Hamilton Ricard - Misfit, legend, or a bit of both?
By Daniel • Sep 26th, 2009 • Category: Boro LegendsIn the wake of relegation from the Premier League, Bryan Robson had just one aim for the 1997-1998 Season: promotion at all costs.
The £5million signing of Arsenal’s Paul Merson signalled this intent, but as transfer deadline day approached promotion was anything but certain. Robson decided to dig in to the chairman’s pockets with a further four major signings: Paul Gascoigne, Marco Branca, Alun Armstrong and the enigmatic Columbian Hamilton Ricard.
Signing Gazza couldn’t help but capture the imagination. Branca booked himself a place in Boro folklore by hitting the net nine times in twelve games, including goals against Sunderland and Liverpool. Alun Armstrong scored important goals in the run in too. The first impression of Ricard, on the other hand, was something entirely different.
As a Columbian international, the signing evoked comparisons with Newcastle United’s mercurial Faustino Asprilla. Looking at the guy he was a big, strong centre-forward from South America. With the size and power and Samba-star flair Ricard would be unstoppable, wouldn’t he?
And then we saw him play. Some fans said he looked like a pub player. Some said he looked like he had never seen a football before. Whether these were harsh words or not, it is certainly true that the big lad struggled to settle in to the English game. His first-touch was woeful, his finishing was worse and he just looked like, well, a bit of a lump.
Of the four players brought in, Ricard was the least effective and least well-received in what went on to become a successful promotion push.
It may then have surprised the sceptical fans that Ricard stood the test of time better than any of the other three. Gazza’s Boro career was brief and, at its best, inconsistent. Branca and Armstrong both had theirs ruined by serious injury problems. Ricard on the other hand went on to be Boro’s top scorer for the following two seasons, and stayed with the club until being released by Steve McClaren in 2001.
Since leaving the club Ricard’s career and life seem to have gone rapidly downhill. He has played in Europe, Asia and South America, with little or no success. More controversially, in 2002 he was given a 12 month ban for attacking a referee. Worse still, in the same year he was involved in a car accident in which a passenger died. Reportedly, he was later charged with causing death by dangerous driving and, in 2007, was sentenced to three years behind bars.
In happier times, Ricard scored 33 goals in 116 appearances for Boro, at a goal every 3.5 games. Take away the 23 sub appearances and that ratio is better than one in three, not a bad return for a player who had looked so dire at first glance. Despite this, he never really won over the fans. Brian Deane, by contrast, scored 18 in 87 at a goal every 4.8 games. Perhaps a more telling comparison is Fabrizio Ravanelli, who banged in 17 goals in 34 games, at exactly one in two. Rav was a hard act to follow, for Ricard, for Deane, and for any one else.
Ricard scored 33 goals in 116 appearances for Boro, at a goal every 3.5 games. Take away the 23 sub appearances and that ratio is better than one in three.
Part of the reason for fans not warming to Ricard may have been that no-one could quite fathom him out. Was he supposed to be an Asprilla-type flair player? Sometimes he looked so leaden-footed that he couldn’t have possibly been compared to that sort of player. At other times though, he would pull out a remarkable goal from no-where. Was he supposed to be a more physical type of player (which we would now call a Heskey-type)? He was big enough and ugly enough for that role, and strong enough to hold up the ball, but he was never quite good enough in the air.
If Ricard confused the fans, he certainly confused opposition defences too, and perhaps this was integral to the small successes he did achieve in a Boro shirt. He scored some memorable goals, including a glorious top-corner curler against Bradford, which even his team-mates seemed surprised by. Hey, even Hammy himself sometimes seemed surprised by his own genius, and maybe that’s what held him back. Had Ricard have been more self-confident and believed in his own ability, perhaps he could have been a more consistent performer, a more regular goal-scorer and perhaps he could even have won over the Teesside faithful.
