Eliot Richards

Eliot Allen Richards (born 10 September 1991) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cymru Premier club Pontypridd United.

Eliot Richards
Richards playing for Bristol Rovers in 2014
Personal information
Full name Eliot Allen Richards[1]
Date of birth (1991-09-10) 10 September 1991
Place of birth New Tredegar, Wales
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Pontypridd United
Number 28
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2014 Bristol Rovers 112 (16)
2014 → Exeter City (loan) 17 (5)
2014–2015 Tranmere Rovers 13 (1)
2015–2016 Cheltenham Town 9 (1)
2016 → Bath City (loan) 9 (1)
2016 Tampa Bay Rowdies 0 (0)
2016 Weston-super-Mare 11 (0)
2016 → Merthyr Town (loan)
2017 Merthyr Town
2017–2019 Hereford 61 (5)
2019–2020 Merthyr Town 21 (5)
2020–2021 Barnet 3 (1)
2021–2022 Merthyr Town 10 (2)
2022– Pontypridd United 14 (1)
International career
2010 Wales U19 1 (0)
2012 Wales U21 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 June 2023

Club career

Bristol Rovers

A product of the Rovers youth system, Richards joined the professional ranks at the club in the summer of 2009.[2]

He was the first of the group to break into the first team when he made his debut on 20 February 2010, when he came on as a 73rd-minute substitute for Andy Williams in a Football League One match against Gillingham.[3]

He scored his first goal of the 2011–12 season against Leyton Orient at Portman Road on 13 August 2011, which Rovers lost 3–2. On 4 December 2011, he scored 2 goals in Rovers 6–1 FA Cup rout against Totton. On 14 April, Richards scored his first hat-trick against Burton Albion in a match Bristol Rovers won 7–1.

On 29 September 2012, Elliot Richards scored his first goal of the season in a away match at local rivals Exeter City, the goal proved to be the match winner for Bristol Rovers in a 2–1 Victory.[4]

He received his first red card for Bristol Rovers in a 2–1 defeat away against at Rochdale.[5]

On 6 May 2014, after Bristol Rovers were relegated to the Football Conference, he, along with 12 other players at Bristol Rovers were released from the club.

Exeter City (loan)

On 7 February 2014, Richards joined Exeter City on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season with Alan Gow joining Bristol Rovers on loan in the opposite direction.[6]

Tranmere Rovers

On 28 May 2014, Richards became new Tranmere Rovers manager Rob Edwards first signing, signing a two-year deal with the club. Richards scored his first Tranmere goal on 23 August against Cheltenham Town. Richards left Tranmere on 2 February 2015 by mutual consent.[7]

Cheltenham Town

Richards signed an 18-month deal with Cheltenham Town on 2 February 2015. He rejoined Rob Edwards, who after being sacked by Tranmere had recently been appointed as Cheltenham assistant manager.[8]

On 28 March 2015, it was announced that Richards had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.[9] On 4 September he has been given the all-clear in his battle with cancer and aimed to return to the pitch at Christmas.[10]

In January 2016, Eliot joined National League South side Bath City on loan for a month.

Richards was released by Cheltenham Town in March 2016.

Tampa Bay Rowdies

On 4 April 2016, Richards signed with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League through the end of NASL spring season, with an option for the remainder of the 2016 season and the 2017 full season,[11] linking up with former Bristol Rovers team-mate and Rowdies head coach Stuart Campbell. However, Richards did not play any games in the US before returning to the UK.

Non-league

Richards joined Weston-super-Mare in August 2016 after obtaining international clearance.[12] Two months later he joined Southern Football League club Merthyr Town on loan until 31 December,[13] before signing permanently in January.[14] After ten goals in 52 appearances for the Martyrs, Richards joined league rivals Hereford in November 2017,[15] winning promotion at the end of the season. Richards left the Bulls in August 2019 after deciding to join a new club permanently rather than play temporarily elsewhere to earn a new deal.[16] He then re-joined Merthyr for the 2019-20 season.[17] In July 2020, Richards agreed to remain with Merthyr for the 2020-21 season, however on 10 September 2020, Richards moved up two divisions to join National League side Barnet.[18] In November, Richards sustained multiple injuries in Barnet's FA Cup win over Burton Albion, including tears of his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus.[19] He was released at the end of the season.[20] After 13 months out injured Richards re-joined Merthyr in December 2021.[21]

International career

Richards was called up to the Wales national under-19 football team in April 2010, for their squad to face Northern Ireland on 5 May.[22]

Richards was called up to the Wales Under 21 squad for the first time in August 2012 for their match against Armenia.

