Dean Richards (footballer)

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Personal information
Dean Richards
Full name	Dean Ivor Richards
Date of birth	June 9, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth	Bradford, England
Height	6 ft 2 in
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
1990-1992	Bradford City
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992-1995 1995-1999 1999-2001 2001-2005	Bradford City Wolverhampton Wanderers Southampton Tottenham Hotspur	86 (4) 122 (7) 67 (3) 73 (4)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Dean Richards (born June 9, 1974 in Bradford) is a former English footballer.

A powerful central-defender, he started his career at his home town club Bradford City.

He moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a fee of £185,000 in March 1995 to further his career, although ironically Bradford reached the Premiership before Wolves.

In July 1999, he reached the Premiership when he was signed for Southampton by Dave Jones on a free transfer. He settled quickly into the Southampton side despite replacing the popular Ken Monkou. He was able to get the better of most Premiership strikers and was voted the fans' Player of the Year at the end of his first season.

He impressed new manager Glenn Hoddle so much that, when Hoddle moved to Tottenham in March 2001, he tried to take Richards with him. This led to a drawn-out battle of words between Rupert Lowe and the Tottenham board, which ended when Spurs paid £8.1 million to persuade Lowe to release Richards from his contract which he had only signed a few months earlier.

Richards never realised his full potential at Tottenham due to persistent injury problems, and never fulfilled his ambition to play for his country.

In March 2005, he announced his retirement from the game due to illness after receiving "evidence that it would be harmful to his health to continue". He said: "I am obviously deeply disappointed to be giving up the sport I love, but it's the only choice." He was suffering from frequent dizzy spells and headaches owing to an inner-ear infection.

It was rumoured that, having gained his coaching qualifications, Richards would be returning to Bradford City as a youth team coach[1], however this was denied on 24 May 2006 by one of the club's directors[2].