Richard Edghill

Richard Edghill

Personal information
Full name	Richard Arlon Edghill
Date of birth	(1974-09-23) 23 September 1974
Place of birth	Oldham, England
Height
Position(s)	Right back
Team information
Current team	Manchester City (coach)
Youth career
1988–1993	Manchester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–2002	Manchester City	183	(1)
2000	→ Birmingham City (loan)	3	(0)
2002	Wigan Athletic	0	(0)
2003	Sheffield United	1	(0)
2003–2005	Queens Park Rangers	40	(0)
2005–2007	Bradford City	42	(1)
2007–2008	Macclesfield Town	16	(0)
Total		285	(2)
International career
1994	England B	1	(0)
1994	England U21	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 May 2009

Richard Arlon Edghill (born 23 September 1974 in Oldham, Greater Manchester) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1993 to 2008. He works as a soccer school coach at Premier League side Manchester City.

He spent the majority of his career with his home town club, Manchester City. He spent numerous seasons in the Premier League and remained with the club through several relegations, followed by several promotions. He also appeared for Birmingham City in a loan spell and after leaving City in 2002 he moved on to Wigan Athletic. Spells with Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers and Bradford City followed before ending his career with Macclesfield Town. He was capped by both England U21 and England B.

Club career

Manchester City

Edghill started his career with Manchester City as a product of the youth scheme which he joined as a schoolboy in 1988. His first team debut came in the 1993–94 season in a match against Wimbledon. Edghill was capped by England at under-21 and 'B' level, but his development was hampered by a series of serious injuries, including missing the entire 1996–97 season due to a knee injury. After recovery from this injury Edghill featured regularly in the first team for the next three seasons and also scored in the penalty shootout of the play-off final despite, at this point, never having scored in his professional career. In the 1999–2000 season an injury to team captain Andy Morrison saw Edghill take over as captain and he helped earn City promotion back into the Premiership. The 1999–2000 season also saw Richard score his first professional goal in a 2–0 win against Blackburn Rovers. However Edghill suffered a poor start to the 2000–01 season including a calamitous own goal in a 2–1 defeat against Coventry City Edghill lost his first team place, and he was loaned to Birmingham City.

The then City manager Joe Royle purchased both Richard Dunne and Laurent Charvet to replace Edghill. However Manchester City were going through a bad run of form and on 1 January 2001 Edghill returned to the starting line up along with Andy Morrison. However Royle was unsure of his best team hence the choice of personnel was often erratic. Manchester City were relegated and Kevin Keegan became manager. Keegan used a 3–5–2 formation with wing backs and Shaun Wright-Phillips was preferred at Right wing back to Richard Edghill. Keegan's acquisition of Sun Jihai served to further limit Richard's opportunities at the club and he was released at the end of the 2001–02 promotion winning campaign, having made a total of 207 appearances for the club in nine years.

Later career

Following his release Edghill had short unsuccessful spells with Wigan Athletic and Sheffield United before joining Queens Park Rangers in August 2003. In the 2005 close season Edghill joined Bradford City on a free transfer. He was released in May 2007.

Edghill joined Macclesfield Town on 13 July 2007, re-uniting himself with former City team-mate Ian Brightwell, manager of the League Two side. He stayed until the end of the season before being released by manager Keith Alexander.

International career

He was capped by both England U21 and England B. He was also called up to Terry Venables' get-together England squad in April 1995, but ultimately was never capped for the senior side.

Coaching career

Edghill helps out as a coach at former club Manchester City's soccer school.

External links

• Richard Edghill career statistics at Soccerbase