Richard Keogh

Richard John Keogh (born 11 August 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Forest Green Rovers.

He formerly represented the Republic of Ireland national team.

His main positional role is at centre-back, though he has also played at right-back during his career.

Keogh was highly thought of at Stoke: he won the Young Player of the Year Award for the 2002–03 season and played a major role in the reserves winning the 2003–04 Pontins League Championship.

Having been a schoolboy in Ipswich Town's academy and a ballboy at Portman Road, Keogh moved on to the Stoke City youth set-up in January 2003.

Shortly after his arrival, he was an unused substitute in a 3–0 FA Cup win against AFC Bournemouth on 28 January after the squad was hit by a virus.

Manager Tony Pulis quipped that "I think he had to get a bus to get here."

Keogh began his career as a trainee at Ipswich Town and Stoke City, making his professional debut on loan from the latter at Icelandic club Víkingur in 2004.

At the time, Stoke was owned by an Icelandic consortium and in June 2004, Keogh and striker Jermaine Palmer were sent out on loan to Icelandic club Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur.

Initially loaned out for two months, they later had their spells extended to a year.

Víkingur had just been promoted to the Úrvalsdeild, the top league in Icelandic football, and in the 2004 season, Keogh played in nine of the club's 18 league matches.

Víkingur finished the season ninth out of 10 clubs and was relegated back down to the 1. deild karla.

He was released by Stoke City at the end of the 2004–05 season, without having made a first team appearance for the club.

After leaving Stoke City, Keogh joined up with Burnley for pre-season training.

He was known to Burnley manager Steve Cotterill and his assistant Dave Kevan from their time at Stoke and they were keen to sign him.

After impressing in pre-season, Keogh was offered a two-year contract and was poised to sign, but he ultimately turned the offer down.

Instead, just days later, Keogh signed a two-year contract with League One club Bristol City.

He joined Bristol City on a free transfer in 2005 and made his Football League debut in September of that year.

Keogh also played in two Icelandic Cup matches before returning to England in May 2005.

Keogh made his debut on 3 September 2005, starting and keeping a clean sheet as Bristol City drew 0–0 at home to Colchester United.

However, the next match, in which Keogh also played 90 minutes, ended in a 7–1 defeat at Swansea City and saw manager Brian Tinnion step down.

Keogh missed the next match but started the one after, a 3–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 20 September.

After brief substitute appearances in defeats against Brentford on 24 September and Chesterfield on 26 October, Keogh was sent out on loan by new manager Gary Johnson to League Two side Wycombe Wanderers on 9 November 2005.

Keogh had an inauspicious debut, scoring an own goal in a 1–1 draw at Darlington on 12 November, though BBC Sport reporter Ian Stringer noted that "credit should go to the Darlington winger Simon Johnson" for a great cross and that Keogh was not at fault as he had "no option" but to put it past his own keeper.

He made several more appearances that season before spending a month on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, then going on to appear sporadically for Bristol City at the end of the season, scoring his first goal in April 2006.

Keogh was a regular in the first team the following season, playing 43 times in all competitions and scoring four goals.

However, he found himself out of favour in the 2007–08 season, spending time out on loan at Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United and Cheltenham Town.

At the end of the season, he joined Carlisle United for an undisclosed fee.

Keogh was a first-team regular for Carlisle, playing 95 times and scoring six goals in all competitions for the Cumbrians over two seasons and also a short loan spell.

He also won the club's Player of the Year Award for the 2009–10 season.

At the end of the season, he joined Coventry City on a free transfer and was again a near ever-present, playing 95 league and cup matches across two seasons, scoring one goal.

Keogh was named the Player of the Year for the 2011–12 season, although the club was relegated from the Championship.

He remained in the Championship by signing for Derby County in July 2012 for a fee of over £1 million.

He played 356 matches for Derby over eight seasons, winning the club's Player of the Year Award twice (in 2012–13 and 2015–16) and the Players' Player of the Year Award on three occasions (2012–13, 2015–16 and 2018–19).

He was named in the 2014–15 PFA Team of the Year.

He also achieved three playoff finishes with the Rams.

Following his departure from Derby, he signed for Milton Keynes Dons in August 2020 before joining Huddersfield Town in January 2021.

Although Keogh was born in England, his paternal family is Irish.

He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-19, under-21 and senior level.

Keogh was born in Harlow, Essex.