Shaw started his career at Crystal Palace, coming up through their youth system. He enjoyed a brief loan spell to Hull City before becoming a major part of the first team, playing in the 1990 FA Cup Final. Crystal Palace were a yo-yo-club at the time after a promising start to the 1990s, where they also finished third in the league a year after reaching the FA Cup final. They were relegated in 1993, promoted in 1994 and relegated again in 1995, with Shaw being established as a regular player by the time they were in this period of instability. They also reached a further two League Cup semi-finals and an FA Cup semi-final in the five seasons which followed their FA Cup final appearance. One of his more infamous moments in a Palace shirt came in January 1995, during the Eagles' home fixture against Manchester United. United midfielder Eric Cantona attempted to get on the end of a long clearance by Peter Schmeichel and was obstructed by Shaw, who had very effectively marked him out of the game. The Frenchman retaliated by kicking Shaw and was sent off. On his way from the pitch Cantona launched a 'kung-fu' style kick against a Crystal Palace fan, Matthew Simmons, followed by a series of punches. The event has become a famous part of English football's history for the wrong reasons. Despite Shaw's best efforts throughout the season, Palace were relegated back to Division One. They had reached the semi-finals of both cups that season. Shaw began the 1995-96 season still with Palace in Division One, but he signed for Coventry City in November 1995 for £1m. He performed consistently well for Coventry over 10 years, making over 350 appearances and scored his first and only goal for Coventry after over 250 games against Gillingham in May 2004. He won the "Player of the Year" award at the club in 1998/99 and the "Players' Player of the Year" award in 2002/03. Having spent a decade at Coventry where he had gained much respect from the fans, his testimonial match against Celtic in April 2006 was a big success, with the Sky Blues ending as 3–1 winners over the Scottish champions, before he was released at the end of that season. He then moved back to south London, signing for League One side Millwall. He made himself an ever-present in the side over the next season, winning the club's "Player of the Year" award in the process, the third club at which he had won this accolade.
International
Whilst at Crystal Palace Shaw was called up to the England squad by Terry Venables as cover for the Umbro Cup in 1995. However, he was ultimately never capped by the senior side.
Coaching career
Shaw was appointed caretaker manager of Millwall in October 2007 after the sacking of Willie Donachie until the appointment of Kenny Jackett, under whom he was given little game time, as his career wound to a close. After retiring from playing, Shaw was handed a full-time coaching role with the South London club. At the end of the 2011–12 season Richard Shaw left his coaching role at Millwall, and took up the assistant manager's position at Coventry City after the Midlands side had removed their previous assistant managerSteve Harrison following the club's relegation from the Championship. His move to Coventry City saw him return to the club where he had made over 300 first-team appearances for as well as reuniting him with his former Crystal Palace teammate Andy Thorn, who had been manager for Coventry City for over a year at that point. After a winless start to the 2012-13 League One season, Thorn was sacked as manager of Coventry and Shaw was appointed as the caretaker manager. His first game in charge saw Coventry defeat local rivals Birmingham City 3–2 in the League Cup. This win helped put Shaw in the final shortlist for the permanent manager's post alongside Mark Robins and Paul Ince. Results after the win over Birmingham City were extremely poor with the club unable to record their first league win of the season. The low-point of his caretaker spell was unarguably a 4–1 defeat away to Shrewsbury, a side that had recently been promoted from League 2. The day following the loss to Shrewsbury saw the appointment of Mark Robins as the new permanent manager of Coventry City but saw Shaw retain his old position of assistant manager at the club. Shaw did not last long in Robins's new coaching set-up. The appointment of Robins's former colleague at Barnsley and Rotherham Steve Taylor as first-team coach, arguably undermined Shaw's position as the club's assistant manager. 27 days after Robins had taken charge Shaw saw his contract terminated at the club. Since January 2013, Shaw has been a U23 coach at Crystal Palace. In October 2019, the club issued a statement that Shaw was to leave "to pursue other opportunities". The statement did not confirm a date.
Honours
With Crystal Palace
Football League Second Division/Football League First Division : Winner 1994–95 & Play-off Winner 1988–89
Full Members Cup : Winner 1990–91
FA Cup : Finalist 1989–90
Personal honours
With Crystal Palace
Young Player of the Year 1986
Player of the Year 1994–95
With Coventry City
Player of the Year 1998–99 & 2001–02
Hall of Fame
With Millwall
Player of the Year 2006–07
Other endeavours
Richard Shaw is the founder and co owner of Tornado football.
