Ray Houghton

Ray Houghton

Houghton in the mid-1990s
Personal information
Full name	Raymond James Houghton
Date of birth	(1962-01-09) 9 January 1962 (age 55)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1979–1982	West Ham United	1	(0)
1982–1985	Fulham	129	(16)
1985–1987	Oxford United	83	(10)
1987–1992	Liverpool	153	(28)
1992–1995	Aston Villa	95	(6)
1995–1997	Crystal Palace	73	(7)
1997–1999	Reading	43	(1)
1999–2000	Stevenage Borough	3	(0)
Total		580	(67)
National team
1986–1997	Republic of Ireland	73	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Raymond James "Ray" Houghton (born 9 January 1962) is a retired football player, and current analyst and commentator with RTÉ Sport. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Houghton played international football for the Republic of Ireland, for whom he qualified through his Irish father.

Houghton is particularly remembered by Irish fans for scoring two of the most important goals in the national team's history, which resulted in 1–0 victories over England in Stuttgart at the 1988 European Championship, and Italy at Giants Stadium at the 1994 World Cup. At club level Houghton is best remembered for his success in the Liverpool side of the late 1980s.

Houghton was born in Castlemilk, Glasgow but began his professional career in London at West Ham United where he came through the ranks and signed professional forms as a 17-year-old on 5 July 1979. Houghton's endeavour failed to make any impact at Upton Park and after 3 years, in which he made just one appearance as substitute, he was on the move. On 7 July 1982 he moved on to Fulham on a free transfer.

Malcolm Macdonald had Tony Gale (later a Premier League title winner with Blackburn Rovers), Paul Parker (who went on to win several major trophies with Manchester United, Gerry Peyton (Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper) and Ray Lewington (ex-Chelsea) to form a mixture of youth and experience which ultimately won Fulham promotion to the Second Division at the end of the 1981–82 season. He then added Houghton to the side that would try to keep the Cottagers in the second division. They did, and comfortably so; in fact for much of the 1982–83 season it looked as though Fulham would achieve back-to-back promotions, however, their form after the turn of the year dipped. One of the most memorable sequences of matches that happened whilst Houghton was at Fulham was the League Cup third round tie against Liverpool in 1983. The first game finished 1–1 at Craven Cottage as did the replay at Anfield, Fulham then won the toss to take the second replay back to the Cottage. Many observers believe Fulham had done enough to have beaten the reigning cup holders but had let the Reds off the hook with their failure to put away the chances they created. Liverpool won the game 1–0 with a 25-yard thunderbolt from Graeme Souness.