Stuart Ripley

Stuart Ripley
Personnel
Surname	Stuart Edward Ripley
birthday	November 20, 1967
place of birth	Middlesbrough ,  England
size	180 cm
position	Winger (right)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1985-1992	Middlesbrough FC	249 (26)
1996	→  Bolton Wanderers  (loan)	5 0(1)
1992-1998	Blackburn Rovers	187 (13)
1998-2002	Southampton FC	53 0(1)
2000-2001	→  Barnsley FC  (loan)	10 0(1)
2001	→  Sheffield Wednesday  (loan)	6 0(1)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1988-1989	England U-21	8 0(0)
1993-1997	England	2 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Stuart Edward Ripley (born November 20, 1967 in Middlesbrough ) is a former English football player . The fast, mostly active on the right winger was initially many years - and mostly unterklassig - for his hometown club Middlesbrough active before the 1992 Blackburn Rovers moved and later there for three years English championship won. He was of central importance as a cross giver for the striker duo Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton . In his final years as a professional, the two-time England international was still under contract with Southampton FC between 1998 and 2002 . His son Connor Ripley is active as a professional goalkeeper.

Professional career

In the club

Middlesbrough FC (1985-1992)

Ripley learned to play football in his hometown at Middlesbrough FC and came on February 5, 1985 for the first time in a second division game by substitution against Oldham Athletic (1: 2) used. Before the blond boy developed into a regular player there from the 1987/88 season, his club had loaned him to third division Bolton Wanderers at the end of the previous season , where he had also scored his first championship goal. Back at "Boro", which had meanwhile been relegated to the third division , he made over 40 league appearances significantly in ensuring that the club not only returned to the second division within two years , but in 1988 also made it straight through to the highest English league accomplished.

There Ripley could not hold himself with his team in the 1988/89 season, got immediately relegated, before he succeeded after three more years but the renewed promotion and thus the qualification for the newly formed Premier League . The direct rise was at the expense of the Blackburn Rovers , who only followed through the subsequent play-off round and to which Ripley finally moved in late July 1992.

Blackburn Rovers (1992-1998)

The transfer fee of 1.2 million pounds meant a club record for the "Rovers" at that time, which was already surpassed a short time later with the commitment of Alan Shearer . At the new club, he immediately occupied the right wing position, where Jason Wilcox had previously played and who in turn moved to the left. This was followed by a steep rise for Ripley and the Blackburn Rovers in the top English league, which led to fourth place in the first year , about the runner-up in 1994 to win the league title in 1995 . Ripley only missed six Premier League games in the championship season, the only surprise being that he hadn't scored his own goal despite being dangerous. However, the focus was rather on the steady flank runs up to the opposing goal line and the other dangerous crosses, from which the striker duo Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton benefited in particular . In addition, there were strengths in participating in the build-up of the game and in defensive work, which he reliably performed when required. His ability to hold the ball against attacks and to allow other players to advance into dangerous positions was particularly noticeable. Although he was more often plagued by injuries in the subsequent 1995/96 season, he completed another 28 championship games, but was again without a goal.

His wounds finally became a problem in the 1996/97 season. In addition, there was new competition in the person of the Greek Georgios Donis and so Ripley's probation chances were reduced to five appearances at the beginning of the season in the starting line-up before he was suddenly only a substitute. In this role, the game in October 1996 against West Ham United (1: 2) was his last game for the time being, after which he was only considered again in the final phase in May 1997. After his fitness level had been fully restored in the summer of 1997, Ripley convinced again at the beginning of the new 1997/98 season with good performances, through which he gained advantages over Donis and which even promoted him back to the squad of the English national team. There he played just five minutes, which was enough to knock him out with a torn hamstring. Although he managed to return a short time later, he gradually lost his regular place in the second half of the season. In the important final game of the season against Newcastle United (1-0) he was back in the starting line-up, but injured his thigh again after just two minutes. That was also Ripley's last appearance for the Blackburn Rovers before he moved to league rivals Southampton FC in July 1998 for £ 1.3million .

Southampton FC (1998-2001)

In his first year for the "Saints" Ripley fitted in well on the usual right wing position despite some injury problems and was particularly powerful in the period between October and November 1998 when he lost with the team only once in nine consecutive games. In the 1999/2000 season at the latest, he had brought the supporters of the new club to his side with his old strength in the flank runs, before Achilles tendon problems gave him massive problems towards the end of the round and caused an unwanted forced break of more than two months.

From then on, Ripley found it difficult to return to the team and was only once in a league game in the starting eleven for Southampton FC in the 2000/01 season. In November 2000 it was finally decided to go on loan with the second division club Barnsley FC . There he scored an instant goal on his debut against the now relegated ex-club from Blackburn. Overall, they were satisfied in Barnsley during Ripley's two-month stay, but after a coach change they refrained from a possible follow-up commitment. So he returned for the time being back to Southampton, after which in March 2001, Sheffield Wednesday was another second division and loan club. There interim coach Peter Shreeves let him act mostly on the left side and Ripley helped the club with a comfortable distance to the relegation ranks to the desired class goal. In October 2001 he was back in the starting line-up for Southampton FC for the first time in a long time. In the game against Ipswich Town - also the first game under new coach Gordon Strachan - Ripley suffered another injury and had to sit out for three months with knee problems.

After the end of the 2001/02 season, Ripley's professional career ended. He returned to Lancashire back and visited after a year's break, the University of Central Lancashire , where he obtained a degree in Law and French acquired. Ripley, whose son Connor also made his breakthrough into the professional field in football, has been a trained solicitor since 2010 , focuses on sports law and is part of the judicial committee of the English Football Association. Ripley worked for a law firm in Manchester until 2013 and has been self-employed ever since.

English national team

Ripley came on November 12, 1993 in the World Cup qualification against San Marino under Graham Taylor to his first A international game and gave the templates for two goals during his complete 90-minute mission in the 7-1 victory. The "Three Lions" finally missed the qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the USA and under successor Terry Venables he received no further probation opportunities, although he was in consistently good form, especially during the 1994/95 championship season for the Blackburn Rovers. Only under Venables successor Glenn Hoddle did Ripley play a second international match, which was only a short tryst on September 10, 1997 with a late substitution for David Beckham against Moldova (4-0). No more appearances followed for Ripley, whose international career suffered from the fact that the competition was too high-profile for his position on the right wing.

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1995

literature

• Mike Jackman: Blackburn Rovers - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-85983-709-2 , pp. 232-233 .

Web links

• Middlesbrough FC profile
• Stuart Ripley in the soccerbase.com database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-09-180854-9 , pp. 178 f .
2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1 , pp. 207 .
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85291-581-0 , pp. 229 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-85291-588-9 , pp. 254 .
5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-85291-607-7 , pp. 254 .
6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85291-626-8 , pp. 272 .
7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-946531-34-9 , pp. 257 .
8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85291-648-0 , pp. 438 .
9. ↑ "Meet the Team: Stuart Ripley, Solicitor" ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Brabner Schaffe Street Solicitors) 
10. ↑ They think it's all over: ex-footballers on life after the final whistle , Guardian article , April 24, 2015
11. ^ "Stuart Ripley: England 1993-1997" (www.sporting-heroes.net)