Top drawer
Brian Doogan
Kieran Richardson wants to beat Arsenal tomorrow, not only to lift West Brom, but to do Sir Alex Ferguson a favour as well
He sits beneath a big oak tree and begins to draw. Since he was a boy, this has been one of Kieran Richardson’s passions, his easel and pencils almost as essential to his identity as his football boots and the shirt of Manchester United. The setting is West Bromwich Albion’s training ground, the scene he depicts is a buoyant one, full of warrior-like faces and fiery eyes that could burn up the page. If every picture tells a story, Richardson’s portrayal of this pretend battlefield suggests plenty of fight in the Baggies yet.
“From the day I came here, everyone’s been up for this and confident we can avoid the drop,” he says, aware that no escape from the Premiership’s relegation zone has required greater nerve than this. It is the kind of initiation a young volunteer out of United’s ranks, desperate to prove himself, would yearn for. “If you’re good enough, you’ll get your chance,” Sir Alex Ferguson told him when he signed. This is his chance and he is taking it.
“I have no doubts about him,” says Bryan Robson, the West Brom manager and Ferguson’s former lieutenant, who enlisted Richardson on loan in the January transfer window. “I like his attitude and his commitment. I’ve always liked him. He plays the game with lots of ability and he’s becoming a better overall player. Along with Kevin Campbell [the talismanic striker whom Robson drafted in at the same time], Kieran’s made a bit of a difference.”
In the 10 matches in which the 20-year-old midfielder has played for West Brom the team’s only defeats have been a 3-2 thriller at Norwich and a 1-0 reverse at Chelsea.
Last Tuesday at The Hawthorns he lined up a 25-yard free kick against Blackburn and had no doubt in his mind as he faced down Brad Friedel.
“I knew I was going for the top left corner and was convinced in my head that I would get it,” he says. “I just focused on getting a goal.
“My dad, Clyde, sends me a text me every morning, just a few words of encouragement to keep me going, something like, ‘Relax. Enjoy yourself. You know you have the ability. Just take your time.’
“I always listen to my dad, except when he talks about playing against Teddy Sheringham and banging in the goals, him and Teddy, before dad was released by Chelsea. But the message he sends me sets my mood for the day and on Tuesday I just knew that free kick was going in. The crowd went mad and I went mad as well. It’s the greatest moment of my career so far.”
The only blemish was Brett Emerton’s second-half strike that denied Albion three priceless points. “It was a great goal by Kieran which put us in front. But once Blackburn scored, a bit of anxiousness and nerves came into our play,” says Robson. “That’s understandable when we’re in the position we’re in. This is a big challenge for us and I knew that it would be. A couple of months ago I was worried that it would be all over with five games to go. Now I’m pleased that we’re going into the last three games with a fighting chance at least.”
A CHANCE is all Richardson has ever wanted but it is tough when the competition is Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Roy Keane. His parents cried on the day he signed for Manchester United, saddened to see the older of their two boys leaving their Greenwich home for digs in a faraway city.
“We’re a very close-knit family and I miss my brother, Tyler, who’s seven years old and a footballer, too,” he says. “But playing for Manchester United is all I ever wanted to do. It’s my dream.”
There is an ethos imbued into the walls of Old Trafford and United’s Carrington training ground — “If you’re good enough, you’ll get your chance” — the words that Ferguson first imparted to Richardson when he arrived.
Scholes and the Neville brothers, Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Darren Fletcher are the embodiment of this doctrine. “Those players have done it,” says Richardson, “and they’re your inspiration. If they can do it, so can I.”
But the manager has to be convinced and it requires more than talent to become a player at United. “I think that Alex Ferguson has to know that you can do it in the heat of battle, that you can fight to win for the team, under pressure and in an atmosphere that tests your character to the extreme.
“I’ve come off the bench four times for United in the Premiership. I’ve never started a match. It can be hard on your confidence when you’re in and out of the team like that, hard to raise your spirits.
“There was always a question mark over me. I hadn’t got the experience. That’s what I needed — that’s all I needed.”
Robson has admired him for some time. During his doomed tenure at Bradford City, he says that he telephoned Ferguson every other week to enquire about taking Richardson on loan. “He wants to be a Manchester United player,” says Robson. “I was a Manchester United player and I know where the kid is coming from.”
