| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Andrew Dryden | ||
| Date of birth | 14 June 1969 | ||
| Place of birth | Stroud, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1986 | Bristol Rovers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1986–1988 | Bristol Rovers | 13 | (0) |
| 1989–1991 | Exeter City | 92 | (13) |
| 1991 | → Manchester City (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 1991–1993 | Notts County | 31 | (1) |
| 1992 | → Plymouth Argyle (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1993–1994 | Birmingham City | 48 | (0) |
| 1994–1996 | Bristol City | 37 | (2) |
| 1996–2001 | Southampton | 47 | (1) |
| 1999–2000 | → Stoke City (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2000 | → Northampton Town (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | → Swindon Town (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | Luton Town | 23 | (0) |
| 2001–2003 | Scarborough | 26 | (0) |
| 2003 | Worksop Town | ||
| 2003–2007 | Tamworth | 23 | (2) |
| 2007 | Shepshed Dynamo | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 2004–2007 | Tamworth (assistant) | ||
| 2007–2010 | Worcester City | ||
| 2010–2011 | Darlington (assistant) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Richard Dryden (born 14 June 1969 in Stroud, England) is an English former professional footballer.
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A very experienced defender, Richard started his career in 1986 as a trainee with Bristol Rovers, joining them as a professional in July 1987. He then joined Exeter City in March 1989 after a brief loan spell with the club, where he first played under manager Terry Cooper.
During Dryden’s time at Exeter City, he made a total of 92 appearances and also spent time on loan with Manchester City. While at Exeter, he played a major part in their 1989–90 Fourth Division title triumph.
Notts County was the next stop (from August 1991) for Dryden before moving on to Birmingham City for £165,000 in March 1993, where he was re-united with Terry Cooper. After Birmingham City, Dryden moved in December 1994 to Bristol City, the rivals of his youth team club, Bristol Rovers.
On the recommendation of Terry Cooper, now Southampton's chief scout, Dryden moved to Southampton in August 1996 for £150,000. He made his debut on 18 August 1996 at home to Chelsea and successfully marked Gianluca Vialli out of the game in a 0–0 draw. Although he featured regularly in the first team under manager Graeme Souness in 1996–97 (making 29 league appearances), the remainder of his time at The Dell was difficult as Southampton had 5 managers during the course of his 5 seasons with the club. He played a total of 54 games for the Premiership club, scoring 4 goals. He will best be remembered at Southampton for the 3 spectacular goals he scored in their 1996–97 Coca-Cola Cup run, especially for one against Oxford United on 26 November, when he received the ball 35 yards from goal, cut inside and curled a shot from 20 yards into the top left corner.
He was also loaned out to Stoke City, Northampton Town and Swindon Town loan while at Southampton.
He was signed on loan for Swindon Town in November 2000 in a bid to tighten a poor defence. Dryden's spell at the club hardly started well - he was credited with an own goal on his debut, during a 3–0 loss at home against Stoke City on 25 November. This was followed by two consecutive victories against Northampton Town and Rotherham United, but his final four appearances for Swindon all ended in defeat.
In February 2001, Dryden joined Luton Town on a permanent contract and moved on to Scarborough in July 2002 after playing for the club on loan earlier in the 2001–02 season.[2]
May 2003 saw him join Worksop Town for a brief spell before moving to Tamworth.
Dryden was appointed assistant manager of Tamworth, when Mark Cooper took charge of the club in April 2004. On 24 January 2007, Dryden's contract with Tamworth was terminated by mutual consent, at the same time as Mark Cooper's contract.
In March 2007, Dryden signed for Shepshed Dynamo.[3] In November 2007, he became manager of Conference North club Worcester City[4] but left this post on 17 January 2010.[5] He was subsequently appointed assistant manager at Darlington, but was dismissed together with Mark Cooper on 14 October 2011.[6]
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