Ricky Ravenhill

Ricky Ravenhill
	Ravenhill with the victory parade that followed Bradford City's victory in the 2013 Football League Two play-off final
Personal information
Full name	Richard John Ravenhill
Date of birth	16 January 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth	Doncaster, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Mickleover; (Assistant Manager)
Youth career
1998–2000	Barnsley
Senior career*
Years	Team
2000–2002	Barnsley
2000	→ Napier City Rovers (loan)
2002–2006	Doncaster Rovers
2006	→ Chester City (loan)
2006–2007	Grimsby Town
2007	→ Darlington (loan)
2007–2009	Darlington
2009–2012	Notts County
2011–2012	→ Bradford City (loan)
2012–2014	Bradford City
2013	→ Northampton Town (loan)
2014–2015	Northampton Town
2015	Mansfield Town
2015–2018	Buxton
2018–2021	Mickleover
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:22, 6 June 2015 (UTC)

Richard John Ravenhill (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional

Mickleover

.

As a player, he was a

Football League Cup

.

Career

Barnsley

Born in Doncaster, Ravenhill came through the youth academy at Barnsley, joining the first team setup in 2000 under the managerial tenure of Dave Bassett after a short spell with New Zealand club Napier City Rovers alongside fellow Barnsley youth prospect Paul Jackson. Ravenhill and Jackson helped the club to the National Soccer League and Chatham Cup double.^[2]^[3] Bassett was dismissed early into Ravenhill's time at Oakwell and was replaced by Nigel Spackman. Despite being on the fringes of first team football at the beginning of the 2001–02 season, Ravenhill was allowed to leave the club in January 2002 by The Tykes new manager Steve Parkin.

Doncaster Rovers

Ravenhill signed for

Football League after a five-year absence. The 2003–04 season brought Ravenhill's first senior career goal as he scored the fourth in a 5–0 victory over Kidderminster Harriers on 27 February 2004. He netted again twice against Yeovil Town and Bristol Rovers before the end of the season which brought a second back to back promotion with Doncaster going up as champions of the Third Division

.

Doncaster began the 2004–05 season in a third division in as many seasons.

Football League One and Ravenhill finished the season with 4 goals from 41 appearances in all competitions, with Rovers finishing the season in 10th position and only 5 points off a play-off spot. Doncaster consolidated their stance in the third tier of English football the following season and at the beginning of the 2006–07 season Ravenhill was loaned out to Chester City for 1 month. He made his Chester debut on 8 August 2006 in a 3–1 win away at Bury, however in his third game for the club he was sent off against Wrexham

. The sending off meant he was suspended for the remainder of the month loan spell and the Wrexham game would be his last for Chester.

Grimsby Town

On 8 September 2006 Ravenhill and fellow Doncaster player Nick Fenton moved to Grimsby Town on free transfers. Ravenhill made his Mariners debut the following day in a 2–1 victory at home to Walsall, on 29 September he scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw away at Darlington. Grimsby who had suffered defeat in the League Two play-off final in the previous season eventually sacked manager Graham Rodger after a slow start to the new campaign and the club moved to re-appoint former manager Alan Buckley. The managerial change brought a down turn in fortunes for Ravenhill who fell out of contention following the loan signing of Peter Till from Birmingham City. He played his final game for Grimsby on 9 January 2007 in a 2–0 home defeat against former club Chester.

Darlington

His departure from Grimsby was initially on loan and he joined fellow League Two side Darlington on loan until the end of the 2006–07 season, Ravenhill who has scored for Grimsby against Darlo earlier in the season made his debut on 16 January 2007 in a 1–1 draw with Bury. He finished the spell with 2 goals in 15 games. In the summer of 2007 a permanent deal was finalised between Grimsby and Darlington and he became a full-time player with the club. Over the next two seasons Ravenhill went on to make 75 league appearances, scoring 5 goals.

Notts County

In the summer of 2009 Ravenhill joined

Hans Backe. Backe himself resigned in December after two months in charge and was replaced by Dave Kevan for a two-month period before Steve Cotterill took over for the remaining 18 games which eventually brought promotion with the club winning the League Two title. Ravenhill was an imperative part of the club's promotion push after playing in 48 games in all competitions, scoring 3 goals against Macclesfield Town, Burton Albion and Morecambe

.

The following year there was less money in the pot at Meadow Lane and County struggled with life in League One but eventually staved off relegation by finishing in 19th place, 3 points above the relegation zone. Ravenhill played 42 times in all competitions without scoring. He played his final game for County against Wycombe Wanderers on 5 November 2011.

Bradford City

He joined

Football League Cup. Victories over Watford and Burton Albion brought a tie at home with Premier League side Wigan Athletic. Bradford stunned Wigan by beating them on a penalty shootout after a 0–0 draw at Valley Parade, this set up another home tie, this time with Arsenal who again Bradford beat on a penalty shootout, this time following a 1–1 draw. Bradford went on to knock Aston Villa out 4–3 in the semi-final to make themselves only the second team from the fourth tier of English football to qualify for a national cup final. Bradford however were beaten 5–0 by Swansea City at Wembley Stadium

on 24 February 2013, Ravenhill was an unused sub for the quarter finals, both semi final legs and the final itself.

On 6 November 2013, Ricky joined Northampton Town on a month-long loan.^[8]