Damien Richardson and Safia Minney

Damien John Richardson (born 2 August 1947, Dublin) is an Irish football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Drogheda United. Richardson formerly managed Gillingham in England and Cobh Ramblers, Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers in Ireland.

Richardson's father George also played and managed in the League of Ireland. He played for Bray Unknowns F.C. and Brideville F.C. and managed St Patrick's Athletic in the 1970s.

Richardson is also recognisable for his media work, including Monday Night Soccer.

Contents 1 Player 2 Manager 3 Media work 4 Honours 4.1 As a player 4.2 As a manager 5 References 6 Bibliography

Player

As a player Richardson's career was divided between Shamrock Rovers and Gillingham. He made his Rovers debut in a 2–1 friendly win over Sunderland at Roker Park on 10 August 1963. His competitive debut came eight days later as Rovers beat Shelbourne 3–0 at Tolka Park in a Dublin City Cup clash. While at Rovers he twice won the FAI Cup in 1968 and 1969 (scoring in the final replay) as well as getting an Inter League cap and represented the club 5 times in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. He received the first of three international caps for the Irish national team while at Shamrock Rovers, making his debut against Austria in Linz in October 1971. He scored in his final appearance for Rovers on 22 October 1972 at Milltown.

He moved to the English Fourth Division side Gillingham at the age of 25. He played for the Priestfield Stadium side for the next nine years before being released in 1981. During his time there he scored 100 goals. Manager

Richardson's managerial career began in 1989 where he managed Gillingham, having previously served as the club's youth team manager. A rather lacklustre career there ended in 1992, and he returned to Ireland in 1993 to manage Cork City. He proved an instant success bringing the club within striking distance of retaining the league title. However, after 18 months he left the club after a dispute with then chairman Pat O'Donovan.

Following Cork City, he moved on another Cork side Cobh Ramblers before taking up the management position at Shelbourne. His time at Shelbourne saw two Cup successes (1995/96 and 1996/97), one League of Ireland Cup (1995/96) and a runner up position in the League (1997/98) in three seasons. His failure to win the league ultimately cost him his job.

He moved to his old club Shamrock Rovers, where his tenure for three seasons failed to result in a trophy. Ultimately, Richardson and club chairman Joe Colwell disagreed on the direction of the club, and parted ways in April 2002. Colwell wanted to focus on building a new stadium for the club, while Richardson wanted to focus on a full-time panel of players.

In 2005 Richardson returned to League of Ireland management when Cork City's manager Pat Dolan was dramatically sacked before the start of pre-season friendlies. Cork City chairman Brian Lennox signed the 57-year old Richardson to a two-year contract at Turners Cross 15 days before the first competitive match of the season. Richardson commented that the Cork City job was the only one that could have brought him back to League of Ireland management. Despite being hospitalised in September in his first season in charge Cork City were crowned League of Ireland champions for the second time in the club's history. Cork City also reached the final of the FAI Cup but were defeated by Drogheda United. The 2006 and 2007 seasons saw 4th place positions for his club in both years. In 2007 Richardson led Cork City to FAI Cup victory, but left shortly afterwards following some controversy, and a financial settlement agreement.

In 2010 Damien was selected by the FAI to manage an Airtricity League XI to play a full-strength Manchester United side in the opening match of the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Again in 2011 he was selected by the FAI to manage an Airtricity League XI to play in the Dublin Super Cup at the Aviva Stadium.

Richardson was named as the manager of Drogheda United on 26 July 2014 for the remainder of their league campaign. Media work

In 2002, Richardson left football management to become a TV soccer pundit with TV3 in Ireland, before returning to the game in 2005. He is now a regular pundit on Monday Night Soccer on Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and is also a regular contributor to RTÉ Radio's coverage of Republic of Ireland international matches. He contributed to RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Richardson writes a regular blog for the RTÉ / MNS website, and continues to write a weekly column for a Cork newspaper since his time as manager of Cork City.

Richardson has also supported Red FM's national award winning "Break the Cycle" anti-speeding campaign. In addition to his media work, he occasionally teaches football team management seminars. Richardson also once played the bodhran on an album (A Kentish Garland) by Tundra, a folk music group from Kent. Honours As a player FAI Cup: 2 Shamrock Rovers 1968, 1969 Top Four Cup Shamrock Rovers 1966 Dublin City Cup Shamrock Rovers 1966/67 Blaxnit Cup Shamrock Rovers 1967/68 Leinster Senior Cup Shamrock Rovers 1968/69 As a manager League of Ireland: 1 Cork City 2005 FAI Cup: 3 Shelbourne F.C. 1996, 1997 Cork City 2007 League of Ireland Cup: 1 Shelbourne 1995/96 SWAI Personality of the Year Cork City – 2005

Safia Minney and Damien Richardson

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Global Village 1.3 People Tree 2 Personal life 3 Awards 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

Career Early career

Safia started her career in marketing and publishing. She worked for Creative Review magazine for 4 years where she developed her passion for creativity and communications. From working in the advertising industry, Safia became excited about using the power of communications for social good by raising awareness of social and environmental issues.

