Richard Jobson was the guest of honour at hospitality prior to the Dale v Woking match on Saturday, entertaining diners with stories about his nine Clubs career including Rochdale plus Burton Albion, Watford, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Leeds United, Southend United, Manchester City and Tranmere Rovers.
Described by Keith Hicks as probably the nicest professional footballer ever-how was he a central defender???, Richard commented afterwards:
“Many thanks for organising everything for this afternoon’s match. My friend and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the result and performance were excellent. Please pass our thanks onto everybody at the Club for looking after us so well”
His story:
Richard Jobson, born 9th May 1963 in Hull, is a former footballer who made 606 appearances, scoring 42 in the Football League and Premier League over a twenty year career at Burton Albion, Watford, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Leeds United, Southend United, Manchester City, Tranmere Rovers and Rochdale, also capped twice for England “B”
He began his football career playing part-time for Burton Albion in the Northern Premier League while studying for a Civil Engineering Degree at the University of Nottingham but he abandoned his studies when Graham Taylor signed him for First Division club Watford, where he played 11 times in the First Division in 1982/3 scoring once as they finished second. He managed another 17 League appearances in the next couple of years before accepting a £40,000 offer to join his home-town Club, Hull City, where he quickly established himself as a regular in the Boothferry Park defence, securing promotion to the Second Division for the 1985/6 season.
After 221 league appearances for them he signed for Oldham Athletic for a Club record fee of £460,000 in 1990 becoming a key player in their promotion to the First Division as Second Division Champions, he was also called up to play for England “B”. In five years, he played 189 league games for the Latics, scoring 10 goals, highlight being reaching the FA Cup Semi Final, where only a late equaliser by Manchester United’s Mark Hughes denied him a Final appearance followed by a 1-4 at Maine Road.
Richard moved to Leeds United for £1million in 1995 but his career there was disrupted by injury and he spent time on loan to Southend United before joining Joe Royle at Manchester City in the 1998/9 season. Again, he suffered injuries, but still helped City reach the Premiership with two successive promotions.
He joined Tranmere Rovers 2000/1 then signed for Rochdale helping them qualify for the Division Three Play Offs Semi Finals in 2001/2, his first season at Spotland that resulted in a defeat over the two legs to Rushden & Diamonds.
Richard succeeded Nick Cusack as Chairman of the Professional Footballers (PFA) Association in November 2002, remaining in the post until he retired as a player, then joined the PFA staff as a Senior Executive in the Player Management Department