A former student of Bitterne Park school in Southampton Richards has grown up with the Saints and already managed to carve his name into the Club's history!Playing up front in an under 15 schoolboy's game as part of the George Reed trophy he became the first ever player to score a hat-trick at the Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium following its construction in 2001.He made his debut for the reserves as a schoolboy against Nottingham Forest in the 2002-3 season and although he now plies his trade at the back where he is a fiercely committed defender he still manages to get on the score sheet with remarkable regularity. As captain of the youth side he averaged a strike rate that most forwards would be proud during the 2003-4 campaign with nine Academy league goals in 20 appearances for the Under 17s. Retaining the armband in his Under 18 year he followed that with six goals from 24 appearances for the youth side as well as a crucial strike against Norwich in the fourth round of their FA Youth Cup run.<\/P>
Towards the end of the 2005-06 campaign he was told he would not be retained and had a successful trial with Grimsby who wanted to sign him. However in the PlayOff semi-final for Saints, he suffered an horrendous injury fracturing a fibula and dislocating an ankle. That is likely to sideline him until the autumn but Saints have given him a month-to-month contract and full medical care until he is completely recovered.<\/P>","5E8F53D0A504BF86":"Craig Richards","8DC362CCE065919BCF40467C0DE6A7E8":"","FA149E2002A43ED77C24C62CDFF094A5":"2","2B5572269355781B0007104B7181FA88":"1986-11-24","0FCC2F07B9D0EBFD":"Lewes","82CBDCB828DBDF896209A361CA981BCF":"","18E9F76C307DDD99":"3651","DA5E7C1A0F1CB829A66A16651D2472FD":"England","F27CBDD6332F20A59321B0F4E9CF2AB8":"14","A7F9B63E25A659E5":"Craig Richards","0A9B0394F31973591937C38F2F471911":"Southampton","4678B5349347B7EB":"","C6E00DEB351621C4":"37586","09702F2B27619389F07D77F05427B135":"2008-8-9","0C852134AA40B2DD":"1","e_index":1};