Richard Andrew Dryden (born 14 June 1969) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

turned

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Playing career

Born in

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, Dryden started his career as a trainee with

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

, joining them as a professional on 14 July 1987. He then joined

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

on 22 September 1988 before signing permanently on 8 March 1989 for a fee of £10,000, where he first played under manager Terry Cooper. During Dryden's time at Exeter, he made a total of 92 appearances and also spent time on loan with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. While at Exeter, he played a major part in their 1989–90 Fourth Division title triumph.

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

was the next stop for Dryden, joining on 9 August 1991 for a fee of £250,000. He moved on to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

for £165,000 on 19 March 1993, where he was re-united with Terry Cooper. After Birmingham, Dryden moved on 16 December 1994 to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

for a fee of £140,000, the rivals of his first club, Bristol Rovers. On the recommendation of Terry Cooper, now Southampton's chief scout, Dryden moved to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on 6 August 1996 for £150,000. He made his debut on 18 August 1996 at home to Chelsea and successfully marked

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; 9 July 1964 – 5 January 2023) was an Italian football player and manager who played as a striker. Vialli started his club career at his hometown club Cremonese in 1980, where he made 105 league appearances and scored 23 g ...

out of the game in a 0–0 draw. Although he featured regularly in the first team under manager

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

in 1996–97 (making 29 league appearances), the remainder of his time at The Dell was difficult as Southampton had 5 managers during the course of his 5 seasons with the club. He played a total of 54 games for the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

side, scoring 4 goals in all competitions. Three of these goals came in Southampton's run in the 1996–97 League Cup. This included a goal against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

and two against

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

; one in the original tie and another in the replay. His only other goal for Southampton came against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in the league. He was also loaned out to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

while at Southampton. Whilst at Stoke he played as a substitute as they won the 2000 Football League Trophy Final. He signed on loan for Swindon on 24 November 2000. Dryden's spell at the club hardly started well – he was credited with an own goal on his debut, during a 3–0 loss at home against

on 25 November. This was followed by two consecutive victories against

and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

, but his final four appearances for Swindon all ended in defeat. On 2 February 2001, Dryden joined

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

on a permanent contract. He moved on to

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

on 11 July 2002 after playing for the club on loan in the 2001–02 season. May 2003 saw him join

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous clubs The club claims it w ...

for a brief spell before moving to Tamworth.

Managerial and coaching career

Dryden was appointed assistant manager of Tamworth when Mark Cooper took charge of the club in April 2004. On 24 January 2007, Dryden's contract with Tamworth was terminated by mutual consent, at the same time as Cooper's contract. In March 2007, Dryden signed for Shepshed Dynamo. In November 2007, he became manager of Conference North club

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

but left this post after being sacked on 17 January 2010. He was subsequently appointed assistant manager at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, but was dismissed together with Mark Cooper on 14 October 2011. Dryden was appointed as

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

's head of youth team coaching in July 2012, working alongside youth team coach Steve Torpey. He left in December 2014 after a reorganisation of the club's youth coaching structure. In October 2015, he was officially confirmed as the new under 21s manager at

. Following the departure of

Ricardo Moniz Ricardo Moniz (born 17 June 1964) is a Dutch football manager and former player who is the head coach of Slovak club Trenčín. Playing career Moniz played for RKC Waalwijk, HFC Haarlem, Helmond Sport and Eindhoven. Coaching career Moniz was ...

as manager in January 2016, he was appointed caretaker manager of the first team. Following Mark Cooper's appointment as Notts County manager in March 2016, he became a part of Cooper's backroom team in the first team set-up once again. In June 2016, he joined Indian club

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

as assistant coach. In May 2021, Dryden followed Mark Cooper again to be his assistant at Barrow. On 20 March 2022, Dryden left the club following the mutual termination of Cooper's contract. Ahead of the 2025–26 season, after spending two seasons as assistant manager at

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

, Dryden was reunited with Mark Cooper once again after being appointed as first-team coach at

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Stoke City *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

: 1999–2000

References

External links