Richard Houghton (Head Coach)

Qualifications: FA “first 4” Sport levels one and two coach, FA Emergency Aid Certificate, FA Child Protection and Best Practice Certificate.

Football and coaching background: From September 2004 to October 2004, Richard was a volunteer at Derby County Football in the Community. While he was there, he picked up a lot of new ideas, including both drills and as a coach in general. In November 2004, he joined Boston United Football in the Community which was his first paid job in football coaching and was a massive learning curve for him as he was leading sessions for after-school and evening sessions for primary schools. In December of that year, Richard left to go travelling and to work in Fiji for seven months as a coach.

In January 2005, Richard volunteered himself as a football coach in Fiji, where he set up a programme of primary schools, which he visited each day. He also worked with all ages and abilities and he even coached disabled children twice a week at a special school. While in Fiji, he helped a football team called Navua who played in the Pepsi National League and they had several international players at different age levels such as under-17s, under-21s and seniors.

He coached this team once a week and worked on various aspects like defending. The FA also required him to do monthly reports on how things were going and what could be improved. The experience Richard gained in Fiji has set him up for a bright future in coaching as he learned new drills and how to deal with different situations on and off the pitch.

Richard has since returned to Boston United Football in the Community and has been doing PPA lessons, after-school clubs and evening sessions in the Spalding area since September 2005.

Away from work, Richard’s other interests include socialising and spending valuable time with friends and family, while also enjoying bowling, going to the dogs and going to the cinema, as well as going out for meals.

Richard joined the Centre of Excellence's coaching staff ahead of the 2006-2007 season and is the Centre's under-11s/12s assistant coach.