Ritchie Humphreys

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Ritchie Humphreys
Name:	Ritchie Humphreys
Nickname:	Humphs
Date of birth:	30 November 1977
Place of birth:	Sheffield
Nationality:	English
Height:	5'10" (178cm)
Current Club:	Hartlepool United
Position:	Striker/Midfielder/Winger/Left Back
Professional Clubs*
Time	Club	Apps (Goals)
1995-2001	Sheffield Wednesday	67 (4)
1999	Scunthorpe United (loan)	6 (2)
1999-2000	Cardiff City (loan)	9 (2)
2001	Cambridge United	7 (3)
2001-	Hartlepool United	201 (23)
*Professional club caps and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 December 2005.

Ritchie Humphreys (born 30 November 1977 in Sheffield) is a professional footballer who currently plays for Hartlepool United in League Two. He is eligible to play for England.

Ritchie Humphreys started his career in the Premiership at Sheffield Wednesday. Before the 1996 - 97 season, Dutch legend Johan Cruyff described him as the “next Marco Van Basten”. Humphreys lived up this expectation and scored three goals in his first four games for the club and propelled Sheffield Wednesday to the top of the league. During this season, Humphreys managed to make a total of 18 appearances for the club, scoring 5 goals. He also played in the England Under-21 side alongside Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Emile Heskey. However, the following seasons would see Humphreys’ first team opportunities restricted as the arrivals of Paolo Di Canio and Benito Carbone cost him his place.

Ritchie Humphreys was then loaned out to Cardiff City and Scunthorpe United before he joined Cambridge United. Ritchie Humphreys made a brief spell but successful spell at Cambridge, scoring three goals in seven games. Unfortunately Humphreys’ season was cut short as he broke a bone in his foot and Cambridge were unwilling to offer him a permanent contract and this forced Ritchie Humphreys to look elsewhere.

Ritchie Humphreys then signed by Chris Turner for Hartlepool United in time for the 2001 to 2002 season. Ritchie Humphreys managed to play 44 league games, mostly as a striker but only managed to score 5 goals. Hartlepool’s final match of the campaign was a bitter one for Humphreys as he missed the decisive penalty in the play-off semi final defeat to Cheltenham Town, which cost Hartlepool a place in division two.

Despite his penalty miss, Humphreys second season at Hartlepool was more successful. Ritchie Humphreys played the majority of these matches in midfield, either as a winger or a central midfielder. Ritchie Humphreys aided Hartlepool’s promotion push with 11 goals in 44 matches and was the club’s highest scoring midfielder for that season. This season earned him a handful of awards including Hartlepool United’s Supporters Player of the Season and named in the PFA Division 3 team of the season.

The following two seasons saw Humphreys an ever present member of the team. He made a total of 48 league appearances (including two play-off appearances) in the 2003/04 season and 49 league appearances (including three play-off appearances) in the 2004/05 season, also in the 2004/05 season Humphreys put his penalty nightmare from 2002 behind him scoring the penalty what would prove to be Hartlepools winner sending them to the Play Off Finals in Cardiff . During the 2003/04, Humphreys also became Hartlepool’s stand-in captain during Mickey Barron’s absence through injury.

The following season, on 1 November Ritchie Humphreys played his 200th consecutive league game for the club against Colchester United. This season also saw Ritchie Humphreys being used as a left back. He followed up this achievement by once again winning the Players and Fans' "Player of the Season" awards. Humphreys is well known for his fantastic long range free kicks.