Hammy scored some memorable goals:
Sadly though, he will go down in our memories as exactly what he was: an enigma. He was the inconsistent, underperforming, goal-shy striker, who was actually our most persistent goal threat over the time he played for us. He was the big guy with bags of flair who never really carved out a niche for himself in our team. He was the player that Robson deemed not as good at leading the line as Brian Deane, and that McClaren deemed less likely to score goals than Noel Whelan and Alen Boksic. He was the player reviled by some Boro fans and revered by others.
He was simply Hamilton Ricard, a unique and perplexing talent. All the best Hammy, thanks for the slightly confusing memories. Ah, one more time: Riiiicard, Riiiicard, Riiiicard!!!
Daniel is a lifelong Boro fan, just old enough to remember 86, and young enough to have watched the early Robson/Juninho years through awestruck teenage eyes.
His earliest footballing memory is watching a reserve game between Boro and Man City. He sang his heart out, on his own, for 90 minutes solid. He was four years old, and he's followed the Boro with the same passion ever since.
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Alright Daniel
Good read. I am actually probably one of Ham The Man’s biggest defenders…
I think it’s kind of sad that a striker who was once a hero to so many Boro fans has found himself in his current situation. Yeah, we didn’t take to him immediately. The chances that he missed - that nearly cost us automatic promotion in ‘98 - led to fans dubbing him “Hamilton Retard”. But once Merson’s agent stuck the rumours in the paper, he got his chance - and took it with both hands. Remember the day that him and - incredulously - Deane - tortured the Man. United defence?
It’s a pity that he was never really consistently good enough to star at the top. In one way, he was like a lesser Mark Viduka - he had his good spells, then his really bad ones. He was a reliable penalty taker though, and he could be relied on to score some crackers. That is, if he wasn’t setting up goals with his flicks and tricks.
You’ve mentioned the great bicycle kick at Bradford in the FA Cup in ‘01. But do you also remember how his long goal drought of late ‘99 was ended, with a terrific curler against the Mackems?
For all his numerous limitations, I don’t think you can doubt the mark he made at Boro. And an average of something like ten goals a season isn’t bad.
You also can’t discount the fact that no player has scored more overall goals (43) in a Boro shirt during the Riverside years. (The Duke comes closest with 42, followed by the Yak’s 35).
I guess the bottom line is this: He was better than Ricketts.
Here’s a question for you Si: Ricard was released on a free in 2001, aged 28. He could have realistically played at least another 3 or 4 years for us. It wasn’t until 2004 that we signed Viduka and Hasselbaink, and 2005 that we signed Yakubu. In the interim period, from 2001 to 2004, who did a better job up front for us than Ricard might have done?
Whelan? Ricketts? Nemeth? Boksic? Maccarone? Job? Christie?
Funny you should mention Boksic Dan, I caught his video on the youtube thing above after the Ricard one and it reminded me of just how talented a footballer he was. On his day, when he could be arsed to play he was one of the most technically gifted centre forwards I ever saw. Shame his commitment was shit really!
I was a big fan of Ricard and was gutted when he left. When he was having an off day he was very poor but when he was on his game, I seem to remember him torturing Spurs a few times, he was nearly unplayable.
Shame to see how his career and life transformed after leaving Boro, and he should be considered a legend of the Riverside era.
Ricard was miles ahead of Afonso Alves!
Hammo was a decent striker, but you knew after 5 minutes whether he was gonna have a blinder or a stinker. Put in some tremendous performances though, two against spurs and 1 against arsenal where he tortured Sol
I had the opportunity of watching the Boro as Phil Don’s guest (the then ref’s referee) and I remember one game sat in front of Joe Royle, we were playing Wimbledon in the FA cup, when he leaned forward and said to Phil “keep an eye on the Boro forward ‘cos he’s being used as a mobile foul!”. Which in his later days under Venables formation 10-0-1 he really was. Couldn’t hit a barn door if he was looking at it but lethal if just swinging and hitting the ball. Oh I miss him!
Enigma is a perfect way of summing Ricard up. On his day completely unplayable, on other days he looked like it was the first time he’d even seen a football. Scored some crackers mind