Richard Vauls Player Profile

Biography

Richard signed with Stoke City (then of the English second tier) in the summer of 2006, after impressing on trial. The 15-year-old defender had been captaining Dervock Youths the previous season and had attracted interest from a number of mainland professional clubs such as West Ham United, Wolves and Rangers. During three years at the Britannia Stadium (which coincided with Stoke's rise to the Premier League), Vauls quickly progressed into the Reserve team panel and was also noticed at international level, having been placed on standby for the Northern Ireland Under-21 squad.

The progress unfortunately wasn't fast enough for the full-back as in the cut-throat world of elite professional football, he was notified in March 2009 that he was not going be offered a new contract at Stoke after failing to break through into first-team reckoning. A frustrating summer followed and Vauls stayed locally in Staffordshire and reappeared at Conference North side Stafford Rangers for the 2009/2010 season.

In August 2010, Richard made the move north of the border to Scottish First Division side Cowdenbeath, managed by former Northern Ireland international Jimmy Nicholl, but his stay only lasted nine games and one season before the 20-year-old made the decision to return home and was quickly snapped up by hometown club Coleraine in June 2011. The move didn't work out as hoped following a disagreement with the management and Richard was released in August 2011 to allow him to make a move to neighbours Ballymena United.

Signed by Roy Walker before the transfer deadline, the full-back had an impressive debut against Linfield at the Showgrounds and became a regular in the defence during the first half of the 2011/2012 season, but that period coincided with poor results which lead to Walker's resignation in December 2011 and the appointment of Glenn Ferguson. Injuries prevented him making much of an impression under the new boss until March but he finished the season well to earn a new two year contract at Warden Street.

The following season continued with niggling problems which prevented him maintaining a run in the team and subsequently missed out on the County Antrim Shield final victory in November 2012.His last game of the season came in a 1-0 defeat to Coleraine in February 2013, this would also unknowingly be his game altogether for the Sky Blues.

Following an agonising 18 months out of football, Vauls was offered a route back into the game with Portstewart (who his father Alan had previously played for) in January 2015. Having returned to full fitness, Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter signed the defender ahead of the 2015/2016 as back-up for their quest to retain the Gibson Cup. Following limited appearances behind the established Craig McClean, his contract was mutually terminated in October 2016.

Vauls returned to Portstewart, now playing outside of the Irish League pyramid following relegation to the Northern Ireland Intermediate League, and won the league title at the first time of asking in April 2017.

Last updated: 2 May 2017