Frazer Richardson

Frazer Richardson

Personal information
Date of birth	29 October 1982
Place of birth	Rotherham, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current team	Rotherham United
Number	16
Youth career
	Leeds United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2001–2009	Leeds United	151	(3)
2003	→ Stoke City (loan)	7	(0)
2003	→ Stoke City (loan)	6	(1)
2009–2010	Charlton Athletic	40	(1)
2010–2013	Southampton	60	(0)
2013–2014	Middlesbrough	11	(0)
2014	→ Ipswich Town (loan)	7	(0)
2014–	Rotherham United	30	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:24, 10 February 2016 (UTC). † Appearances (goals)

Frazer Richardson (born 29 October 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays for Rotherham United.

Richardson began his career with Leeds United where he spent nine years making 186 appearances only interrupted by two loan spells at Stoke City in 2003. He joined Charlton Athletic in July 2009 where he spent the 2009–10 season. He then had spells with Southampton, Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town before joining his home-town club Rotherham United in June 2014.

Career

Leeds United

Richardson made his Leeds debut as a second-half substitute against Hapoel Tel Aviv during the 2002–03 UEFA Cup campaign. He made his full debut against Arsenal at right full-back, a position he was tipped to have on a permanent basis after the retirement of first team regular Gary Kelly. Richardson suffered Premiership relegation with Leeds in 2004. Since then, Richardson covered a variety of roles for Leeds. He spent two spells on loan at Stoke City in 2003, scoring once against West Ham.^[1]

Richardson scored his first Leeds goal on his second start for the club, the goal turning out to be the winner against Derby County in the opening game of the 2004–05 campaign (because the game was a 12:15 kick-off on Sky Sports, this was actually the first ever goal in the newly rebranded "Football League Championship"). Richardson was then replaced on the right of midfield by John Oster. However, an injury to Stephen Crainey meant Richardson was given a chance to establish himself at left full-back. However, his spell was short lived after Manager Kevin Blackwell chose to play the likes of Danny Pugh and Matthew Kilgallon in that position.

Prior to the 2005–06 campaign, Richardson was subject to two bids from Sunderland, both which were rejected by Leeds' chairman, Ken Bates.^[2] Several months later, Richardson signed a new contract with Leeds, pledging his future to the club until August 2008.^[3]

That season, Richardson infrequently played on the right of midfield – competing for his position with Ian Moore (himself preferring to play as a forward), Jonathan Douglas and David Healy (who preferred to play out of position rather than as a substitute). Richardson scored in the Play-off semi final away leg win against Preston North End for Leeds in May 2006, playing in an unusual attacking wide right position, though he reverted to a more familiar role for the Play-off final defeat against Watford a few weeks later. In the 2006–07 season, Richardson hardly featured under Blackwell in the Leeds team at all due to injuries. Under new manager Dennis Wise, Richardson played more regularly in the Leeds starting line-up, replacing the injured Gary Kelly at right back.

On the retirement of Kelly, Richardson was given the number two shirt and became the club's first choice right back and started all the club's matches in the 2007–08 season until injury ruled him out on 2 February. Under former Leeds manager Gary McAllister, Richardson also played in the left-back position, playing a few games there as a replacement for on-loan Leicester City defender Alan Sheehan. After a poor performance in this position against Cheltenham Town, Richardson was booed off the pitch by Leeds fans and did not play for a few weeks after. He returned in his usual right-back position as a replacement for the injured Darren Kenton in their 1–0 win over Doncaster Rovers.

Richardson was appointed Leeds captain in August 2008 by McAllister, and remained club captain despite injury under new manager Simon Grayson.^[4] Richardson made his final appearance for Leeds as a late substitute against Northampton Town, this was to be his first game for Leeds for several weeks, and also it proved to be his last appearance for the Elland Road side.

