Ruel Fox

Ruel Adrian Fox (born 14 January 1968) is an English-Montserratian former professional footballer who played for Norwich City, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Bromwich Albion from 1986 to 2002. He is currently chairman of Ipswich-based club Whitton United.

Ruel Fox
Personal information
Full name Ruel Adrian Fox[1]
Date of birth (1968-01-14) 14 January 1968[1]
Place of birth Ipswich,[1] England
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1994 Norwich City 173 (22)
1994–1995 Newcastle United 58 (12)
1995–2000 Tottenham Hotspur 106 (13)
2000–2002 West Bromwich Albion 56 (2)
Total 395 (49)
National team
1994 England B 2 (0)
2004 Montserrat 2 (1)
Teams managed
2004–2008 Whitton United
2004 Montserrat
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Domestic playing career

Norwich City

Fox made his senior debut for Norwich City during the 1986–87 season in a Full Members Cup match against Coventry City and made his league debut against Oxford United at Carrow Road a few days later.

After several seasons of being a substitute and finding it difficult to hold down a regular first team spot, he eventually established himself and played an important part in the 1992–93 and 1993–94 campaigns, which were two of the best in the club's history. In 1992–93, they led the inaugural FA Premier League several times before finished a club best third, and in 1993–94 they reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, defeating Bayern Munich on the way.

He was a fast, tricky winger who was a handful for defenders and provided good crosses. In 2002, Norwich supporters voted Fox an inaugural member of the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.

Newcastle United

Fox left Norwich on 2 February 1994 to join Newcastle United for a fee of £2,250,000. Upon signing him, Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan described him as "the best player in his position in the country".

Fox was an early member of the Newcastle teams known as "the Entertainers". He played in Newcastle's final 14 games of the 1993–94 season and scored twice as they finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the UEFA Cup – the first time since the 1970s that the Magpies had competed in Europe. He scored 10 league goals in the 1994–95 season, as the Magpies finished sixth and just missed out on another European campaign having led the league for the first quarter of the season, but the arrival of David Ginola in June 1995 left Fox facing a fight for regular first team action. He did, however, play five times for the Magpies the following season.

Tottenham Hotspur

Fox signed for Tottenham Hotspur on 6 October 1995 in a deal worth £4.25million. His fee made him Tottenham's second most costly player at the time, behind Chris Armstrong whose £4.5million deal had been concluded just a few months earlier. Despite not being part of Tottenham's squad for the 1999 Football League Cup Final he made three appearances during their victorious League Cup campaign.[3]

West Bromwich Albion

Fox found it difficult to settle at White Hart Lane and he was constantly linked with moves away from Tottenham Hotspur before joining West Bromwich Albion at the start of the 2000–01 season. He helped them to promotion in 2001–02, before being released at the end of the season.[4] He subsequently retired from playing professionally, and instead ran a restaurant in his hometown of Ipswich.

International playing and coaching career

Fox played for Montserrat[5] and was named its head coach in October 2004. He also scouts for players in England who are eligible to play for Montserrat. He scored for his adopted nation in a 5–4 defeat against Antigua on 2 November 2004. He was formerly coach of non-league Whitton United F.C., who play in the Ridgeons League. He left some time during 2008 and was replaced by number 2 Ronnie Mauge who has also since moved on.

After football

In November 2008 Fox returned to hometown Ipswich and is now running a restaurant/bar as well as becoming a coach at Suffolk College in partnership with Whitton United.[6] In 2012, Fox was working as a personal trainer in Ipswich,[7] as well as chairman of Whitton United F.C.[7]

References
  1. "Ruel Fox". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "Games played by Ruel Fox in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  4. "Fox to leave Baggies". BBC Sport. 24 April 2002. Retrieved 1 May 2007.
  5. "Ruel Fox". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  6. "Flown From the Nest - Ruel Fox". www.ex-canaries.co.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  7. "Ruel Fox settles far from Premier League years". BBC Sport. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
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