Aston Villa defender Micah Richards will reportedly hang up his boots at the end of the season.
During the summer of 2015, then manager Tim Sherwood opted to add free agent Micah Richards to his Aston Villa squad as he was hoping to pick the team up from their FA Cup final defeat months before.
Not only that, a number of players had left the club during that period, including the likes of Ron Vlaar, Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Tom Cleverley.
To try and bring some experience and leadership back to the then-Premier League side, Sherwood turned to former Manchester City defender Richards as a player who could lead the club on the right path.
Less than a year later and the Midlands outfit was heading to the second tier of English football for the first time in nearly three decades.
Fast forward to today, and the Daily Mail recently reported that Richards is set to retire at the end of the season when his contract at Villa Park comes to an end.
There is no doubt, that Richards will go down as one of Villa’s worst signings this millennium because after all, he is the only Villa captain to have suffered relegation this century.
To this day, the manner of the club’s relegation will not sit well with the Holte End faithful, with the likes of Richards, Joleon Lescott and Gabby Agbonlahor getting a lot of stick for the manner in which they ‘performed’ during that campaign.
Since then, Richards hardly featured for Villa – he last played for the club during Steve Bruce’s first game in charge in October 2016 – since then he has been on the sidelines.
When supporters in the stands feel the players on the pitch are no longer trying, don’t care for the shirt then it creates for a toxic atmosphere.
The 2015/16 Premier League campaign will go down as the worst seasons in Villa’s history and the players, its captain, will go down with that same name.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
