Graham Rix

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Graham Rix
Personal information
Date of birth	October 23, 1957 (1957-10-23) (age 50)
Place of birth	Doncaster, England
Height	5 ft 9 in
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth clubs
1974–1975	Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1975–1988 1987–1988 1988–1991 1991–1992 1992–1993 1995	Arsenal → Brentford (loan) Caen Le Havre Dundee Chelsea Total	351 (41) 006 0(0) 089 0(9) 012 0(0) 014 0(2) 001 0(0) 473 (52)
National team
1980–1984	England	017 0(0)
Teams managed
2000 2001–2002 2004 2005–2006	Chelsea (caretaker) Portsmouth Oxford United Heart of Midlothian
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Graham Rix (b. October 23, 1957) is an English former football player and coach. He was fired by Heart of Midlothian in March 2006, which was his most recent role in professional football. He is currently a coach at one of Glenn Hoddle's Sporting Academies in the South of Spain.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Arsenal 1.2 After Arsenal 1.3 International 2 Coaching career 2.1 Chelsea 2.2 Portsmouth and Oxford 2.3 Hearts 3 Managerial stats 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Arsenal

Originally from Doncaster, Yorkshire, Rix joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1974 and turned professional the year after. He made his debut for the club against Leicester City on April 2, 1977, and marked it by scoring the opening goal. Rix immediately became a regular on the left wing, replacing George Armstrong. Together with Liam Brady he formed part of an impressive attacking midfield, which helped Arsenal to three successive cup finals between 1978 and 1980. Arsenal only won one of these, in 1979 against Manchester United; the final score was 3–2, with Rix crossing for Alan Sunderland's last-minute winner, just seconds after United had equalised to level the score 2–2.

Arsenal reached the Cup Winners' Cup final the following season, against Valencia; the match finished 0–0 after extra time – a penalty shootout ensued, but Rix missed his kick and Arsenal lost. After the departure of Liam Brady to Juventus that summer, many believed Rix would also leave but he stayed at the club, and became captain in 1983. Arsenal's form slumped in the early 1980s, though, meaning Rix was unable to claim any silverware as skipper.

[edit] After Arsenal

A series of injuries to his achilles tendon kept Rix out of the team in the mid-1980s, and he lost his starting place in the side to Martin Hayes. Rix spent a spell on loan at Brentford, before being released in 1988. In all he played 464 times for the Gunners, scoring 51 goals. After leaving the London club, Rix spent time at French clubs Caen (1988–1991; 89 Appearances) and Le Havre, before finishing his playing career at Dundee in 1993.

[edit] International

Between 1980 and 1984, Rix played for the England national team, including making five appearances at the 1982 World Cup.

[edit] Coaching career

[edit] Chelsea

Rix joined Chelsea as youth team coach in the summer of 1993; during an injury crisis, he briefly enlisted as a player for the club, playing a solitary Premiership match in May 1995 against his old side Arsenal. Rix became assistant manager in 1996 under new Blues boss Ruud Gullit, and continued in the same role under Gullit's successor Gianluca Vialli, winning the FA Cup in 1997, and the League Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in 1998.

In March 1999, Rix was sentenced to 12 months in prison, of which he served six, for having underage sex and indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl, who was the daughter of a family friend. He was also ordered to be placed on the sex offender's register for 10 years, and banned by the FA from working with youth players under the age of 16.^[1] Upon his release from prison he immediately rejoined Chelsea in his old job. He won the FA Cup again in 2000 before leaving the club after Vialli was sacked by Ken Bates, after a brief spell as caretaker manager.

[edit] Portsmouth and Oxford

Rix managed Portsmouth between 2001 and 2002, before he was sacked in favour of Director of Football Harry Redknapp. Rix managed Oxford United for seven months in 2004. They declined sharply during the final three months of the 2003–04 Division Three campaign - falling from the automatic promotion places to ninth in the final table and failing to merit even a playoff place. He was sacked after their dismal form continued into 2004–05.

