Richard Adrian Newman (born 5 August 1970) is an English football coach and 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 played as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

. He notably played in the

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 ...

for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

for several seasons and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

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 ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

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 ...

. Described as a "tough tackler", he also played non-League football for Maidstone United and

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Waverley, Surrey, England. It lies southeast of Guildford on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner ...

. Following retirement he briefly moved into coaching and managed Aldershot Town's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

during the 2008–09 season.

Career

Crystal Palace

Newman began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

and signed his first professional contract in January 1988. Palace's promotions through the divisions meant that Newman had a slow start to life at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

and he time on loan at Fourth Division club Maidstone United late in the 1991–92 season. After winning a First Division championship medal at the end of the 1993–94 season, he went on to become a regular in the

during 1994–95, making 46 appearances and scoring three goals. Newman left Crystal Palace in July 1995, having made 62 appearances and scored three goals during seven and a half years as a professional at Selhurst Park.

Millwall

Newman joined First Division club

for a £500,000 fee on 19 July 1995. He made 41 appearances and scored one goal during a 1995–96 season in which the Lions occupied either of the two automatic promotion places between August and December 1995 and collapsed in the second half of the season to suffer relegation to the Second Division. Newman remained with Millwall for four further seasons in the Second Division and departed

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

in July 2000, having made 168 appearances and scored five goals.

Reading

On 18 March 2000, Newman joined Second Division club

on loan until the end of the 1999–00 season. He made seven appearances and scored one goal during his spell and joined the Royals on a permanent basis on 25 July 2000. He featured as virtual ever-present during the 2000–01 season, before suffering a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury after 49 minutes of a 2–2 draw with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

on 21 April 2001. After two operations on his right knee, Newman returned fit for the 2002–03

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

. With the Royals now playing in the First Division, a back injury delayed Newman's comeback until 7 September 2002 and he went on to make 32 appearances during the season. He signed a new one-year contract during the 2003 off-season and turned down a move to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

to secure another extension one year later. Newman was released by the Premier League-bound club at the end of the 2004–05 season and in just over five years at the

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (), currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in EFL League One. It also provides the ...

, he made 137 appearances and scored two goals.

Brentford

Newman joined League One club

on a one-year contract on 10 June 2005. The move reunited him with manager

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and ...

, previously assistant manager at Reading. Newman was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, but was sidelined by an injury to his right knee in July, which required three operations to correct. Newman finally made his debut in a

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 ...

first round

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

defeat to

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 ...

on 18 October 2005 and played the full 120 minutes. He was a presence in the

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

, amassing 10 yellow cards and one red during the course of the 2005–06 season. Promotion-chasing Brentford's season came to an end after a 3–1 aggregate defeat to

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 ...

in the playoff semi-finals. Newman was released in May 2006 and made 39 appearances and three goals during the 2005–06 season.

Aldershot Town

Newman dropped down to the

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

to join

on a free transfer on 1 August 2006. He made 41 appearances during the 2006–07 season and signed a new one-year contract at the end of the campaign, but was forced to undergo surgery on a

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

problem in July 2007. Newman returned to the team on 1 September 2007 and had a successful season, winning the Conference Premier title (which secured promotion to the

) and the

Conference League Cup The National League Cup is an annual association football competition in England. The National League Cup is open to clubs playing in the National League and, since its revival in 2024, professional under-21 teams playing in the Premier League 2. ...

. In May 2008, Newman signed a new one-year contract and was named as

coach by manager Gary Waddock. He made 19 appearances during his final season of professional football and was released in May 2009, due to budget constraints. During his three seasons at the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

, Newman made 92 appearances and scored two goals.

Cranleigh

Newman returned to football when he joined

Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) The Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) is one of the three intermediate football (soccer), football leagues which has most of its teams in the English county of Surrey and is the smaller of the two feeder leagues to the Surrey Premier Co ...

First Division club Cranleigh early in the 2010–11 season. He had a successful first season with the club, scoring 11 goals in 24 appearances and winning promotion to the Premier Division. He played on with the club in the Premier Division for three further seasons and made his final appearance, at age 43, on 25 January 2014.

Career statistics

Honours

Crystal Palace *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1993–94 Reading *

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 ...

: 2004–05 Aldershot Town *

: 2007–08 *

Hampshire Senior Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup is a cup competition open to football teams affiliated with the Hampshire Football Association. The competition was founded in 1887 and has been contested every year since, except 1914 to 1919 when it was postponed due t ...

: 2006–07 Cranleigh *

First Division: 2010–11

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Ricky 1970 births Footballers from Guildford Living people Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Millwall F.C. players Reading F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players