Career statistics
As of match played 25 February 2023
Club statistics
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Bristol Rovers 2009–10[23] League One 50———50
2010–11[24] 13110—3[lower-alpha 1]0171
2011–12[25] League Two 32732111[lower-alpha 1]03710
2012–13[26] 40610—1[lower-alpha 1]0426
2013–14[27] 2225211—285
Total 11216104225012922
Exeter City (loan) 2013–14[27] League Two 175———175
Tranmere Rovers 2014–15[28] League Two 13110101[lower-alpha 1]0161
Cheltenham Town 2014–15[28] League Two 91———91
2015–16[29] National League 0000000000
Bath City (loan) 2015–16[30] National League South 9100000091
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2016[31] North American Soccer League 0000000000
Weston-super-Mare 2016–17[30] National League South 11011001[lower-alpha 2]3134
Merthyr Town (loan) 2016–17 SFL Premier Division No data currently available
Merthyr Town 2016–17 SFL Premier Division No data currently available
2017–18 No data currently available
Hereford 2017–18 SFL Premier Division 272000000272
2018–19[30] National League North 34300001[lower-alpha 3]0353
Total 615000010625
Merthyr Town 2019–20[32] SFL Premier Division South 21510002[lower-alpha 3]1246
Barnet 2020–21[30] National League 3120000051
Merthyr Town 2021–22 SFL Premier Division South 102000000102
Pontypridd United 2022–23 Cymru Premier 101100000111
Career total 277381653210430649
  1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
  2. One appearance and three goals in Somerset Premier Cup
  3. Appearances in FA Trophy

References
  1. "The Football League Limited: Club list of registered players as at 16th May 2015" (PDF). The Football League. 16 May 2015. p. 70. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  2. "Squad numbers announced". Bristol Rovers Football Club. 10 July 2009. Archived from the original on 12 January 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  3. "Gillingham v Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 20 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  4. "Exeter 1–2 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 29 September 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. "Rochdale 2–1 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 17 November 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  6. "Gow and Richards in loan swap". Exeter City FC. 7 February 2014.
  7. "Football - Hume in, Richards out at Rovers". Yahoo! Sport. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  8. Young, James (5 February 2015). "Cheltenham Town: Eliot Richards aims to help the youngsters along in relegation scrap". Western Daily Press. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  9. "Eliot Richards: Cheltenham Town player has testicular cancer". BBC Sport. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  10. "Eliot Richards: Cheltenham Town forward returns after cancer". BBC Sport. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  11. "Tampa Bay Rowdies Add Forward Eliot Richards". Tampa Bay Rowdies. 4 April 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  12. Sloane, Richard (12 August 2016). "Eliot Richards cleared for weekend". westonsmareafc.co.uk. Weston-super-mare A.F.C. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  13. "Eliot Richards joins the Martyrs on loan". www.merthyrtownfc.co.uk. Merthyr Town F.C. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  14. Cooper, Alan (3 January 2017). "Eliot Richards signs permanent deal for Merthyr". westonsmareafc.co.uk. Weston-super-mare A.F.C. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  15. "Bulls Pounce To Bring In Richards". 20 November 2017.
  16. "Confirmation of Eliot Richards Departure". www.herefordfc.co.uk. Hereford F.C. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  17. "Eliot Richards returns". www.merthyrtownfc.co.uk. Merthyr Town F.C. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  18. "Welcome to Barnet Eliot Richards". www.barnetfc.com. 10 September 2020.
  19. @BarnetFC (11 November 2020). "We're with you all the way, @Eliot_Richards 👊 The road to recovery starts now! 💪 #BarnetFC 🐝" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. "Club announces released/retained list following conclusion of season". Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  21. NEWS| ELIOT RICHARDS RETURNS
  22. "News – Wales Under 19 Squad v N.Ireland". The Football Association of Wales. 23 April 2010. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  23. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  24. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  25. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  26. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  27. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  28. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  29. "Games played by Elliot Richards in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  30. Eliot Richards at Soccerway. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  31. "Eliot Richards". www.nasl.com. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  32. "Eliot Richards". www.aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk. Aylesbury United F.C. Retrieved 19 September 2020.

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