Ricky Ravenhill

The Second Division over the summer had become 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.

Richard John Ravenhill (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is the assistant manager of Mickleover.

As a player, he was a midfielder, who began his professional career with Barnsley in 2000 after a short spell with New Zealand club Napier City Rovers.

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.

Bassett was dismissed early into Ravenhill's time at Oakwell and was replaced by Nigel Spackman.

Ravenhill was released midway through the 2001–02 season and transferred to the then non-league side Doncaster Rovers.

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.

Ravenhill ended the 2001–02 season with 11 appearances in all competitions.

Ravenhill signed for Conference side Doncaster Rovers on 24 January 2002 on a free transfer.

He made his full professional debut on 19 February 2002 against in a 1–1 draw with Yeovil Town in the FA Trophy.

On 2 March he made his league debut in a 3–2 away win over Nuneaton Borough.

In his second season with Rovers, the club were promoted from the Conference having beaten Dagenham & Redbridge in the 2003 Football Conference play-off final.

During the following season Ravenhill and Doncaster earned promotion after beating Dagenham & Redbridge in the 2003 Football Conference play-off final.

The win secured Doncaster's return to the Football League after a five-year absence.

The following season brought more joy as Rovers secured back to back promotions by winning the Third Division to insure they would be playing in the third division of English football for the 2004–05 season.

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.

In 2006, he transferred to Grimsby Town but his stay was short-lived, and by the end of the season he had moved on again, this time joining Darlington.

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.

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.

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.

In July 2009 he joined Notts County and his first season with the club brought promotion and his second league title in the fourth tier.

In the summer of 2009 Ravenhill joined Notts County who were in the middle of the takeover by Middle Eastern consortium Munto Finance.

County were to bring in Sven-Göran Eriksson as director of football, as well as players such as Sol Campbell, Kasper Schmeichel and Lee Hughes.

County, Munto and Sven despite all the media hype around the club had parted company before the 2009–10 season had seen its climax and to add to the confusion the club had seen five different managers in charge throughout the season.

Ian McParland who signed Ravenhill during the summer was dismissed in October, and after Michael Johnson was placed in temporary charge the board appointed 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.

In late 2011 he moved on loan to Bradford City which a month later brought a permanent move.

During the 2012–13 season Ravenhill and Bradford were runners-up in the Football League Cup.