Leeds United confirmed on 16 June 2009 that they would not continue contract negotiations with him due to the signing of former Northampton captain Jason Crowe. Richardson was released due to his contract ending on 30 June 2009. In July 2010, Lloyd Sam revealed that Richardson had never wanted to leave Leeds.^[5]

Charlton Athletic

On 9 July, Richardson signed for Charlton Athletic on a free transfer on a two-year deal. He scored his first for the club in a 2–2 draw with Gillingham on 20 March 2010.^[6] In May 2010, he was selected in the Football League One PFA Team of the Year for the 2009–10 season. Richardson was part of the Charlton side which reached the League 1 playoffs, they were knocked out of the playoffs after losing on penalties to Swindon Town, Richardson scored his penalty, but Charlton lost and Richardson suffered his fourth playoff campaign defeat in his career.

Southampton

On 6 July 2010, Richardson signed for League One club Southampton for an undisclosed fee,^[7] in a deal reportedly worth £450,000.^[8] After the club's second pre-season game, against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on 17 July 2010, the club revealed that Richardson had suffered an injury in the form of a dislocated shoulder "during a routine training session as he went to make a headed clearance and landed awkwardly".^[9] The new signing was flown back to England immediately for treatment, and the club estimate that he will be out of action for approximately three months, ruling him out of the beginning of the season.^[9] He made his debut in a 3–1 victory away at Notts County. Richardson began the 2011–12 season as first choice right back for Southampton, featuring in the first game of the season against former club Leeds United, where Southampton were 3–1 winners.

On 4 June 2013 he was released by the club.^[10]

Middlesbrough

On 2 August 2013, Richardson was signed by Middlesbrough.^[11] He made his full debut on 10 August in a 1–0 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley. Richardson joined Ipswich Town on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season on 25 January 2014.^[12]

Rotherham United

Richardson joined his home-town club Rotherham United on 27 June 2014, signing a two-year contract.^[13]

Career statistics

As of match played 6 February 2016^[14]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Leeds United	2002–03	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
	2003–04	Premier League	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	2004–05	Championship	38	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	41	1
	2005–06	Championship	23	1	0	0	3	1	2	1	28	3
	2006–07	Championship	22	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	24	0
	2007–08	League One	41	1	1	0	1	0	2	0	45	1
	2008–09	League One	23	0	2	0	3	0	1	0	29	0
	Total		151	3	5	0	11	1	6	1	173	5
Stoke City (loan)	2002–03	First Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	2003–04	First Division	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
	Total		13	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	1
Charlton Athletic	2009–10	League One	38	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	40	1
	Total		38	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	40	1
Southampton	2010–11	League One	21	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	24	0
	2011–12	Championship	34	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	37	0
	2012–13	Premier League	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	7	0
	Total		60	0	5	0	3	0	0	0	68	0
Middlesbrough	2013–14	Championship	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
Ipswich Town (loan)	2013–14	Championship	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Rotherham United	2014–15	Championship	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	0
	2015–16	Championship	7	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	10	0
	Total		30	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	33	0
Career total			312	5	11	0	16	1	8	1	345	7

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League play-offs Football League Trophy and UEFA Cup.

Honours

Southampton

• Football League One runners-up: 2010–11
• Football League Championship runners-up: 2011–12

References

1. "West Ham 0–1 Stoke". BBC Sport. 9 December 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
2. Peter ORourke (26 May 2005). "Bates slams Richardson bids". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
3. James Pearson (19 May 2005). "Frazer commits to Leeds". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
4. "Leeds name Richardson as captain". BBC News. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
5. "Leeds United sign former Charlton midfielder Lloyd Sam". BBC News. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
6. "Charlton 2–2 Gillingham". BBC Sport. 20 March 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
7. "Frazer Richardson completes Southampton move". BBC. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
8. "Southampton sign Frazer Richardson from Charlton". This Is Hampshire. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
9. "Richardson Suffers Injury Blow". Southampton F.C. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
10. "2012/13 Released List". Southampton FC. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
11. "Frazer Joins Boro". Middlesbrough F.C. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
12. "Transfer window: Boro's Frazer Richardson joins Ipswich on loan". BBC Sport. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
13. "Rotherham sign Febian Brandy and Frazer Richardson". BBC Sport. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
14. "Frazer Richardson". Soccerbase. Retrieved 10 February 2016.

External links

• Frazer Richardson career statistics at Soccerbase