Dave Richards (footballer, born 1993)

David Matthew Richards (born 31 December 1993) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for League One club Crewe Alexandra.

Dave Richards

Richards playing for Bristol City's development team in 2014
Personal information
Full name	David Matthew Richards[1]
Date of birth	31 December 1993
Place of birth	Abergavenny, Wales
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 ^1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Crewe Alexandra
Number	13
Youth career
2010–2012	Cardiff City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2014	Cardiff City	0	(0)
2012	→ Llanelli (loan)	5	(0)
2013	→ Chippenham Town (loan)	2	(0)
2013–2014	→ Bristol City (loan)	0	(0)
2014–2015	Bristol City	0	(0)
2015–	Crewe Alexandra	33	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:50, 12 October 2020 (UTC)

Early life

Richards was born in Abergavenny in Wales.

Club career

Cardiff City

Richards started his career with Cardiff City spending time out on loan to Llanelli in 2012[2] and with Chippenham Town in 2013.[3] In October 2013, Richards joined Bristol City on a loan deal which was made permanent in January 2014.[4]

Bristol City

Richards spent the majority of his career at City on the bench. During this time Bristol City won League One and Richards received a winners medal as an unused substitute as City beat Walsall to win the Football League Trophy.[5]

Crewe Alexandra

In July 2015, after his release from Bristol City, Richards signed for Crewe Alexandra.[6] Richard spent two years acting as understudy for Ben Garratt before making his senior debut in English football in September 2017 as Crewe lost 1–0 at Coventry City.[7]

In April 2017, Richards signed an extended Crewe Alexandra contract until at least 2019, with a year option.[8] That year option was automatically exercised by Crewe at the end of the 2018–19 season.[9] On 13 August 2019, Richards saved a vital penalty at Middlesbrough as Crewe beat the Championship side 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, earning the Cheshire side an EFL Cup second round home tie against Premier League side Aston Villa.[10] He also saved a penalty in his first league start of the season, at Grimsby Town on 7 September 2019, helping Crewe to a 2-0 win.[11]

Richards was offered a new contract in June 2020,[12] and agreed a two-year deal.[13]

Career statistics

As of match played 10 October 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cardiff City	2012–13	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2013–14	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Llanelli (loan)	2012	Welsh Premier League	5	0	—		—		—		5	0
Chippenham Town (loan)	2013	Southern League	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Bristol City (loan)	2013–14	League One	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
Bristol City	2014	League One	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2014–15	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Crewe Alexandra	2015–16	League One	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2016–17	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2017–18	League Two	11	0	2	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	14	0
	2018–19[14]	League Two	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	0
	2019–20[15]	League Two	2	0	0	0	2	0	3[lower-alpha 1]	0	7	0
	2020–21[16]	League One	1	0	0	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	4	0
	Total		18	0	2	0	4	0	6	0	30	0
Career total			25	0	2	0	4	0	6	0	37	0

1. Appearances in EFL Trophy

Honours

Bristol City

• Football League Trophy (1): 2015

References

1. "Retained List 2016-17" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
2. "Dave Richards: 2012/2013 Biography & Statistics". Welsh Premier. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
3. "Bluebirds sign Cardiff keeper on loan". Gazette & Herald. Gazette & Herald. 28 February 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
4. "Bristol City sign Cardiff City goalkeeper". BBC Football. BBC Football. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
5. "Crewe sign ex-Bristol City goalkeeper". BBC Football. BBC Football. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
6. "Crewe sign ex-Bristol City goalkeeper". BBC Football. BBC Football. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
7. "Coventry City 1–0 Crewe Alexandra". BBC Football. BBC Football. 30 September 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
8. "Contract: Dave Richards Signs Extended Crewe Deal". CreweAlex.net. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
9. "Crewe Alexandra: Nicky Hunt signs new deal, but George Ray rejects contract offer". BBC Sport. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
10. "Middlesbrough 2-2 Crewe Alexandra". BBC Sport. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
11. "Grimsby Town 0-2 Crewe Alexandra". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
12. Morse, Peter (10 June 2020). "Paul Green and Nicky Hunt released as Crewe Alex announce retained list". Cheshire Live. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
13. "Contract Extensions Update". Crewe Alexandra F.C. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
14. "Games played by Dave Richards in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
15. "Games played by Dave Richards in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
16. "Games played by Dave Richards in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

External links

• Dave Richards profile on the Crewe Alexandra F.C. website