Player Profile

One of the few products of the Oxford United youth academy (for whom he made 45 appearances before leaving at the age of 22) to appear for Swindon, Ricketts joined the Robins on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers for the final two months of the 2015 season. With 52 Wales caps and more than 450 professional appearances under his belt, he brought a huge amount of experience to the centre of Town’s defence as Mark Cooper’s side attempted to get over the line for promotion to the Championship.

It didn’t quite work out that way - in Ricketts’ twelve games, Town conceded 28 goals, keeping only one clean sheet. That run included six games in which they conceded three or more, including a 3-0 defeat on his debut against MK Dons at home, an incredible 5-5 game against Sheffield United in the playoffs and the 4-0 defeat to Preston at Wembley, when Ricketts was the man introduced in the fifth minute to replace injured captain Nathan Thompson. He did score in the playoffs though - a header which was the first of Town’s seven over two legs against Sheffield United.

After his loan expired, he signed for Coventry City with whom he played until retiring from football with a knee injury in November 2016. He moved into coaching with Celtic and Wolves and later managed Wrexham and Shrewsbury.

Playing Record

Senior

Career details

Club	Details
Oxford United Oxford United	(youth) April 20th, 2000 (signed professional contract); released (2002/3)
Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough	rptd October 18th, 2002 (loan); expired (rptd January 26th, 2003)
Telford United Telford	rptd July 12th, 2003 (unattached); released (May 27th, 2004)
Swansea City Swansea City	June 22nd, 2004 (announced May 27th, 2004) (unattached); transferred out (July 18th, 2006)
Hull City Hull City	July 18th, 2006 (transferred in , £300,000 ); transferred out (July 25th, 2009)
Bolton Wanderers Bolton	July 25th, 2009 (transferred in, undisclosed fee); released (rptd July 4th, 2013)
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves	July 4th, 2013 (unattached); released (rptd June 17th, 2015)
Swindon Town Swindon	March 21st, 2015 (loan); expired (2014/5)
Coventry City Coventry City	July 6th, 2015 (unattached); retired (rptd November 16th, 2016)
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves	2017 (appointed youth coach)
Wrexham Wrexham	rptd May 2nd, 2018 (appointed manager); resigned (December 3rd, 2018)
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town	December 3rd, 2018 (appointed manager); sacked (November 25th, 2020)