Donovan Ricketts

Donovan Ricketts (born 7 June 1977 in Montego Bay, Jamaica) is a footballer, who plays for Village United for the second time in his career. Throughout his career he has played as a goalkeeper. He is the vice captain of the Jamaica national football team.

Club career

Early career

Ricketts started his club career with Village United in his native Jamaica. In 2004 he came to England to sign for Bolton Wanderers.

Bradford City

He never played a game at Bolton and instead moved to Bradford City initially on a year-long loan in July 2004. He spent most of his first season in English football as understudy to Australian Paul Henderson before he finally made his debut in April 2005 and played in the final four games. During the season break he signed permanently on a two-year deal keeping him at City until 2007. He missed nine games because of a broken foot early in the 2005–06 season and was replaced by Russell Howarth. He regained his place against Port Vale, before he again missed a game in December 2005 after he was sent off for celebrating a City goal in a game at Southend United. He was immediately recalled to the side following his suspension, and played the following 80 league games, including as ever-present in the 2006–07 season.

His run of games came to an end when he was dropped in October 2007 after a poor run of form. He was recalled for the game against Brentford on 3 November 2007 after Rhys Evans' loan was cut short by injury, playing the next 13 games. He was expected to make a move to Queens Park Rangers during the January transfer window and was replaced by loan keeper Scott Loach for Bradford's 4–2 victory over Shrewsbury Town, but his move collapsed when he was refused a work permit. Despite Rickett's return, Loach kept his place in the City side for their 1–0 win at Macclesfield Town, saving a second half penalty, but manager Stuart McCall told Ricketts he could still have a future at the club. Loach continued to keep Ricketts out of the team since his arrival on loan from Watford. And after Ricketts had played for Jamaica in March 2008, he was stopped by imigration officials at Heathrow Airport and sent back to New York because he did not have the correct paperwork. Bradford were also told a new work permit application would be turned down. Instead, Ricketts returned to Jamaica to train with the country's under 21 side, before being one of 13 players to be released by Bradford manager Stuart McCall at the end of the season.

Return to Jamaica

Having spent the summer, training and playing with the Jamaican international side, he returned to his former side Village United in August 2008, under the management of Dean Weatherly. He lasted only 45 minutes in his return to the Village United side, after he complained of double vision at half-time after he was hit with the ball during the first half of a game with Portmore United. The game ended 1–1, with Portmore's goal coming from a mistake from Ricketts.

International career

On 3 June 2006 he appeared in goal for Jamaica in an international friendly against England at Old Trafford. Jamaica went on to lose the game 6–0.

Standing at six feet four inches and weighing 92kg (14st 2lbs), Ricketts is big figure in goal and has been a big part of the Reggae Boyz programme for sometime now, dating back to the days of former Technical Director Renê Simões.

Ricketts has not only kept goal for Jamaica at the senior level, but has also done it at various junior levels for his country. He came through the national ranks under the guidance of goalkeeping coach, Paul Campbell. Ricketts is a World Cup veteran, being named to the Jamaican squad that played in the World Cup finals in France. However, the opportunity never presented itself for him to see any game time.

References

External links

• Donovan Ricketts Vital Profile