Ray Houghton
Football Legend & Analyst
Ray Houghton is a retired football legend, and current analyst and commentator with RTÉ Sport. As a player, he was a midfielder, notably playing for Liverpool where he won two First Division titles and a two FA Cups before switching to Aston Villa ahead of the inaugural Premier League season. He also briefly played top flight football for both West Ham United and Crystal Palace with spells in the Football League for Fulham, Oxford United, and Reading, before retiring with non-league Stevenage Borough
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Houghton played international football for the Republic of Ireland, for which 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 Championships, and Italy at Giants Stadium at the 1994 World Cup.
Ray Houghton is now in demand as a pundit on the game working for RTÉ, talkSPORT, Sky Sports, Sportsxchange in the UK and LFC TV. Since 2002 he has also worked for Sports Interactive as a consultant on their PC and Xbox 360 game Football Manager.
Awards
In 2005, Ray Houghton was given an honorary degree by the University of Huddersfield, for his services to sport.