Richard John Keogh (born 11 August 1986) is a professional football coach and former player who is the assistant head coach at Walsall.
Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team. His main positional role was at centre-back, though he also played at right-back during his career.
Keogh began his career as a trainee at Ipswich Town and Stoke City, making his professional debut on loan from the latter at Icelandic club Víkingur in 2004. He joined Bristol City on a free transfer in 2005 and made his Football League debut in September of that year. He made several more appearances that season before spending a month on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, then going on to appear sporadically for Bristol City at the end of the season, scoring his first goal in April 2006. Keogh was a regular in the first team the following season, playing 43 times in all competitions and scoring four goals. However, he found himself out of favour in the 2007–08 season, spending time out on loan at Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United and Cheltenham Town. At the end of the season, he joined Carlisle United for an undisclosed fee.
Keogh was a first-team regular for Carlisle, playing 95 times and scoring six goals in all competitions for the Cumbrians over two seasons and also a short loan spell. He also won the club's Player of the Year Award for the 2009–10 season. At the end of the season, he joined Coventry City on a free transfer and was again a near ever-present, playing 95 league and cup matches across two seasons, scoring one goal. Keogh was named the Player of the Year for the 2011–12 season, although the club was relegated from the Championship.
He remained in the Championship by signing for Derby County in July 2012 for a fee of over £1 million. He played 356 matches for Derby over eight seasons, winning the club's Player of the Year Award twice (in 2012–13 and 2015–16) and the Players' Player of the Year Award on three occasions (2012–13, 2015–16 and 2018–19). He was named in the 2014–15 PFA Team of the Year. He also achieved three playoff finishes with the Rams. Following his departure from Derby, he signed for Milton Keynes Dons in August 2020 before joining Huddersfield Town in January 2021. After one season with Blackpool, he returned to Ipswich Town briefly, then joined Wycombe Wanderers. His final club was Forest Green Rovers in EFL League Two before his retirement in 2024.
Although Keogh was born in England, his paternal family is Irish. He represented the Republic of Ireland at under-19, under-21 and senior level.
Club career Early career Keogh was born in Harlow, Essex. Having been a schoolboy in Ipswich Town's academy and a ballboy at Portman Road, Keogh moved on to the Stoke City youth set-up in January 2003. Shortly after his arrival, he was an unused substitute in a 3–0 FA Cup win against AFC Bournemouth on 28 January after the squad was hit by a virus. Manager Tony Pulis quipped that "I think he had to get a bus to get here." Keogh was highly thought of at Stoke: he won the Young Player of the Year Award for the 2002–03 season and played a major role in the reserves winning the 2003–04 Pontins League Championship.
At the time, Stoke was owned by an Icelandic consortium and in June 2004, Keogh and striker Jermaine Palmer were sent out on loan to Icelandic club Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur. Initially loaned out for two months, they later had their spells extended to a year. Víkingur had just been promoted to the Úrvalsdeild, the top league in Icelandic football, and in the 2004 season, Keogh played in nine of the club's 18 league matches. Víkingur finished the season ninth out of 10 clubs and was relegated back down to the 1. deild karla. Keogh also played in two Icelandic Cup matches before returning to England in May 2005. He was released by Stoke City at the end of the 2004–05 season, without having made a first team appearance for the club.
Bristol City After leaving Stoke City, Keogh joined up with Burnley for pre-season training. He was known to Burnley manager Steve Cotterill and his assistant Dave Kevan from their time at Stoke and they were keen to sign him. After impressing in pre-season, Keogh was offered a two-year contract and was poised to sign, but he ultimately turned the offer down. Instead, just days later, Keogh signed a two-year contract with League One club Bristol City.
Keogh made his debut on 3 September 2005, starting and keeping a clean sheet as Bristol City drew 0–0 at home to Colchester United. However, the next match, in which Keogh also played 90 minutes, ended in a 7–1 defeat at Swansea City and saw manager Brian Tinnion step down. Keogh missed the next match but started the one after, a 3–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 20 September.
Loan to Wycombe Wanderers After brief substitute appearances in defeats against Brentford on 24 September and Chesterfield on 26 October, Keogh was sent out on loan by new manager Gary Johnson to League Two side Wycombe Wanderers on 9 November 2005. Keogh had an inauspicious debut, scoring an own goal in a 1–1 draw at Darlington on 12 November, though BBC Sport reporter Ian Stringer noted that "credit should go to the Darlington winger Simon Johnson" for a great cross and that Keogh was not at fault as he had "no option" but to put it past his own keeper. He played twice more in his six-week loan spell, starting in a 3–1 win against Grimsby Town on 19 November and coming on as a late substitute in a 3–0 win over Rochdale on 10 December. City manager Gary Johnson declined to let Wycombe extend the loan and Keogh returned to his parent club on 10 December.
