Ryan Johnson (footballer, born 1996)

Ryan Johnson
Personal information
Full name Ryan Anthony Johnson[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-02) 2 October 1996[2]
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Kidderminster Harriers
(on loan from Stevenage)
Youth career
2006–2013 West Bromwich Albion
2013–2015 Stevenage
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013– Stevenage 13 (0)
2014 → Boreham Wood (loan) 1 (0)
2016 → St Albans City (loan) 12 (2)
2017–2018 → Boreham Wood (loan) 2 (0)
2018 → Nuneaton Town (loan) 19 (0)
2018– → Kidderminster Harriers (loan) 7 (0)
National team‡
2015– Northern Ireland U21 13 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:41, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:12, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

Ryan Anthony Johnson (born 2 October 1996) is an English-born Northern Irish footballer who plays for Kidderminster Harriers on loan from Stevenage.

Johnson began his career in the youth set-up at West Bromwich Albion before opting to join Stevenage in 2013. He made his first-team debut in May 2014 and in doing so became the club's youngest ever player. Johnson has had two loan spells at Boreham Wood, as well as spending time on loan at St Albans City, Nuneaton Town and Kidderminster Harriers respectively. He has also represented Northern Ireland at U21 level.

Club career

Early career

Johnson started his career in the youth system of West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven years as a schoolboy.[3] In the summer of 2013, he was offered a scholarship by West Brom, but opted to leave and join Stevenage, where he felt he had a better chance of playing first-team football.[3] Johnson trained regularly with the first-team straight away, alongside starting a two-year scholarship.[4] Johnson appeared numerous times on the bench throughout the 2013–14 campaign, making his professional debut on the final day of the season, on 3 May 2014, in a 2–0 away defeat to Brentford.[3][5] In doing so, he became Stevenage's youngest ever debutant at the age of 17 years and 215 days.[3]

Loan spells

He played a peripheral role during the 2014–15 season, making all four of his appearances for Stevenage in the opening two months of the campaign.[6] This included being sent-off for two bookable offences within the space of six minutes in a 2–1 away loss at Bury on 16 September 2014.[7] A month later, on 24 October 2014, Johnson joined Conference South club Boreham Wood on a one-month loan deal in order to "gain valuable first-team experience".[8] Johnson made one appearance during the brief spell, as a 90th-minute substitute in Boreham Wood's 2–1 win over Maidenhead United on 10 November 2014.[9] He returned to Stevenage later that month and went on to feature for the club's development squad for the remainder of the season.[10] The 2015–16 season followed a similar course with Johnson featuring regularly in the match-day squad, but often as an unused substitute,[10] as he made seven appearances for the club during the season.[11]

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, Johnson was loaned out to National League South side St Albans City alongside teammate Dipo Akinyemi until January 2017.[12] The loan move came about after Johnson had spoken to Stevenage manager Darren Sarll and informed him he wanted game-time.[13] He made his debut on the opening day of the new season, playing the whole match as St Albans secured a 2–0 home win over Concord Rangers at Clarence Park.[14] Johnson scored his first competitive goal in St Albans' 2–1 victory over Chelmsford City on 16 August 2016, heading in from close range from a corner.[15][16] He picked up a knee injury whilst on international duty in September 2016 and was ruled out of action for two months, returning to the St Albans first-team at the start of December 2016.[17] In his second game back from injury, Johnson scored the opening goal of the game in a 2–0 away win at Margate on 6 December 2016.[18] Johnson was recalled by Stevenage at the end of the month,[19] a month earlier than the initial agreement.[13] He made 12 appearances during the spell, scoring twice.[10] Despite returning to Stevenage earlier than planned, Johnson did not feature for the first-team during the second half of the season.[10] In April 2017, he spent a week on trial at Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, playing 77 minutes in the development team's 4–1 loss to Everton U23s.[20][21] No move materialised, and at the end of the month he enjoyed another week-long trial period, this time at Norwich City,[22] playing the whole match in a 0–0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion U23s.[23][24]

