he can. He is good enough to do it. I have not worked with anyone so good and so young.". He was rewarded with the number 2 shirt for the 2006-07 season, a traditional first team number, rather than the number 45 he wore in 2005-06.

Richards lost his temper with his manager Stuart Pearce in front of Sky TV cameras after he was substituted during the Blues' 1-0 defeat at the Madejski Stadium against Reading on September 11 2006. The teenage defender had to be calmed down by Paul Dickov after hurling his shirt out of the dug-out and following it up with a volley of abuse.

Richards' second City goal was also an injury time equaliser - this time in a 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park on September 30 2006. He started the 2007-2008 playing at centre-back. He put in a man of the match performance against Manchester United on the August 19 2007. This prompted extremely high praise not only from the English media, but more importantly from his boss, former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.

He captained the team for the first time on the September 16 2007 against Aston Villa in the absence of team mate Richard Dunne, making Richards the youngest ever City first team captain, beating the 21-year-old Steve Redmond.

In February 2008, he signed an improved contract and last until summer 2013.

At the end of February, Micah damaged cartilage in his right knee, putting him out for the rest of the season.

On 17th July 2008, Richards played his first full match back from injury in the 0-2 win against EB/Streymur in the First qualifying Round in the UEFA Cup.

On the 24 of August 2008, Micah was knocked unconcious after a clash of heads with team mate Tal Ben Haim. The match was stopped for 8 minutes while he received treatment on the pitch. He was later given the all clear after a scan and he left hospital on the same day as the incident. However, he returned for the 2nd round UEFA Qualifying clash against FC Midtjylland on 28 August 2008, playing in a new holding midfield role.

International career

In November 2006, Richards received a call-up to the England squad for a friendly against the Netherlands after playing only 28 professional club matches. He had previously won three caps for the England under 21 team, and was chosen to start the game on November 15 2006 against the Netherlands after regular right back Gary Neville withdrew through injury. It made him England's youngest-ever defender, breaking the record previously held by Rio Ferdinand. He scored his first international goal in the qualifying-round match of Euro 2008 against Israel with a header on September 8 2007.

Off the pitch

BBC Column

Richards has a weekly column on the BBC Sport website, in which he writes about his footballing life.[1]

References

• Manchester City F.C. official match programme, 2 April 2006

External links

• Micah Richards Official Website The Official Website of Micah Richards
• Micah Richards at Brazilian Soccer Schools
• Profile at SEM
• Goal.com profile
• Micah Richards at Soccerbase
• Micah Richards at Englandstats.com