Back at Bristol After his loan spell ended, Keogh finally returned to Bristol City on 10 March 2006, coming off the bench in a 1–0 win at MK Dons. He had to wait almost a month for his next appearance, coming on in the 71st minute against Walsall on 8 April and scoring his first professional goal in the 90th minute to round out a 3–0 win. He made another late substitute appearance in the next match, a 2–1 win over Hartlepool United on 15 April, and his final appearance of the season came on the last day of the season, starting in a 1–0 defeat to Southend United on 6 May.
Keogh appeared sporadically at the start of the 2006–07 season, not featuring in the first three matches after suffering a head injury in a reserve match which required 15 stitches. He finally recovered to come on as a substitute in a 4–2 defeat to Blackpool on 19 August. He started in a 2–1 League Cup defeat to Cheltenham on 22 August but it was a 3–1 win against Northampton Town that was to change his fortunes. Right-back Bradley Orr was sent off on the stroke of half-time after brawling with and attempting to headbutt his own teammate, Louis Carey. Keogh was brought on at half-time as City went on to score twice to win the match. Three days later, Orr was jailed for 28 days, one of three City players to be imprisoned for his part in a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub the previous October.
Keogh started his first league match of the season on 2 September as Bristol City beat Brighton 1–0. He was an ever-present at right-back as the club started seven consecutive matches that resulted in five wins and two draws. Keogh kept his place after Orr was released early on 14 September. The latter returned to the starting line-up on 6 October, with Keogh moved to centre-back. Keogh was then an unused sub in the next game, a 2–1 win against Crewe on 14 October and played the last half an hour on 28 October as City beat Doncaster Rovers 1–0. He returned to the starting XI in a 3–1 Football League Trophy win against Leyton Orient on 1 November, scoring in the 90th minute to complete a comeback win. He started eight of the next nine matches, which saw City win five, draw three and lose one, with Keogh scoring again on 18 November, City's first in a 3–1 win against Gillingham. On 23 and 26 December, Keogh missed back-to-back games for the first time since August. He then made appearances from the bench in a 2–1 win against Port Vale on 30 December and a 1–1 draw with Leyton Orient on 1 January. He started at centre-back in a 3–3 draw at home to Coventry City on 6 January 2007 and was then consigned to coming off the bench for the next four league and cup matches.
He started in the middle of defence again on 27 January, scoring City's first as they came from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 against Premier League side Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, securing a replay at Riverside Stadium. However, he played only one of the three league matches before the replay, coming on in the 83rd minute of a 1–0 defeat to Scunthorpe United on 5 February. He played every minute of the replay, which finished 2–2 after extra time and saw City knocked out 5–4 on penalties. He kept his place in defence for the next 6 consecutive League and Cup matches, rotating between right-back and centre-back as City won four, drew one and lost one. He scored in the last match of that series, the opener in a 3–1 win at Chesterfield on 7 March. He then missed the next three matches with injury and was an unused substitute for two more before coming on at half-time in a 0–0 draw with Swansea City on 7 April.
His season petered out somewhat as he started just once and came on twice out of City's last five matches. However, the season ended in success as Bristol City were promoted to the Championship as League One runners-up and Keogh was voted the club's Young Player of the Year. Out of contract at the end of the season, Keogh also had the one-year extension clause activated in his contract and was offered a new two-year deal, though he did not sign it.
Various loan spells Upon Bristol City's return to the Championship, Keogh found himself frozen out, as manager Gary Johnson preferred Orr or Carey at right-back and two from Carey, Liam Fontaine, Jamie McAllister and Brian Wilson at centre-back. Keogh played in only one of the club's first five League and Cup matches, a 3–0 League Cup win against Brentford on 14 August. It was the only match he played for City all season. Thus, he was loaned out to League One side Huddersfield Town on 31 August for an initial one-month spell, which was later extended for a second month. During his time at the club, he played in 10 of a possible 11 matches and scored a 90th-minute consolation goal in a 3–2 defeat to Cheltenham Town on 15 September. Huddersfield declined to extend his loan for a third month and so Keogh returned from his loan on 29 October.
When he returned from the loan spell, Keogh did not even make the bench, so he was loaned out again on 21 November for six weeks, this time to Carlisle United, also of League One. Keogh pronounced himself delighted with the move, saying that he "couldn't wait" to get playing regular football again and that he was relishing the prospect of playing for a club that were "top of the league and flying at the moment... [manager] John Ward must think I'm capable of doing a good job." He started in all seven of the club's matches during his loan spell, helping the club to three wins and two draws. Keogh's loan spell ended on 2 January and Carlisle were sufficiently impressed to make an offer to sign Keogh permanently two days later, but it was rejected as City manager Gary Johnson thought it was "nowhere near our valuation".