Richard James Michael Stearman (born 19 August 1987) 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 ...

who is first team coach at

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

. He was a versatile defender, being able to play in any defensive slot although primarily a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He spent majority of his career at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. His career started at Leicester City, joining the

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1998, before turning professional in 2004, making his senior debut in the same year. He then joined

in 2008, where he would stay for seven years, with a loan spell at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

in 2013. He joined

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in 2015, staying there until 2017, he also had a loan spell back at Wolverhampton Wanderers during the 2016–17 season. Stearman then joined

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in 2017, in January 2020 after being released by United, Stearman joined

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

where he stayed until June 2021. In August 2021 Stearman joined

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

where he would stay for two years before being released in May 2023. In August 2023 Stearman joined

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

and was released in May 2024.

Club career

Leicester City

Stearman was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, West Midlands, and raised in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. He joined the

youth academy in 1998 having been spotted playing for his local side Harborough Town. Equally adept at playing at right-back or centre-back, he signed his first professional contract in 2004, shortly after having won Leicester's Young Player of the Year award in 2003–04. Stearman made his senior debut, aged 17, on 30 October 2004 in a goalless draw at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

. He scored his first senior goal in Leicester's 3–1 home victory over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on 2 April 2005 and finished his first season with eight appearances. He became a first team regular in 2005–06, and attracted a bid from

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, rejected by then-manager

Rob Kelly Robert Anthony Kelly (born 21 December 1964) is an English former footballer and manager. He is best known for his spell as manager of Leicester City, as well as being assistant manager at several clubs, he has also been a caretaker manager at ...

, who said he was unwilling to part with one of his players he considered a hot prospect. He remained with the club for two more seasons, and won both Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year awards in 2007–08.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

After Leicester were relegated to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

, Stearman signed for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

on 25 June 2008 in a four-year deal. He made his debut for Wolves in a 2–2 draw at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

on 9 August 2008. Towards the latter end of 2008 saw Stearman partnering England under-21s teammate

Michael Mancienne Michael Ian Mancienne (born 8 January 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in England, he played for the Seychelles national team. He played for football clubs in Germany, the United States, and England. Sc ...

in defence. On 3 May, he scored his first goal for the club, an injury time winner against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

, and received a championship winners medal. Stearman was also named in the PFA 2009 Championship team of the year alongside

Michael Kightly Michael John Kightly (born 24 January 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. Kightly was rejected as a schoolboy by Tottenham Hotspur but worked his way back to League football with Southend United. He aga ...

and

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Sylvan Augustus Ebanks-Blake (born 29 March 1986) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He played youth team football for Cambridge United F.C., Cambridge Uni ...

, voted for by his fellow professionals. With regular right back Kevin Foley out injured, Stearman had an extended run in the starting eleven early in their

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 Lea ...

return in 2009–10, during which he scored his first and only top flight goal, against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He featured throughout the first half of the season, but after being sent off against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in January 2011 he made only one further substitute appearance during the campaign. Stearman started 27 Premier League games – primarily replacing

Jody Craddock Jody Darryl Craddock (born 25 July 1975) is an English former professional Association football, footballer and artist who played as a centre back in the Premier League for Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverh ...

at centre back – during the following season as the club avoided relegation on the final day. He made another 28 starts during the 2011–12 season despite suffering a broken wrist, but the team were ultimately relegated back to the Championship Back in the Championship, Stearman fell out of favour at Wolves, and in January 2013 he moved on loan to

for the remainder of the current season, where he was reunited with his former Wolves manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

. Stearman returned to Wolves' first team in the 2013–14 season, with the team now in League One and under the management of

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is an English football manager and former player who played for Watford. He was most recently director of football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midf ...

. He was a regular in the side that won the League One title and during the summer signing a new contract that was to last until summer 2016. He remained a regular at the heart of Wolves' defence during the 2014–15 season as the club missed the play-offs on goal difference. His performances earned him both Fans' Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year Awards. The following season began with Stearman captaining the team in the absence of the injured

Danny Batth Daniel Tanveer Batth (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Blackburn Rovers. Batth began his career with his local side Wolverhampton Wanderers, joining their youth academy as a teen ...

but after only four league games, Wolves coach Kenny Jackett confirmed reports that Wolves had accepted an offer from Fulham for Stearman and he would be leaving Molineux. Although officially undisclosed, media reports placed the accepted bid at £2 million. Stearman departed having made a total of 234 appearances (scoring six times) for the club in three different divisions.

Fulham

On 1 September 2015, Stearman moved to another Championship club, signing a three-year deal (with the option of an additional year) with

. He made 29 league appearances for the club during the 2015–16 season but at the start of the following campaign was not used in the opening league matches. On 31 August 2016, less than a year after departing Wolves, he rejoined them on a season-long loan. On 28 January 2017, he scored his only goal on that spell against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

4th round, scoring in the first minute of a 2–1 victory.

Sheffield United

On 6 July 2017, it was announced that Stearman had signed for

for an undisclosed fee. He helped United to promotion to the Premier League on 28 April 2019.

Huddersfield Town

After being released by Sheffield United, Stearman signed an 18-month contract with

on 10 January 2020.

Derby County

On 6 August 2021, Stearman signed a one-year contract with

following a trial period with the club. On 8 July 2022, Stearman extended his time at Derby by a further year until 2023. Stearman was released by Derby on 10 May 2023 after 31 appearances over two seasons.

Solihull Moors

On 3 August 2023, Stearman joined

of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

on one-year contract, this was the first time Stearman would play

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

. In July 2024, Stearman announced his retirement from football.

International career

Stearman has represented England at Under-17 level in the 2004 European Championships and also at the Under-18 level. He was first called up by the England under-21 squad in November 2007 for the 2009 European Championship qualifiers, however he was an unused substitute in the games. He later received a second call-up from the under-21s when he was selected for a European Championship qualifier against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in September 2008. However, he was again an unused substitute in the game, and again in the qualifying play-offs against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in October 2008. Stearman made his debut in a 2–0 friendly win over the Czech Republic under-21s on 18 November 2008, and a 3–2 defeat to Ecuador on 11 February 2009. Stuart Pearce included him in the squad for the 2009 UEFA U21 championships when centre half and captain Steven Taylor withdrew due to injury. On 12 March 2011, the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

confirmed that they had contacted Stearman to play for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

as he has an Irish grandparent on his mother's side of the family. Irish sources say teammate Kevin Doyle initiated with contact the FAI, who followed up with a call to Stearman. In November 2012,

Stephen Hunt Stephen Hunt or Steven Hunt may refer to: Football *Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1981), Republic of Ireland footballer * Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1984), English footballer * Steve Hunt (footballer, born 1956), England, Coventry, Aston Vil ...

declared that Stearman had acquired an Irish passport.

Coaching career

Following his retirement in July 2024, Stearman remained with National League side Solihull Moors as first-team coach. On 26 March 2025, Stearman joined Championship side

as assistant coach until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

: 2008–09 *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2013–14 Sheffield United *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

second-place promotion: 2018–19 Solihull Moors *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

runner-up: 2023–24 Individual *

Player of the Year: 2007–08 *Leicester City Players' Player of the Year: 2007–08 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2008–09 Championship *

Player of the Year: 2014–15

References

External links

England profile
at the FA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearman, Richard 1987 births Living people Footballers from Wolverhampton English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Harborough Town F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players English people of Irish descent English football coaches 21st-century English sportsmen Swansea City A.F.C. non-playing staff