- Kevin Ratcliffe
Infobox Football biography
playername = Kevin Ratcliffe
fullname = Kevin Ratcliffe
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|11|12
cityofbirth =Mancot
countryofbirth =Wales
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height = height|ft=5|in=11
position =Central defender (retired)
currentclub =
youthyears =
youthclubs = Everton
years = 1980-1992 1992
1992-1993
1993
1994
1994-1995
clubs = Everton
Dundee
Cardiff City
Nottingham Forest
Derby County
Chester City
caps(goals) = 348 (2)
004 (0)
025 (1)
00? (?)
006 (0)
023 (0)
nationalyears = 1981-1993
nationalteam = Wales
nationalcaps(goals) = 059 (0)
manageryears = 1995–1999 1999–2003
managerclubs = Chester City Shrewsbury TownKevin Ratcliffe (born
12 November 1960 inMancot , near Queensferry inNorth Wales ) is a former Welsh footballer who spent most of his career playing for EvertonPlaying career
Club career
Ratcliffe joined Everton as an apprentice in 1977 and made his début in 1980 but was not a first team regular until 1982. In 1983 at the age of 23 he was made captain, just as the club began a highly successful spell.cite web|url=http://evertonfc.com/history/kevin-ratcliffe.html|title=History: Players: Everton Giants: Kevin Ratcliffe|accessdate=2008-09-16] Whilst captain Ratcliffe won the
1984 FA Cup Final , the Football League Championship in 1984–5 and 1986–7 and theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1984–85 . There were also two other FA Cup finals. Ratcliffe made 461 appearances for Everton and scored two goals in that time (one a 30-yarder atAnfield ).After leaving Everton in 1991, he went to Dundee and then played for a short spells with Cardiff City, Nottingham Forest and Derby County.
Ratcliffe was considered one of the fastest central defenders ever to play football.who On arrival at Everton he challenged the whole first team squad to a sprint race and won.Fact|date=September 2008 Ratcliffe claimed that he challenged
Linford Christie to a sprint in the street shortly after the1992 Barcelona Olympics , in which Christie won the 100 mgold medal , and beat the runner. Fact|date=September 2008 He was not the most skillful of footballers but he anticipated superbly, tackled ferociously and did the simple things well.International career
Ratcliffe was capped 59 times by Wales, often as captain. He also represented his country at under-21, youth and schoolboy level. Despite several near-misses and boasting famous players such as
Ian Rush ,Neville Southall andMark Hughes as well as Ratcliffe, Wales failed to qualify for a major tournament while Ratcliffe was involved in the set-up.Management career
In 1994, Ratcliffe joined Chester City as assistant-manager to
Mike Pejic and continued to play for a year. In the summer of 1995, he became manager of the Blues and stayed at the helm until August 1999, when he left after falling out with new ownerTerry Smith [http://www.chester-city.co.uk/august99news.asp] . The highlight of his years at Chester was guiding the club to the Division Three play-offs in 1996-97 and he later took credit for steering the club to a mid-table position in 1998-99 while in serious financial trouble.Reputedly Ratcliffe drew £5000 from his own bank account to help cover the costs of a water bill because the club's cheques were refused.In November 1999 Ratcliffe joined Shrewsbury Town as manager and helped them avoid relegation from the
Football League on the final day of the 1999-2000 season at Chester's expense. The highlight of his tenure was a January 2003 FA Cup third round victory over his old club Everton, who were doing well in the Premiership at the time. Interestingly, Everton managerDavid Moyes was a former "Shrewsbury" player. But a disastrous run after this saw Shrewsbury relegated to theFootball Conference after 53 years in theFootball League . Ratcliffe left the club within days, stating that he had to take the blame for Shrewsbury's downfall as he had brought in most of their players.Post-management
Ratcliffe now works for
BBC Wales Sport.References
External links
* [http://www.toffeeweb.com/history/legends/Ratcliffe.asp Ratcliffe in Toffeeweb's Everton Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/kevinratcliffe.htm Kevin Ratcliffe at Neil Brown's stats site]
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