Sam Ricketts
Personal information
Full name	Samuel Ricketts
Date of birth	11 October 1981 (1981-10-11) (age 28)
Place of birth	Aylesbury, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Full back
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	18
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2003 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2006 2006–2009 2009–	Oxford United → Nuneaton Borough (loan) Telford United Swansea City Hull City Bolton Wanderers	045 (1) 011 (1) 041 (4) 086 (1) 113 (1) 012 (0)
National team2
2003–2004 2005–	England semi-professionals Wales	04 (1) 37 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:48, 22 November 2009 (UTC. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:10, 14 November 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Samuel "Sam" Ricketts (born 11 October 1981) is an English-born Wales international footballer who plays for Bolton Wanderers. His favoured position is full-back. Although he usually played on the right for previous club Hull City, he is equally comfortable on the left.

[edit] Early life

Ricketts was born 11 October 1981 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Ricketts began his career at Oxford United, making 35 first-team appearances (with a further 13 as substitute) in all competitions and scoring one goal. During his time at Oxford United he had a brief spell on loan at Nuneaton Borough before being released from his professional contract to sign for Conference National side Telford United in the summer of 2003. His form for Telford led him to be selected for the England non-League XI that season.

[edit] Swansea City

Telford went out of business at the end of the 2003–04 season, and Swansea manager Kenny Jackett swooped for Ricketts, offering him a return to the Football League. Ricketts joined Swansea City on 27 May 2004.

Ricketts made such an impact in his first season with Swansea that John Toshack handed him his first Welsh cap on 9 February 2005 in a match against Hungary. Although born in England, Ricketts is qualified to play for Wales through his Welsh grandfather.

[edit] Hull City

Hull City manager Phil Parkinson signed Ricketts from Swansea City on 14 July 2006 for a fee of £300,000 (triggering a minimum fee release clause in his contract with the Swans). In all competitions, to the end of the 2005–06 season, Ricketts had made 103 appearances for Swansea (with one further substitute appearance) and had scored three goals. His goals coming in the Football League Trophy against Luton,^[1] against Doncaster Rovers in the league,^[2] and in the 2006 League One Play Off semi final 1st leg against Brentford.^[3]

Ricketts made a good start to his Hull career, playing every minute of Hull's first ten games. However, he broke his cheekbone in the tenth game - a win against Hartlepool United. The injury required an operation, and Ricketts was ruled out for several weeks. He made a full appearance in the Championship play-off final victory over Bristol City, taking Hull City to the Premier League for the first-time in the club's 104 year existence.^[4] He scored his first and what turned out to be only goal for Hull against Southend United in March 2007.^[5]

On 23 July 2009, Hull City accepted a £2 million bid for Sam Ricketts believed to be from Bolton Wanderers.^[6]

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

On 25 July 2009, Bolton Wanderers confirmed Ricketts had signed a three-year deal at the Reebok Stadium for an undisclosed fee.^[7] He made his debut in a 1–0 loss to Sunderland on 15 August.

[edit] Horseriding

As a teenager, Ricketts was a keen horseman who chose football over equestrianism. His father is the 1978 world showjumping champion Derek Ricketts, now performance manager of the UK show jumping team, and his uncle is the former National Hunt champion jockey John Francome.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sam Ricketts player profile at hullcityafc.net
• Sam Ricketts player profile at oufc.co.uk
• Sam Ricketts player profile at swanseacityfc.net
• Sam Ricketts career stats at Soccerbase