Richard Smallwood (footballer)

Richard Smallwood (born 29 December 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Blackburn Rovers.

Richard Smallwood
Smallwood playing for Middlesbrough in 2011
Personal information
Full name Richard Smallwood[1]
Date of birth (1990-12-29) 29 December 1990
Place of birth Redcar, England[2]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Blackburn Rovers
Number 6
Youth career
000?–2010 Middlesbrough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2014 Middlesbrough 60 (3)
2014 → Rotherham United (loan) 19 (0)
2014–2017 Rotherham United 108 (3)
2016–2017 → Scunthorpe United (loan) 16 (1)
2017– Blackburn Rovers 78 (2)
National team
2008 England U18 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:30, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Middlesbrough

Smallwood's natural position is the holding role in the centre of midfield. He is a product of the Middlesbrough Academy and later became captain of the reserve team. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Smallwood signed his first professional contract with the club.[3] Smallwood made his debut for Middlesbrough on 19 October 2010 in a 1–0 away defeat to Nottingham Forest.[4] In January 2011, Smallwood signed an 18-month contract with the club.[5] On 2 May 2011, Smallwood scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win against Cardiff City.[6] On 3 November 2012, he scored his second league goal in a 4–1 win away to Charlton Athletic.[7] However, in the 2013–14 season, Smallwood lost his first team place following new arrivals.[8] Under the management of Aitor Karanka, Smallwood was among the players to be offloaded as part of Karanka's plans to reduce the squad size.[9]

Rotherham United

On 23 January 2014, Smallwood joined Rotherham United on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season.[10] Shortly after arriving at Rotherham United, Smallwood quickly went straight into the first team; he was sent-off for a late challenge on Billy Knott, as Rotherham United beat Port Vale 1–0 on 21 August 2014.[11] As a result of the challenge, Smallwood had to serve a three-match suspension, missing the last two games of the season and one match in the play-offs.[12]

Smallwood scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out after taking the fifth penalty to win it as Rotherham secured promotion with a penalty shoot-out victory against Leyton Orient.[13] After the match, Smallwood said it was the first time he had taken a penalty in his professional career.[14] As a result of his good performance at Rotherham United, the club made a bid to sign Smallwood in early July, only to be rejected by Middlesbrough.[15]

Initially signed in an emergency loan deal,[16] Smallwood signed for Rotherham United on a permanent basis after Middlesbrough accepted a £175,000 bid for him.[17][18]

Smallwood scored his first ever goal for Rotherham United in their 3–3 home draw with Derby County with a free-kick from the edge of the area.

On 31 August 2016, new Rotherham United manager Alan Stubbs sent Smallwood out on a season long loan to Scunthorpe United for the last year of his contract. With Stubbs no longer at the club, agreement was reached to terminate the loan on 9 January 2017. Smallwood scored one goal for Scunthorpe during his loan, the final goal in a 4–0 home defeat of Southend United on 10 September 2016.[19][20] Smallwood elected to leave Rotherham United at the end of his contract, turning down an extension offered by the club.[21]

Blackburn Rovers

Smallwood signed a two-year contract with Blackburn Rovers on 20 June 2017.[22] He scored his first goal for Blackburn in a 3–1 EFL Cup win against Coventry City on 8 August 2017.[23]

International career

He was a member of the England under-18 squad which defeated Austria 2–0 at Hartlepool United's Victoria Park on 16 April 2008.[24]

Career statistics
As of match played 7 May 2017.[25]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Middlesbrough 2010–11 Championship 121000000121
2011–12 130203000180
2012–13 222204100283
2013–14 130000000130
2014–15 0000100010
Total 603408100724
Rotherham United (loan) 2013–14 League One 18000002[lower-alpha 1]0200
2014–15 Championship 1000000010
Rotherham United 2014–15 Championship 401100000421
2015–16 431101000451
2016–17 251001000261
Total 10832020001123
Scunthorpe United (loan) 2016–17 League One 16110002[lower-alpha 2]0191
Blackburn Rovers 2017–18 League One 9100211[lower-alpha 2]0122
Career total 2128701225023610
  1. Appearances in the League One play-offs
  2. Appearances in the EFL Trophy

Honours

Club

Rotherham United

Blackburn Rovers

References
  1. "Professional retain list & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 18 May 2013. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2014.
  2. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2012). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2012–2013 (43rd ed.). London: Headline. p. 496. ISBN 978-0-7553-6356-8.
  3. "Boro extend scholarships of four academy players". Gazette Live. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  4. Macaskill, Sandy (20 October 2010). "Nottingham Forest 1 Middlesbrough 0: match report". The Daily Telegraph.
  5. "Duo pen Boro deals". Sky Sports. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  6. "Cardiff 0–3 Middlesbrough" BBC Sport. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  7. "Charlton 1–4 Middlesbrough" BBC Sport. 3 November 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  8. "I know he is a good player with a lot of potential': Richard Smallwood still on Aitor Karanka radar". Gazette Live. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  9. "Middlesbrough: Aitor Karanka wants squad size reduced". BBC Sport. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  10. "Rotherham United land Richard Smallwood". Rotherham United FC. 23 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  11. "Rotherham United 1 – 0 Port Vale". BBC Sport. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  12. "Boro midfielder Richard Smallwood aiming for Wembley glory with Rotherham United". Gazette Live. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  13. Maiden, Phil (28 August 2014). "Leyton Orient 2 – 2 Rotherham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  14. "Richard Smallwood: 'I'd never taken a senior-level penalty before play-off final shootout winner'". Gazette Live. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  15. "Transfer news: Middlesbrough turn down bid for Richie Smallwood". Sky Sports. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  16. "Ritchie's Back". Rotherham United FC. 19 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  17. "Smallwood seals permanent switch". Rotherham United FC. 22 August 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  18. "Richie Smallwood set for Rotherham return as Boro accept £175,000 bid". Gazette Live. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  19. "Smallwood joins Scunthorpe". Rotherham United Official Site. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  20. "Smallwood recalled from Scunthorpe loan". Rotherham United F.C. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  21. "READ | Smallwood set to depart Millers". Rotherham United Official Site. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  22. "Rovers secure Smallwood signature". Blackburn Rovers Official Site. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  23. "Coventry 1-3 Blackburn". BBC. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  24. "Richard Smallwood". The Football Association.
  25. Richard Smallwood at Soccerbase
  26. Maiden, Phil (25 May 2014). "Leyton Orient 2–2 Rotherham United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  27. Anderson, John, ed. (2018). Football Yearbook 2018–2019. London: Headline Publishing Group. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-1-4722-6106-9.
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