Richard Keogh - Player File from Chairboys on the Net

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RICHARD
KEOGH
(Defender)
Born: 11 Aug 1986
Where: Harlow, Essex

Joined Wycombe: 9 November 2005 - Loan from Bristol City
Wycombe debut: Darlington 1 Wycombe 1 - 12 Nov 2005 - League Two
Left Wycombe: 10 Dec 2005 - recalled by Bristol City after one month loan
Re-joined Wycombe: 4 July 2023 - Free from Ipswich Town
Left Wycombe: 17 January 2024 (mutual consent)

Richard Keogh during his time at Wycombe Wanderers in November 2005.

Career summary at Wycombe:
28 appearances, no goals

*Career Details () indicates loan spell**
Date	Club	League Apps	League goals	Cup Apps	Cup Goals
See Wikipedia for complete club history
Nov05	Wycombe Wanderers(*)	2(1)	0	0	0
2023/2024	Wycombe Wanderers	12(5)	0	4(4)	0

Background:
On 4th July 2023, the Club announced the signing of 36-year-old defender Richard Keogh on a free transfer following his release from promoted Ipswich Town. The move came just short of 18 years since he had a brief loan spell under John Gorman with Wycombe while he as at Bristol City. He would make three appearances for Wanderers before being recalled by City. In the intervening years he went on to total more than 700 professional appearances, including a seven year spell with Derby County in the Championship where he made more than 350 appearances. Keogh spent the 2022/23 season at Ipswich Town, the Club he started his football career at youth level. He would make nine appearances in the season where Town eventually gained promotion back to the Championship. His long career also includes 26 caps for Ireland between 2013 and 2019 - having previously represented his county at U91 and U21 levels. He was allocated No.16 in the Wycombe squad for the 2023/24 season.

A former trainee with Ipswich Town and Stoke City, a then 19-year-old Richard Keogh originally joined Wycombe Wanderers on a month's loan from Bristol City - debuting in a League Two game at Darlington on 12th November 2005 where he was unfortunate to score an own goal on 36 minutes with the score at 0-0 but having Tommy Mooney to thank for levelling the scores in the second-half. He would make two further First Team appearances before he was recalled by City at the end of his one month loan.

On returning to City he went on to spend time on loan with Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United and Cheltenham Town, before a permanent transfer to Carlisle in August 2008. He would make 88 senior appearances for the Cumbrian side but when his contracting expiring in the summer of 2010, he rejected a new offer and signed a three year deal with Coventry City. He immediately became a regular in the Sky Blues side, making 91 consecutive appearances until dismissal in the game at home to Doncaster Rovers on 21st April 2012 ruled him out of the following game through suspension. Despite Coventry City's relegation from the Championship, Keogh won the Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season at Coventry's end of season awards. He also won the Players' Player of the Year awards.

In July 2012 he signed a three-year contract with Derby County for an undisclosed fee believed to be in excess of £1 million. He was named Club Captain. He would go on to total more than 350 senior appearances for The Rams during an eight year spell in the Championship, winning numerous player of the season awards. His professional career during this spell also included 26 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team, with two of those also seeing him take the captains armband.

However, a controversial incident eventually ended his time with Derby. From Wikipedia "In September 2019, Keogh was injured in a car crash and ruled out for the rest of the 2019–20 season. His Derby teammates Mason Bennett and Tom Lawrence were arrested for drink-driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Later that month it was announced that Keogh might be out for 15 months. In October 2019, Derby terminated the remainder of his contract due to gross misconduct, with Bennet and Lawrence receiving a six-week wage fine and being sentenced to 80 hours of community service and rehabilitation. Keogh and his agent launched appeals to both Derby and the English Football League over his sacking, but both were rejected. However, after appealing to an employment tribunal with support from the Professional Footballers' Association in January 2021, it officially ruled that Keogh had been unfairly dismissed and Derby were ordered to pay £2.3 million in compensation. Derby appealed against the decision but this was rejected in May 2021."

On returning to fitness he would time with Milton Keynes, Huddersfield Town and Blackpool before returning to Ipswich Town in August 2022 where he would make 9 League appearances during their League One promotion winning campaign. He was released at the end of the 2022/23 season with the announcement he had joined Wycombe Wanderers coming on 4th July 2023. Commenting on the news, Wanderers Manager Matt Bloomfield said: "Richard is someone I’ve known for nearly 20 years and he’s had a fantastic career at a higher level, as well as playing in a European Championship for Ireland. He’s a real leader and exactly the type of character you want in your changing room, alongside his undoubted ability on the pitch. I know how highly regarded he was at Ipswich last season, even when he wasn’t in the team, because of the help and guidance he was able to give to his team-mates. He’s still got that hunger to extend his career and to achieve more success, and I think it’s a really important signing for us to make, giving us another strong option at the back."

Having made 25 appearances for Wanderers in the first-half of the 2023/24 season (including 12 starts in the Football League), on 17th January 2024 the Club announced he had left the Club by mutual consent, "to enable him to pursue new opportunities elsewhere." Commenting at the time, Manager Matt Bloomfield said: "I think a great deal of him - he's a fantastic guy and he's been a really good influence around the place and on the training pitch. We had an honest conversation and his playing time was going to be reduced in the second half of the season so we've come to an amicable parting of ways, but he leaves with nothing but good wishes and I look forward to keeping in touch with him."

External links:
Wikipedia
Soccerbase

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