It was during his second match for Albion, the defeat against Norwich, in which he scored, that Richardson realised he had found his feet, that he really could be a player in the Premiership, a man to be relied upon.
“Confidence,” he beams. “I’m a lot more confident now on the pitch. I know that I can perform in front of lots of people and that’s the main factor, to know that you can do it. I was playing well in the Norwich game and I suddenly thought, ‘This isn’t difficult. I can do it.’ In my mind I remember thinking that.
“Of course I know that I still have so much to learn but when I go back to Old Trafford after this loan there will be no more of that, ‘Oh no, he lacks the experience.’ I’ve been there, done it. I want to play in the Premiership next season and I know I can. I hope that I’ve given the gaffer food for thought.
“It will be a big season at Manchester United. It’s a must that we win the league. Every player will have to fight for his place and I want to be in there fighting. Roy Keane is always there, telling you what you should have done better, saying it to you straight away. That’s what’s great about him. He’s a leader all the time. But all of the players there help the youngsters through because so many of them came through that way themselves. That’s what I want to carry on.”
Robson is sure of his potential: “One day the lad will be an England international. I can see how his confidence has come on in the time that he’s been here. You could see it in that free kick he struck on Tuesday night. He knew it was in even before he’d hit it.”
EVEN on the cold January morning when he first arrived at West Brom, then anchored at the foot of the Premiership, Richardson insists that he could not detect the slightest trace of a defeatist air: “The morale here has been strong from day one. There’s a great team spirit.”
There were no guarantees, Robson reminded him. He would have to work hard to earn his place. Richardson required no further prompting. But the rollercoaster ride has become a test of will. Last weekend’s defeat at Middlesbrough was comprehensive, almost humiliating. Richardson’s goal against Blackburn inspired hope of an emphatic response until Emerton’s pegged back the Baggies and left them teetering once more.
Out of the four relegation-threatened clubs, theirs is the toughest run-in, Arsenal tomorrow night followed by Manchester United next Saturday and Portsmouth on the season’s final day. They have won none of their last four matches, have been defeated only once in their last six and remain unbeaten at home through nine games. When West Brom went to Highbury last November they were pulverized by a rampant Arsenal, yet escaped with a 1-1 draw when Robert Earnshaw equalised.
“A lot of people must be looking at the fixtures and thinking that we can’t possibly do it,” says Richardson, who will not play against United at Old Trafford. “But it might just work in our favour because a lot of the pressure has been taken away. We’re not expected to win these games.”
Robson has been dissuaded from second-guessing the permutations. “You look at the Norwich game against Manchester United a couple of weeks ago and you think they will do well to get a point but they came away with all three. As soon as you see a result like that you realise it is a waste of time,” he admits. “All you can do is prepare your team mentally and physically for the game and make sure your approach is right
“A few weeks ago I thought that 10 more points would do, but Norwich have won three games on the bounce at home and the equation has suddenly changed. Liverpool played a weakened side against Crystal Palace because of the Champions League and they caught them on a good day. We’ve got Arsenal and Manchester United on the horizon in totally different circumstances because they’re both going for second place and the Champions League. I know that they will field their strongest sides. Sometimes circumstances fall in your favour and sometimes they don’t.”
Richardson faced Arsenal for United in the Carling Cup this season, clashing with Robin van Persie in a skirmish he describes as “handbags” now, though Ferguson was demanding that action be taken against the Dutchman at the time. Richardson knows that he can gain some measure of vengeance by helping to inflict a defeat on the Gunners that could resuscitate United’s bid for second place and go a significant way towards saving West Brom.
But his respect for Arsenal’s players is implicit in his description of the Highbury club — rather than Chelsea — as “United’s big rivals”.
“I love playing against the massive teams because they’re the players you want to be like,” he declares.
“Playing against Arsenal is a challenge. You want to find out something about yourself against this kind of team. Obviously, if we win, it will help United in the race for second place. But it will help West Brom immensely and that’s the main objective right now. I didn’t want to play against United because I knew that it could be awkward if I were to score or set up a goal that might be decisive. But I have no problem trying to make a dent in Arsenal.”
Nor battling Patrick Vieira in midfield? “No way,” he smiles. “I’ve played against Roy Keane in training. I fear no man.”
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