People seem to forget just how outstanding Richards was prior to the arrival of Hughes at this club.
Until the season petered out into a mess thanks to the idiot owner, Richards was immense at centre half with Dunne. They were being hailed, not just by City fans but neutral pundits too, as possibly the best partnership in the league.
And he was only 19 or 20 at this point.
He was easily the most impressive defender of his age in Europe. And that is not an exageration.
Then, and I know I am viewed as holding a grudge against Hughes but this bit is true, Hughes arrived and every single defender that player under him went backwards and was generally made to look rubbish when playing in the defence- those that he bought and those that were already here.
Unfortunately for Richards, this coincided with him being at a very impressionable and easily disrupted stage, both due to his age and, some might say, the rumours of his attitude not being 100% focused.
So, in the midst of a club full of loads of defenders being tried in its defence and all of them looking shite, Richards confidence went completely, eventually leading to asking to be moved from a position (something I can't recall ever happening at this club before) because it was less pressure at full back.
This is less than 12 months after he was excelling, and I mean excelling, in that same position.
Of all the players to suffer from the horrendous mismanagement and like of inter personal skills exhibited by Hughes here, Richards has fallen the most.
Yes, a large part of the 'blame' may also by down to the player and his attitude at times too, but given how every other defender looked like shit during that period too, it is very unfortunate for Richards that he was hit by that mess at such a crucial and maleable stage of his career.
FFS, he has hardly played a single game at the position he was so good at and his attributes suit the most (centre half) since his confidence was shot to pieces playing in the mess that was Hughes' defence.
