Micah was an Old Testament prophet who foresaw all manner of disasters
befalling the house of Judah. So it should have come as no surprise to
Israel when an opponent named after the biblical preacher scored his first
goal for England to help transform the balance of power in their Euro 2008
qualifying group.
A typical header from Micah Richards, of Manchester City, helped to see off
Israel’s challenge at Wembley last month and resurrect England’s hopes of
reaching the European Championship finals next summer. At 19, Richards has
made such a barnstorming start to his international career that it is
difficult to envisage Gary Neville regaining the right-back berth he held
down for more than a decade.
Richards was given his chance against Holland 11 months ago because Neville
was injured. He has done so well that there will be few dissenters to his
claim to the position on a permanent basis. He says: “I’ve got eight caps
now and I think I have performed well in all eight games. Gary is a legend,
you cannot dispute what he has done, but I hope that when he is fit, I still
get in.”
The young man is confidence personified, and why not?
Sir Bobby Robson, the doyen of England managers, says: “He could go on to be
our best defender since Bobby Moore,” while Mancunians of a certain age
detect vestiges of another late, lamented colossus, Duncan Edwards, in
Richards’s bullish power, versatility and prodigious leap.
The muscular cruiserweight is an interesting character, precocious not just in
his physique and footballing ability but in his outlook on life, which is
mature beyond his tender years.
Proudly self-assured, but in a feet-on-the-ground way, he is quick to
acknowledge the debt he owes his Rastafarian father, Lincoln, for bringing
him up the right way in an environment that was a minefield of temptation.
Micah was born in Birmingham, but only because his mother, Heather, went into
premature labour while visiting friends. The family home was in Chapeltown,
an insalubrious area of Leeds that will be forever associated with the
Yorkshire Ripper murders.
Of his formative years there, Richards says: “There was all sorts of stuff –
drugs, fighting and racism – and you had to learn to look after yourself.
There were definitely temptations, but I stayed grounded. My dad is a strong
character, very principled, and he set the best standards for me.
“Yes, I was offered drugs, you’re bound to be offered them if you live in that
area, but you just have to say no, which I did. I can’t say that I didn’t
think about it, but when you have a family like mine around you [he is one
of four siblings] it’s a big help.”
As well as parental guidance, Richards had the deterrent of losing his boyhood
friend Daniel Anderson to the drugs culture. Anderson, a teammate with
Oldham Athletic juniors, died two years ago, a promising life wasted.
Lincoln, 47, was never going to let his son go the same way. “I was never
concerned about Micah,” he said. “That was not in his nature. He has not
come from a rich family. I taught him that you just have to be satisfied
with what you have and make the most of it.”
Kept firmly on the straight and narrow by his father, whose Rastafarianism
stems from Caribbean roots in St Kitts, Micah played for Leeds City Under
11s and, albeit briefly, Leeds United, who must be kicking themselves for
letting him go. Oldham spotted what Leeds had missed and signed him on
schoolboy forms – as a striker. “They just put the ball over the top and I
used my pace,” Richards explained.
It was soon apparent that he was destined for bigger, better things.
“Blackburn, Liverpool and Manchester United were all interested, but we [the
Richards family] heard that Man City had a good academy and that I was more
likely to get a chance to make the first team there. Not many get to make
their debut at 17, so I guess we chose right.” That first appearance came as
an 85th-minute substitute for Danny Mills in a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in
October 2005. The progress he has made in the two years since then would
have less-assured characters suffering from vertigo.
Was he never fazed by it all? “Not really,” he said. “Sometimes I do reflect
on how far I’ve come, so fast, but I try not to look back, only forward.
I’ve got eight caps at 19. In two more years I hope to have 30-odd.”
Stuart Pearce had so much faith in the best of a much-envied crop of academy
products that in September last year Richards became the youngest captain in
City’s history, eclipsing Steve Redmond by fully three years. Two months
later, after only 29 Premier League appearances, he was given his full
international debut, aged 18 years 144 days, which made him England’s
youngest defender.
