English
Español
Dean Richards, who died exactly 15 years ago today, was a 20-year-old centre-back on the radar of several top clubs when Wolves made their move to sign him from third-tier Bradford City. An initial loan deal became a club-record £1.85m transfer in the summer of 1995.
A four-year spell at Molineux was affected by injuries but also contained plenty of evidence which demonstrated why he was rated so highly.
He earned rave reviews for his performance in stifling Teddy Sheringham and his Tottenham team-mates during an FA Cup tie on a snowy day at White Hart Lane in 1996.
A year later, he etched his name into Wolves' folklore with a bullet header to open the scoring in the Black Country derby victory against West Bromwich Albion.
And he played regularly in Wolves' run to the FA Cup semi-final in 1998, with eventual double winners Arsenal ending their hopes of appearing in a Wembley final.
Commanding in defence and cultured on the ball, Richards always seemed destined for the Premier League. Unfortunately for Wolves fans, it would not be with Wanderers, whose promotion dreams were not fulfilled until four years after Richards had departed.
His final appearance for Wolves came in a home defeat by his first club Bradford, who clinched promotion to the top flight with their victory at Molineux.
In 1999, he joined Premier League side Southampton on a Bosman free transfer and moved to Spurs for more than £8m two years later, before his career came to a premature end because of ill health.
Many former Wolves players have shared their fond memories of Richards since his death in 2011.
Speaking to the Express and Star in 2021, Matt Murray described him as a "diamond of a person", while Don Goodman said: "If I was going to pick an 11 of team-mates from my career, without hesitation Dean Richards would be in there as one of my two centre-halves."