One More Member’s Birthday Today: CCFPA Sends ‘Woody’ Our Birthday Best As He Hits The Big 4-0!

Today has been a particularly busy Sky Blue birthday, with three Sky Blues to celebrate! After Gary Gillespie and Steve Jacobs, we now have a trio of CCFC players having birthdays today, with this one playing for Doncaster Rovers until the conclusion of last season.

Richard Wood, a popular former Sky Blue central defender of relatively recent vintage, was born on July 5, 1985, and celebrates his 40th birthday today.

Congratulations! Richard celebrated his 2020 birthday with a treble of achievements. Not only was he 35, but both his then-team Rotherham United and his former side Coventry City were confirmed as the automatically promoted pair from League One in 2019-20, with CCFC as champions.

and the Millers as runners up, despite the curtailment of the season due to coronavirus.

That season the Millers, with ‘Woody’Captaining their team, they had the best of the exchanges, defeating us 4-0 in Yorkshire (one of only three Sky Blues losses) and drawing at St Andrews in our ‘home’ game. A season later, while the Sky Blues finished fifteenth in the Championship, the Millers, still led by Richard, were relegated to League One in penultimate position, and the Sky Blues also won the double over Rotherham United!

‘Woody’, a proud West Yorkshireman born in Ossett (and originally a Leeds United fan), played professionally for Doncaster Rovers in 2023-24 and 2024-25 (appearing 28 times in his first season and an additional eight games last season before retiring). This came after nine seasons with the Millers (2014-23), over 250 appearances and more than 20 goals at Rotherham United, and another 24 games and three goals in brief loan spells at Crawley Town, Fleetwood Town, and Chesterfield.

Richard also became a legend at his first major league club, Sheffield Wednesday, where he made 189 first-team league games and scored eight goals since 2003.

The Sky Blues managed to prise him away (initially on loan in 2009) and became a grit and determination centre defender for the Sky Blues (including periods as captain) in 134 league and cup games (scoring nine goals) until departing the Ricoh in the summer of 2013 to join Charlton Athletic. Richard returned north to Rotherham United after 26 games for the ‘Addicks’. None of Woody’s goals for the Millers were more vital than his brace at Wembley Stadium in the L1 Play Off Final victory over Shrewsbury Town the day before the Sky Blues’ own triumphant date with destiny in the L2 Play Off Final in May 2018.

Captain brave Richard led his club back into the Championship after a years’ absence, just as the Sky Blues’ victory over Exeter City assured an immediate return to the higher tier after a humiliating relegation. previous season!

Richard voluntarily joined the Association shortly after leaving the Ricoh and has returned as our’special’ match-day visitor ever since, though his busy football schedule certainly prohibits more frequent visits. Since May 2025, Woody has been the first-team coach at Rotherham United. We wish him well in 2025 and beyond, and hope he has a nice birthday today!

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