Marc John Richards (born 8 July 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker and is now, upon retiring, a first-team coach at Northampton Town.

Richards started his professional career at Blackburn Rovers, but was on the books of Conference side Hednesford Town before moving to Ewood Park.

He made his Rovers debut under manager Graeme Souness in a 2–0 defeat to West Ham United at Upton Park in the League Cup on 31 October 2000; he was replaced by David Dunn after 68 minutes.

[5] He left Gresty Road with one goal in five games, and in October 2001 joined Andy Ritchie's Second Division Oldham Athletic in another one month.

[6] He spent two months on loan at Alan Little's Halifax Town from February 2002,[7] but remained goalless in his five games for the struggling Third Division club.

[12] Though he scored twice at Sixfields in the FA Cup victory over non-League Weston-super-Mare, it took 27 games before he bagged his first league goal for the "Cobblers".

[24] Described as "a young Neil Shipperley" by manager Andy Ritchie, his initial deal was short-term, so after fitting in well at the club he was offered an extension to his contract in December 2005.

At the end of the season, the club were forced to accept a £100,000 bid from Cheltenham Town due to a release clause in his contract, though chairman Bill Bratt rated him as a £300,000 player.

However, this did not seem to affect him negatively as he scored twice against Championship side Sheffield United to give Vale a shock 2–1 giant-killing victory in the League Cup First Round.

[40] He was transfer listed in late September, along with the entire Port Vale squad, after manager Micky Adams saw his team slip to a third consecutive defeat.

I've seen that from him all season and I don't think a lot of people understand how hard he works running those channels – and he gets battered from pillar to post.

[54] Sent off against Burton Albion at the start of January 2011,[55] more damaging to Richards' golden boot hopes and Vale's promotion ambitions was news that he would be sidelined for six weeks with muscle tear in his thigh.

[63] Despite only turning 29 weeks before the start of the 2011–12 season, the departure of namesake Justin Richards left him as the club's most senior professional.

[70] The injury required surgery to heal fully, however, Richards chose to postpone the operation to try to help the "Valiants" into an unlikely play-off spot.

[71][72] Despite the club entering administration in March, Richards refused the opportunity to jump ship to promotion hopefuls Crawley Town.

[76] Manager John Sheridan and Chief Executive Chris Turner persuaded Richards to make the switch to the League Two side after a multitude of meetings with the player and a large increase in wages.

On 30 March 2014, he played at Wembley Stadium after coming on as a substitute for Sam Hird in Chesterfield's 3–1 defeat to Peterborough United in the final of the League Trophy.

On 14 May 2014, Richards signed a three-year contract with Chris Wilder's Northampton Town after rejecting a new deal at Chesterfield.

[82] He scored 18 goals in 36 appearances to finish as the "Cobblers" top-scorer in the 2014–15 season despite having two months out with an Achilles tear,[83] and was voted as the club's Player of the Year.

[85] He finished as the club's top scorer with 18 goals in 37 appearances despite missing the second half of the season after undergoing surgery to correct another Achilles injury.

[87] Richards was reported to have advised chairman Kelvin Thomas to appoint Rob Page as Wilder's successor as manager in May 2016.

[88] He scored 13 goals in 46 appearances in the 2016–17 season and signed a new one-year contract in May 2017 after manager Justin Edinburgh described him as "a captain, a leader and someone who helps set the dressing room tone".

[89] However, he lost his first-team place under new manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and left the club by mutual consent on 15 January 2018.

[95] He scored 11 goals in 20 games for the "Robins", but he blamed the team's inconsistency for their failure to reach the play-offs following manager David Flitcroft's departure towards the end of the 2017–18 season.

[96] He picked up a shoulder injury playing in a pre-season game in July 2018, and manager Phil Brown reported that he would be out of action for at least two months.

[97] On 31 January 2019, he travelled to former club Port Vale in expectation of a last-minute transfer being arranged, but chairman Norman Smurthwaite blamed "logistical challenges" for the deal breaking down.

[102] "U's" manager Colin Calderwood stated that: "We have now got Jabo Ibehre and Marc who bring a lot of experience and know-how at the latter stages of their careers, which ensures a good balance in the squad with the three younger strikers in Harvey Knibbs, Andrew Dallas and Sam Smith.

[106] He scored two goals in eight appearances for the "Glovers" in the 2019–20 season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with Yeovil in fourth-place.