A bit like Martin Braithwaite, there are two acceptable dates where Kieran Richardson’s squad-number changes can be celebrated but this one – 10-3, or March 10 – is certainly the rarer.
In the summer of 2007, newly promoted Sunderland signed a total of 13 players as they sought to build a squad that could preserve Premier League status. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their manager Roy Keane – an Irishman who used to play for Manchester United – signed a lot of Irishmen and a lot of former United players (John O’Shea would tick both of those boxes when he signed in 2011, though Keane was long gone by then).
Among those making the move from Old Trafford was England international Richardson. At United, the midfielder had worn numbers 42 and then 23, while his sole England start – his 2005 debut against the US, in which he scored twice – saw him wear the number 8.
On moving to the Stadium of Light, Richardson was able to claim the number 10 shirt that had been vacated by the departure of Stephen Elliott. In an injury-blighted first season and in 2008-09, he featured in a variety of midfield roles but the 2009-10 season under Steve Bruce saw him play a lot at left-back, a position he had occasionally filled at United.
For 2010-11, he was the clear first-choice in that role and, thankfully, either Richard or Bruce or both saw the absurdity of a left-back wearing number 10 and so he shifted to number 3 for the new season. It meant that George McCarthy was bumped from 3 to 23 while 10 went to Jordan Henderson, who had previously worn 16.
All sorted – except that, as early as November, he was back in midfield and his only appearance at left-back after that came in the FA Cup third round against Notts County.
It meant that, for the 2011-12 season, he changed number again – this time to 11, left vacant after Darren Bent’s exit and the end of Sulley Muntari’s loan stay. However, a side-effect of this move was that it allowed attacker Asamoah Gyan to swap 33 for 3 – and Richardson played at left-back as often as he did in midfield that season.
Perhaps these perils of trying to give a versatile player a suitable number are why Sunderland was the only club where Richardson was in the 1-11 bracket.
On joining Fulham in 2012, he took number 15 – which he had also worn while on loan at West Bromwich Albion from Manchester United – and then wore 18 for two seasons at Aston Villa before finishing his career as Cardiff City’s number 15 in 2017.
