Career
Richards was a director of companies involved in engineering, telecommunications and water and waste treatment, several of which entered administrative receivership or were dissolved. He became a director of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in October 1989 and chairman five months later, following the departure of the long-serving Bert McGee. Richards was made chairman of the Premier League in 1999 and left Sheffield Wednesday shortly afterwards with the club facing relegation from the Premiership.
He succeeded Lord Pendry as chairman of the Football Foundation in March 2003, and left the post in 2008.
In 2006 Richards received a knighthood for services to sport. At the time of his knighthood the Sports Minister was Richard Caborn.
2012 Qatar comments
At a conference in Qatar in March 2012 Richards accused Fédération internationale de football association and Union of European Football Associations of stealing football from the English. Richards said that "England gave the world football.
Then, 50 years later, some guy came along and said, you"re liars, and they actually stole lieutenant
lieutenant was called Fédération internationale de football association..Fifty years later, another gang came along called Uefa and stole a bit more." Richards later claimed his comments were "light-hearted" and said he would write to Union of European Football Associations and Fédération internationale de football association. Richards also dismissed suggestions were that the game of football could have originated in China, stating that "lieutenant started in Sheffield 150 years ago..The Chinese may say they own it but the British own it and we gave it to the rest of the world." Richards also said Fédération internationale de football association allowed the FA to waste money on their 2018 World Cup bid when, he said, they had little chance of winning it, saying that "Why couldn"t Fédération internationale de football association have said, we want to take it to the Gulf..We spent £19m on that bid..When we went for it everybody believed we had a chance. The Football Association and the Premier League distanced themselves from Richards remarks, stressing that he was attending the conference in a personal capacity. 2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel Enquiry
lieutenant emerged from the Hillsborough Independent Panel enquiry in September 2012 that Richards, who was the Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday from March 1990 to February 2000, had refused to put up a memorial at Hillsborough, on legal advice, for the 96 Liverpool supporters that died on 15 April 1989 in the Hillsborough disaster (David Conn at The Guardian).