[edit] Hearts

In November 2005, after speculation linking him with the Manager's job at Scottish Premier League club Hearts of Midlothian, it was confirmed that Rix would take over at Tynecastle. He officially took the position of head coach on November 8, 2005.^[2] Events reported in February 2006, by Scottish newspapers, suggested that Rix was unhappy with Vladimir Romanov's "hands on" approach and speculation increased that Romanov was involved in team selection. On 22 March 2006 Rix was sacked as manager after just four months in charge with Hearts Chairman Roman Romanov stating that "results were not what they should have been."^[3]

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Chelsea		September 13, 2000	September 17, 2000	1	1	0	0	100.00
Portsmouth		February 25, 2001	March 25, 2002	56	16	23	17	28.57
Oxford United		March 22, 2004	November 14, 2004	29	6	15	8	20.68
Hearts		November 8, 2005	March 22, 2006	19	9	4	6	47.36

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Graham Rix career stats at Soccerbase
• Graham Rix management career stats at Soccerbase
• Rix's England statistics

v • d • e England squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Clemence • 2 Anderson • 3 Brooking • 4 Butcher • 5 Coppell • 6 Foster • 7 Keegan • 8 Francis • 9 Hoddle • 10 McDermott • 11 Mariner • 12 Mills • 13 Corrigan • 14 Neal • 15 Rix • 16 Robson • 17 Sansom • 18 Thompson • 19 Wilkins • 20 Withe • 21 Woodcock • 22 Shilton • Coach: Greenwood

v • d • e Chelsea F.C. – Managers Robertson (1905–06) • Lewis (1906–07) • Calderhead (1907–33) • Knighton (1933–39) • Birrell (1939–52) • Drake (1952–61) • Docherty (1961–67) • Sexton (1967–74) • Suart (1974–75) • McCreadie (1975–77) • Shellito (1977–78) • Blanchflower (1978–79) • Hurst (1979–81) • Gould (1981) • Neal (1981–85) • Hollins (1985–88) • Campbell (1988–91) • Porterfield (1991–93) • Webb (1993) • Hoddle (1993–96) • Gullit (1996–98) • Vialli (1998–2000) • Rix (2000) • Ranieri (2000–04) • Mourinho (2004–07) • Grant (2007–08)

v • d • e Portsmouth F.C. – Managers Brettell (1898–1901) • Blyth (1901–04) • Bonney (1904–08) • Brown (1911–20) • McCartney (1920–27) • Tinn (1927–47) • Jackson (1947–52) • Lever (1952–58) • Cox (1958–61) • G. Smith (1961–70) • Tindall (1970–73) • Mortimore (1973–74) • St. John (1974–77) • Dickinson (1977–79) • Burrows (1979–82) • Campbell (1982–84) • Ball (1984–89) • Gregory (1989–90) • Burrows (1990–91) • J. Smith (1991–95) • Fenwick (1995–98) • Waldonc (1998) • Ball (1998–99) • McNabc (1999–00) • Pulis (2000) • Claridge (2000–01) • Rix (2001–02) • Redknapp (2002–04) • Zajec (2004–05) • Perrin (2005) • Jordanc (2005) • Redknapp (2005–) (c) caretaker

v • d • e Oxford United F.C. – Managers Thompson (1949–58) • Turner (1959–69) • Saunders (1969) • Summers (1969–75) • Brown (1975–79) • Asprey (1979–80) • Greaves (1980–82) • J. Smith (1982–85) • Evans (1985–88) • Lawrenson (1988) • Horton (1988–93) • D. Smith (1993–97) • Shotton (1998–99) • D. Smith (2000) • Kemp (2000–01) • Wright (2001) • Atkins (2001–04) • Rix (2004) • Díaz (2004–05) • Talbot (2005–06) • J. Smith (2006–07) • Patterson (2007–)

v • d • e Heart of Midlothian F.C. – Managers Fairley (1901–03) • Waugh (1903–08) • McGhee (1908–09) • McCartney (1910–19) • McCartney (1919–35) • Pratt (1935–37) • Moss (1937–40) • McLean (1941–51) • Walker (1951–66) • Harvey (1966–70) • Seith (1970–74) • Hagart (1974–77) • Ormond (1977–80) • Moncur (1980–81) • Ford (1981) • MacDonald (1982–90) • Jardine (1986–88) • Jordan (1990–93) • Clark (1993–94) • McLean (1994–95) • Jefferies (1995–2000) • Houston (2000) • Levein (2000–04) • Houston (2004) • Robertson (2004–05) • Burley (2005) • McGlynn (2005) • Rix (2005–06) • Ivanauskas (2006) • Malofeyev (2006) • Riabovas (2006) • Ivanauskas (2006–07) • Korobochka & Frail (2007–08) • Frail (2008) • Banks (2008–)