On Saturday morning news filtered through of the sad passing of Dean Richards after losing a battle with illness at the young age of 36. Immediately I phoned my father to break the news, much the same as you would if a family member passed, but this time we’d lost a member from our football family.
I was lucky enough to see Richards many times during the time I think he was at his best, his early Wolves days before the car crash and the injuries that stuttered his career. Of course he went on to play in the Premier League and command a transfer fee of £8.1m with Southampton and Spurs, but when I first saw Richards play for Wolves, I felt like we were watching something revolutionary in an English centre half. ‘Deano’ was elegant, composed and calm, playing the game with an ease not witnessed in the modern game, especially at Molineux. Centre-halves nowadays regularly advance the ball from defence, striding up the pitch with the skills more akin to a silky midfielder, but in the ‘90s when Richards wore the old gold, to see such an assured use of the ball from a defender was something new. Deano did all the above, matching it with the more traditional burly attributes of a big defender while also chipping in with a few goals – famously his header versus West Brom will live long in the memory. Such talent could have led to Richards playing at the very top in the Premier League and representing England were it not for his ill health and terrible luck with injuries.
When I can’t sleep at night, I often run through in my head who would make up my ultimate Wolves team since my time as a fan. Richards is always at centre back. Always.
His loss has hit hard, I spent much of the weekend reminding myself of his talents on various websites and YouTube, and each time have felt a sadness I didn’t think I’d feel when it came to footballers. This time it was different. With so many footballers nowadays bringing themselves a bad name, Richards was the ultimate professional and a good family man to boot. My thoughts obviously go out to his family and friends, thankfully they can take heart in the enormous respect displayed for Deano this weekend from clubs, present and ex professionals and fans. We have the opportunity to pay our respects to Richards this weekend against one of his former clubs Spurs; let's join in unison and one last time let ‘Deano, Deano, Deano’ echo around where he left such a lasting impression, Molineux.