Tom Oliver Richards (born 16 October 1994) is an English semi-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 plays as a

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. Richards spent his youth career at

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 ...

and made his senior debut on loan at

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

in 2014. He also spent time on loan 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 ...

before a permanent move in 2015. Richards spent five months in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

with fourth division side FC Kitzbühel before joining Walton Casuals in 2017. He joined

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

in February 2017.

Club career

Fulham

Richards joined

after a successful six-week trial in 2011, having been spotted playing Sunday league football. Adapting from a midfield role to full-back in his first season with the club, he lifted the Under-18s national title in 2012 before retaining the title alongside the

Dallas Cup The Dallas Cup is an annual international football tournament for invited youth teams. The tournament was established in 1980 and is held in Dallas, Texas, with FC Dallas serving as its host club. Venues used for the tournament include the Cotton ...

in 2013. On 10 July 2013, Richards signed a one-year deal with an option to extend for a further season. He joined the Under-21 squad ahead of the 2013–14 season, and after sixteen appearances for the youth side was rewarded with a loan spell 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 ...

. On 28 February 2014, Richards joined

on loan for the remainder of the season. He made his professional debut in a 0–0 draw at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

on 1 March. Richards made ten appearances for the League Two club before his return to

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

in May. On 21 February 2015, he joined

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 ...

club

on loan for the remainder of the season. Richards made his debut in a 3–1 victory over

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

on 3 March. He made nine appearances for the club during his loan spell.

Aldershot Town

On 6 June 2015, Richards joined

on a permanent basis following his impressive loan spell. Signing a one-year deal at the club, he scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 victory against

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

. With 27 appearances to his name during the 2015–16 campaign, Richards was released after the expiry of his contract and the arrival of new manager

Gary Waddock Gary Patrick Waddock (born 17 March 1962) is a former professional footballer. He is assistant head coach at Walsall. A midfielder, he spent most of his career playing for Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town. He also had stints at Belgian club ...

FC Kitzbühel

In July 2016, Richards joined

FC Kitzbühel The Regionalliga Tirol is a fourth-tier division of Austrian football introduced in the 2019–20 season as one of the successor of the ''Austrian Regionalliga West''. It covers the Austrian state of Tyrol and is one of five leagues at this lev ...

, an

n fourth-tier club. He scored two goals in 17 appearances prior to the winter break. In December 2016, he agreed to a contract termination allowing him to return to England.

Later career

On 26 January 2017, Richards joined Isthmian Division One South side Walton Casuals. On 28 January, he made his debut in a 3–2 victory against

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

. He went on to make four appearances for the club before his departure. Richards played his final game in a 3–7 defeat to East Grinstead Town on 11 February. On 17 February, Richards signed for

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

club

. He made his debut the following day in a 2–2 draw at

Weston Super Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its populatio ...

. On 30 July 2017, Richards joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division side

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

after not being able to agree a deal with Welling. He transferred to

Dorking Wanderers Dorking Wanderers Football Club is a professional football club based in Dorking, Surrey, England. Affiliated to the Surrey County Football Association, they are currently members of and play at Meadowbank. Formed in 1999 by a group of friends ...

in summer 2018 and later Kingstonian in July 2020. He signed for

in summer 2021.

Personal life

Richards is a Chelsea supporter, but would often watch

as a child due to his father and youth coach. As a child, Richards was nicknamed 'Duffer' due to a similarity in appearance to

Damien Duff Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish professional manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player. He is the manager of League of Ireland club Shelbourne F.C., Shelbourne. He began his pro ...

Career statistics

Honours

Dorking Wanderers *

Premier Division: 2018–19 Horsham *

Alan Turvey Trophy The Alan Turvey Trophy, also known as the Velocity Cup under a sponsorship deal, formerly the Isthmian League Cup, is a football knock-out cup competition organised by the Isthmian League in England. History Isthmian League Chairman and Presiden ...

: 2021–22

References

External links

*
Walton Casuals FC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Tom 1994 births Living people Footballers from Guildford Fulham F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Aldershot Town F.C. players Walton Casuals F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Leatherhead F.C. players Dorking Wanderers F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Horsham F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria 21st-century English sportsmen