Naylor: Richard Alan (Richard)

2009-2011 (Player Details)

Central Defender

Born: Leeds: 28-02-1977

Debut: v Brighton and Hove Albion (a): 17-01-2009

6’1” 13st 7lb (2009)

Although born in Leeds Naylor was a product of the Ipswich Town Academy and signed professional forms with them on 10th July 1995. He gave the club fourteen years of loyal service and marked ten years as a professional at Portman Road with a testimonial in September 2006. He made more than three hundred appearances for Ipswich, firstly as a striker and later in his more accustomed position in the heart of the Blues' defence. He started out his Ipswich career as a robust centre forward making an instant impact for the Club. However a number of recurring injuries held Naylor back from achieving his full potential as a striker and he soon found himself behind Alex Mathie, James Scowcroft, David Johnson and later Marcus Stewart in the pecking order at Portman Road. In 1999-2000 Naylor started in fine form but was once again forced onto the bench, however he was to play a key role in Ipswich’s decisive Play-Off Final Game against Barnsley. Naylor came on as a first half substitute in the 2000 Division One Play-off Final against his future loan club Barnsley, for the injured David Johnson, and was widely credited at the time for changing the shape of the match in Ipswich's favour, scoring one and setting up another in sending Ipswich back into the EPL for the first time since 1995. While Ipswich where riding high in the EPL, he once again found himself out of favour with then Manager George Burley. Naylor continued to make sporadic appearances for Ipswich during 2000-2001 which saw Ipswich qualify for a place in the UFEA Cup. Although Naylor was out of Ipswich’s plans, he did get the opportunity to play against Italian giants Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup. He was loaned out to Barnsley and Millwall in 2002 in what seemed to many as the end of his Ipswich career. He joined Millwall on 28th January 2002 and made two starts and one substitute appearance before returning to Portman Road on 3rd March 2002. He went straight to Barnsley on the next day and made his debut against Crewe Alexandra on 5th March 2002, making seven starts and one game from the bench at Oakwell before returning to Ipswich on 22nd April 2002. However, Ipswich where relegated in 2001-2002 by a point and as the promotion push in 2002-03 started to fizzle out, Burley was replaced by Joe Royle as Ipswich Manager. There were the departure of many players from the Club due to administration and Naylor was back in the picture. Royle decided to switch Naylor back to play as a centre half, a move that saw him improve his performances and ironically increase his goal scoring tally for the club. He played a key role in Ipswich’s promotion pushes in 2003/04 and 2004/05 where the club would lose in the Semi-Finals to West Ham and went on to become a fixture for Club in the less successful 2005/06. In 2006 Joe Royle left Ipswich and Naylor’s former teammate Jim Magilton took over as Manager. Naylor remained in the first team at Ipswich playing at the back alongside team captain Jason DeVos in 2006/07 and 2007/08. In 2008/09 his last season with the club, he was made club captain. While at Portman Road he scored thirty-eight goals in three hundred and twenty-four League games of which ninety-two were as a substitute. He also scored once in eight starts and six substitute appearances in the FA Cup, another one in fourteen starts and ten games from the bench in the League Cup and a further goal in the Play-offs and Europe in thirteen games of which six were as a substitute. On 14th January 2009, Naylor joined his boyhood favourites Leeds United on loan from Ipswich. The move was made permanent on 2nd February 2009 when he joined on a free transfer. He made his debut at Brighton and Hove Albion in a 2-0 victory on 17th January 2009. He was appointed vice-captain of the club and scored his first goal for Leeds in the 2-0 win over Southend United on 27th January 2009. After the close season departure of Frazer Richardson Naylor was appointed club captain on 31st July 2009. However he missed the whole of the pre-season games and found himself on the bench due to the good form of the central defensive players. He made his first appearance for the season in the home game against Carlisle United and kept his place for the next home game with Charlton Athletic. He then missed a few games through injury, but soon came back to form a strong central defensive partneship with Patrick Kisnorbo which saw a continuence of the clubs run of fine form which culminated in an F.A. Cup win at Old Trafford and a draw at White Hart Lane. After the win over Manchester United Leeds started to leak goals at an alarming rate, which wasn't helped by injuries to Kisnorbo and, to a lesser extent, Naylor. He missed the final game of the season with Bristol Rovers, when promotion was finally acheived, as he was injured in the warm-up for the game. He missed the pre-season tour of Slovakia in July 2010.