To the delight of all concerned, this teak-tough product of Yorkshire’s
meanest streets took it all in his stride, impervious to the slings and
arrows of misfortune that derailed his friend and Leeds contemporary Aaron
Lennon and Theo Walcott, who was Richards’s predecessor as “England’s next
big thing”.
While Lennon, so full of promise at the World Cup, has been deprived of form
and confidence by a succession of injuries, Richards has gone from strength
to strength, gaining plaudits for mastering different positions for club and
country, who use him at centre-half and right-back respectively.
Strong in the tackle, quick in recovery and with the penetrative instincts of
a winger, his attacking forays and aerial power have brought England a
dimension beyond Neville’s compass. For them to use him at centre-half would
be to shackle a force of nature, reducing his opportunities to surge forward
like a whirlwind to breach the opposition’s defences.
Has he a preference? “For the moment, I see myself playing for England at
right-back – you know, young and enthusiastic, getting up and down the line.
I like bombing forward, getting involved in the play.”
He believes he will end up in the middle of England’s back four, but despite
Robson’s suggestion that he could be another Moore, he knows he is anything
but at present. The World Cup-winning legend’s strong suits were his
positional acumen and reading of the game – areas where Richards is still
naive. By his own admission, he can be dragged “here, there and everywhere”
playing at centre-half, and relies heavily on the guidance of Richard Dunne
at City.
Dunne, the experienced Republic of Ireland defender, has been the biggest
influence on Richards’s career to date. “He’s been unbelievably good to me.
When I first played at City it was at right-back, but in my second season I
played 28 games at centre-half, next to Richard, who has been a tremendous
help. He’s still getting me into the right positions because I’m still only
young and I tend to go chasing people all over the place. He has looked
after me and given me the confidence to go out and believe in myself. I’ve
also got to give Stuart Pearce credit. For him to give me my debut at 17 was
wonderful.”
Rewind to that first game: “The manager [Pearce] came to me and asked if I was
ready and I said that I thought I was doing well, so why not put me in?
“People see me off the pitch and think I’m a shy guy, but out on the pitch
it’s a whole lot different, and I just wanted to show what I could do.”
Shy is not a word one would readily associate with a character who used the
phrase “f****** hell” in a Match Of The Day interview, forcing Gary Lineker
to apologise to an audience more accustomed to platitudes. This is the same
angry young man who treated the formidable “Psycho” Pearce to a tirade of
abuse after being substituted at Reading last season.
Nor was Richards in any way reserved after his goal against Israel, when he
pointed in agitated fashion to the name on the back of his shirt. What was
that all about?
“My celebration was saying: ‘Richards, remember the name. If you didn’t know
it before, you do now’. I told people beforehand that I’d do that. I was
saying: ‘I’m not just playing because someone is injured, I’m here to make a
mark’.”
He did that again in the home game against Russia, the 3-0 victory which put
England in the box seat for second place, at least, in qualifying Group E.
What does he expect in the return, in Moscow on Wednesday?
“Cold weather [it has been minus six degrees at night in the Russian capital
of late] and a plastic pitch,” he said. “The surface will give them an
advantage. Obviously it’s going to be different to what we’re used to, but
with the players we’ve got, I hope it won’t matter. We beat them comfortably
at home, so why shouldn’t the same players go out there and do it again?”
Racist abuse of black players, which Richards suffered in Germany last year
while playing for England Under21s, also seems to be endemic in eastern
Europe, and it would come as no surprise in Russia.
“It doesn’t bother me,” said Richards. “It happens - not just in football.
People will try to upset you and you’ve got to deal with it. The best way of
coping is to ignore it. All I’m interested in is winning the game. If others
want to get into that, that’s their business. Mine is three points.
“At home we had 80,000 fans behind us, so it’s going to be very different out
there. There’s a psychological battle we’ve got to win.”
There is also a one-on-one duel to be fought. Richards explained: “Their
left-winger [Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, of Lokomotiv Moscow] was a tricky
customer in the first game, and I’m sure he could do a bit of damage out
there. I’ll have to be careful and make sure I’m concentrating at all times.”
Micah’s prophecy? England to march on, triumphant.
