Back
Richie Smallwood
MidfieldLooks like Richie Smallwood didn’t play this season
Biography
RICHIE SMALLWOODBORN: 29 DECEMBER 1990
COUNTRY: ENGLAND
Richie started out at just down the road from where he was born in Redcar at Middlesbrough football club. He obviously stood out in the Middlesbrough Academy team as he later became captain of the reserve team. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Richie signed his first professional contract with the club. Then in January 2011, he signed again, this time for 18-months.
Richie scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in May 2011 However, in the 2013–14 season, however he lost his first team place following some new arrivals. Under the management of Aitor Karanka, Smallwood was among the players to be offloaded as part of the Mangers plans to reduce the size of what were at the time a very large squad.
On 23 January 2014, Smallwood joined Rotherham United on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season. Shortly after arriving at Rotherham United, Smallwood quickly went straight into the first team.
It turned out to be a successful loan as Rotherham secured promotion to the Championship with penalty shoot-out victory against Leyton Orient. Richie scoring the winning penalty in the shoot-out after taking the nerve wracking fifth penalty to secure the win. After the match, Smallwood confessed it was in fact the first time he had taken a penalty in his professional career.
As a result of his good performance at Rotherham United, the club made a bid to sign Smallwood in early July, only for this to be rejected by Middlesbrough.
Initially signed in an emergency loan deal, Smallwood signed for Rotherham United on a permanent basis after Middlesbrough finally accepted a £175,000 bid for him.
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 Smallwood elected to leave Rotherham United at the end of his contract, turning down an extension offered by the club.
He signed a two-year contract with Blackburn Rovers on 20 June 2017. Richie carved out a reputation as a tough tackler and was known as the King of Ewood. Once again Richie would taste the sweet taste of success of promotion as Blackburn returned to the championship.
In 2019/20 Richie had a frustrating time featuring only in the cup matches. And so he signed for Hull City, on a two-year deal with an option to extend a further year.
Squad
Other players
Team Sponsors
