Kevin Ratcliffe

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Kevin Ratcliffe
Personnel
Surname Kevin Ratcliffe
birthday November 12, 1960
place of birth Mancot ,  Wales
position Center-back , full-back (left)
Juniors
Years station
Everton FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1980-1992 Everton FC 359 (2)
1992 Dundee FC 4 (0)
1992-1993 Cardiff City 25 (1)
1993 Nottingham Forest 0 (0)
1994 Derby County 6 (0)
1994-1995 Chester City 23 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1981-1993 Wales 59 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1995-1999 Chester City
1999-2003 Shrewsbury Town
1 Only league games are given.

Kevin Ratcliffe (born November 12, 1960 in Mancot ) is a retired Welsh football player . The central defender took over as captain in 1985, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for Everton against and also won the "Toffees" two English championships and even the FA Cup .

Athletic career

Club career

Ratcliffe started as a trainee in the youth department of Everton FC in 1977 and within 18 months he signed his first professional contract. The defender made his debut in the "first team" on March 12, 1980 against Manchester United and held both his defensive and himself in a duel with Joe Jordan harmless at 0-0 . However, the path as a professional player turned out to be rocky in the first few years and so Ratcliffe only came into play sporadically - and then often in the left full-back position, which he did not like . After disagreements with Howard Kendall , a move to Ipswich Town in 1981 seemed imminent when coach Bobby Robson , who was then active there, signaled great interest. The following year Kendall removed him completely from the team for a home game against Birmingham City and this then asked for a transfer clearance. Before a possible move, however, he gradually succeeded in replacing a competitor in the central defensive position with Billy Wright .

From a technical point of view, Ratcliffe was not one of the better football players in the further course of his career, but with good positional play, leadership qualities, stability in defensive behavior and above all an above-average speed he worked his way up the ranking quickly. With Mark Higgins he set up the defense center of the Toffees - as he did later with Derek Mountfield - and in December 1983 Ratcliffe took over the position of team captain. From now on it went steeply uphill. Ratcliffe won the FA Cup with Everton in 1984 . A year later, the 24-year-old captain won both the English championship and the European Cup Winners' Cup - the "triple success " was prevented by Manchester United, who won the English Cup final with 1-0 against Everton. Further European ambitions stood in the way of the suspension for English teams following the Heysel disaster , but in 1987 Ratcliffe confirmed with his second English league title that the Toffees were among the best local teams in the 1980s.

In the remaining seasons up to 1992 sporting highlights remained in short supply and the “golden elf” around Ratcliffe became a midfield team at the beginning of the nine decade. Ratcliffe turned his back on Liverpool in the spring of 1992 and in three years left his active career at Dundee , Cardiff City , Nottingham Forest , Derby County and, most recently, Chester City .

Welsh national team

As a former student, youth and U-21 selection player, Ratcliffe played a total of 59 international matches for the Welsh senior team between 1981 and 1993 . He often led the Dragons as captain, but although Wales had a large number of above-average footballers - including Ian Rush , Neville Southall and Mark Hughes - in the 1980s , participation in a European or World Cup finals always remained out of reach.

Coaching career

While he was still actively playing football, Ratcliffe gained his first experience in the coaching business at Chester City as an assistant to Mike Pejic . In the summer of 1995 he took over the head role of the fourth division and worked for the "Blues" for four years, until disagreements with the new owner brought the commitment to an abrupt end. The greatest achievements were both in the 1996/97 season reaching the play-off games for promotion and in the following year reaching midfield despite huge financial problems and budgetary constraints in the club.

The next stop was Shrewsbury Town from November 1999 , another club from the fourth highest English division. Ratcliffe secured his new club on the last day of the 1999/2000 season relegation in the Football League , while his ex-club from Chester had to leave the league at the same time. The Shrewsbury tenure lasted just under four years and ended in great disappointment. With a team that had eliminated its former club and first division club from Everton in January 2003 in the FA Cup, the "Shrews" rose to the end of the 2002/03 season in the Football Conference .

To this day, Ratcliffe has not appeared as head coach at any other professional club. Instead, he started working in the sports department of BBC Wales broadcaster .

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "News from Deva Stadium: August 1999" (chester-city.co.uk)
personal data
SURNAME Ratcliffe, Kevin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh football player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Mancot