After backpacking alone for 3 months between Bali and Myanmar, Safia created her own social marketing consultancy working with New Statesman and Friends of the Earth. In 1990, Safia moved to Tokyo with her husband where she learnt Japanese before working for a publishing company, Amnesty International and eventually the Body Shop. Global Village

Safia identified an opportunity to expand environmental awareness and Fair Trade in Japan. She started Global Village, an environmental campaigning and awareness raising voluntary group in her home which focused on all aspects of sustainable living. With students and friends, Safia began producing and publishing an organic listings – the ‘green’ information she believed people needed to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Safia and the team started to design and sell Fair Trade products at festivals around Japan and soon started to get requests from stockists. In 1995 Fair Trade Company was formed as a limited company by transferring the fair trading activity of Global Village into the new company. A shop was opened in the fashionable Jiyugaoka district, in Tokyo and in 1996 it became a member of WFTO, the World Fair Trade Organization. Fair Trade Company operated from Safia and James’ home for nine years, gradually occupying more space than their new family. By 2000 it had grown to 17 staff members trying to coordinate catalogue production, sales to 500 shops, events and campaigns; it was time to take a commercial office space.

In 2000 the name ‘People Tree’ was registered as the trading name for Fair Trade Company. People Tree

With a mission to provide livelihoods and economic independence for producers and protect the environment, Safia’s first collection of clothing was made in coordination with Bangladeshi women using their traditional hand woven materials with eco-friendly and natural dyes. Supported by two full-time designers at People Tree, the collection was sold by catalogue and featured an array of product including handbags, clothing, and clogs. Nicholls, Alex; Opal, Charlotte (2005). Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption. 

The initial start up was incredibly hard. Safia once said, " When I started out, I wasn't very realistic on how difficult it would be to make People Tree work. We were investing in labour-intensive process while the industry was going in the other direction: mass-manufactured fashion, using synthetics instead of natural materials. We were dealing with very disadvantage people in remote places, and the business costs were huge. It was a massive undertaking, but it needed to be done." Finer, Nadia; Finer, Emily (2011). More to Life Than Shoes: How to Kick-Start Your Career and Change Your Life. 

In 2001, People Tree's business expanded to England as there was little Fair Trade fashion in Europe.

In 2014 People Tree is the first international clothing company to be awarded the World Fair Trade Organisation Fair Trade product label with an international sales turnover of £8m. WFTO labeling guarantees People Tree’s dedication and compliance to the Principles of Fair Trade, covering fair wages, working conditions, transparency, capacity building, environmental best practice, gender equality and setting standards for conventional fashion companies to improve their supply chains. Ten years ago People Tree launched the first clothing range to meet the Global Organic Textile Standard certified by the Soil Association in the so called developing world. Personal life

Safia is British born in 1964 to a Swiss mother and Mauritian father. She grew up in a Caucasian middle class suburb in England. She left school at 17 and moved to London where she worked in publishing and marketing. At 22, she visited South East Asia for 3 months. It was during this time she cultivated a passion for the environment, social justice, grassroots based development and the power of Fair Trade in delivering human rights.

Safia married her husband James Minney in 1989. and has two children. James is current COO of People Tree. Awards

2014 - Safia Minney shortlisted for the Social Enterprise Women’s Champion Award

2014 - People Tree voted Top 5 Ethical Retailers in the UK by Ethical Consumer

2013 - People Tree won Best Organic Textile Product at the Natural and Organic Products Europe Awards

2013 - People Tree Highly Commended at London Sustainable City Awards in Sustainable Fashion Retail category

2012 - Safia Minney won the SOURCE Award as most outstanding contributor to sustainable fashion

2012 - Safia Minney won the Outstanding Contribution Award for furthering sustainability in the fashion sector and People Tree was a finalist, both in the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards

2011 - People Tree was a finalist in the WGSN Global Fashion Awards

2010 - People Tree won Reveal Magazine’s Best Ethical Style Award

2010 - People Tree won High Street Fashion Week’s Eco Warrior Award

2010 - People Tree won Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Best Ethical E-tailer Award

2009 - People Tree won the Observer Ethical Fashion Award

2009 - Safia Minney was awarded an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours

2008 - People Tree won the best eco-fashion website at the Green Web Awards

2008 - Safia Minney was a finalist in the Triodos Bank Women in Ethical Business Awards

2006 - Safia Minney won Social Entrepreneur of the Year in the Edge Upstart Awards

2006 - Safia Minney was a finalist at the CBI’s First Women Awards

2005 - Eastern Eye Newspaper presented Safia Minney with the Community Award at the annual Asian Business Awards, in recognition of her work with Asian Producer Communities

2005 - Safia Minney selected as one of the world’s most Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
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