Good standard that mate, how old is he? How come he's in the US?
He's 21 and is on a 'soccer' scholarship at King College, Bristol, Tennessee. He was at Charlton's School of Excellence from age 6-12 before there was a change of coaching staff and he was let go. Whilst at Charlton - and after his release - there was interest from Spurs and Wimbledon but for one reason or another (partly his mum not wanting him to suffer disappointment again) nothing came of it and he played for a couple of junior teams in Kent Leagues and then Bromley Town, who were going to do a scholarship-type thing themselves until it all went pear-shaped!
When he was 18, and playing for Erith and Belvedere FC reserves, he went for a trial with First Point USA, a Glasgow based feeder for US colleges, as clubs over here are not interested in 'keepers who are under 6ft tall. This culminated in him joining King, aged 19 and fully grown at 5' 11"
Rich has been keeping a 6' 5" 'keeper out of the side for the last two seasons. This season, after winning the AAC, and but for being drawn against the 3rd best team in the country in the preliminary round, he would have played in the national college finals in California.
He's taking 3 majors at college (the first to do so in King College's history) and was considering giving up on making it professionally - even in America - when Chattanooga came calling. His mum is a bit upset as it means he won't be back as usual for the summer, but she is also glad it looks like thing are starting to happen for Rich at last.
A month or so ago I was ridiculed on talkSPORT by Mike Parry when I told him I saw Rich make two saves in one match as good as the famous Gordon Banks' save against Pele - Porky choosing to suggest I was saying my stepson was better than Banksy!
All I can say to Mike Parry is that was not the case but, nevertheless, 'Watch this space!