Despite interest from Premier League and Championship clubs,[25] Johnson remained at Stevenage and in July 2017, ahead of the 2017–18 campaign, he rejoined Boreham Wood on a season-long loan deal.[26] After making two starting appearances in Boreham Wood's opening three fixtures,[27] Johnson did not feature thereafter and the loan deal was subsequently cut short in December 2017.[10] In January 2018, Johnson was loaned out once again, this time joining National League North club Nuneaton Town for the remainder of the season.[28] The move meant he was going to be playing under manager Dino Maamria, who had previously coached Johnson during his early years at Stevenage.[28][29] Johnson made his Nuneaton debut in a 2–0 loss to Brackley Town on 6 January 2018.[30] He was a mainstay in the centre of defence during his time at Nuneaton, making 19 appearances during the loan spell.[10]

International career

Johnson was first called up to represent Northern Ireland at U21 level in September 2015, making his debut when he played the whole match in a 2–1 loss to Scotland U21s in a 2017 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifier.[31] Three days later, on 8 September 2015, he scored his first international goal in a 1–1 away draw with Iceland U21s in Reykjavík, netting with a powerful header from a corner.[32] He went on to make four appearances, scoring once, as Northern Ireland finished bottom of their qualification group.[10][33] He remained a mainstay in the centre of defence for the U21s for their 2019 UEFA European U21 Championship qualifiers.[10] Johnson scored his second goal at U21 level when he opened the scoring in a 4–2 home win over Estonia U21s on 10 October 2017.[34]

Career statistics

As of match played 1 September 2018
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stevenage 2013–14[35] League One 1000000010
2014–15[6] League Two 40—000040
2015–16[11] League Two 7000000070
2016–17[10] League Two 0000000000
2017–18[27] League Two 1000000010
2018–19[36] League Two 0000000000
Total 130000000130
Boreham Wood (loan) 2014–15[37] Conference South 1000——10
St Albans City (loan) 2016–17[38] National League South 122——1[lower-alpha 1]0132
Boreham Wood (loan) 2017–18[27] National League 20———20
Nuneaton Town (loan) 2017–18[10] National League North 190———190
Kidderminster Harriers (loan) 2018–19[10] National League North 7000—0070
Career total 542000010552
  1. ↑ Appearance in Herts Charity Cup

References

  1. ↑ "Retained List 2015-16" (PDF). English Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Ryan Johnson". 11v11. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Former West Brom starlet reveals why he quit Hawthorns to pursue career at Stevenage after making club history". Hertfordshire Mercury. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Boss Graham Westley won't splash the cash as he targets Sky Bet League Two promotion charge for Stevenage FC next season". Hertfordshire Mercury. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Brentford 2–0 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Games played by Ryan Johnson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Bury 2–1 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  8. ↑ "Ryan Johnson joins Boreham Wood on loan". Stevenage F.C. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Boreham Wood 2–1 Maidenhead United". Soccerway. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Soccerway – Ryan Johnson". Soccerway. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Games played by Ryan Johnson in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "Duo join St Albans on loan". Stevenage F.C. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Ryan Johnson thanks St Albans City for everything they did for him but is ready to push on with Stevenage". Hertfordshire Advertiser. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  14. ↑ "St Albans City 2–0 Concord Rangers". Soccerway. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  15. ↑ "St Albans City 2–1 Chelmsford City". Soccerway. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "St Albans City v Chelmsford City". St Albans City F.C. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  17. ↑ "Ryan Johnson's return from injury a boost for St Albans City and Stevenage". Hertfordshire Advertiser. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  18. ↑ "Margate 0–2 St Albans City". Soccerway. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  19. ↑ "St Albans City – Ryan Johnson". St Albans City F.C. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  20. ↑ "Stevenage defender enjoys week with Tottenham Hotspur". The Comet. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  21. ↑ "Everton U23 4–1 Tottenham Hotspur U23". Soccerway. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  22. ↑ "Flown from the nest – Ryan Johnson". Flown From The Nest. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "Norwich City U23s 0 Brighton U23s 0 – Stevenage defender features as young Canaries warm up for semi-final". Eastern Daily Press. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Norwich City U23 0–0 Brighton & Hove Albion U23". Soccerway. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  25. ↑ "Tottenham keeping tabs on Stevenage defender Ryan Johnson after successful stint at Hostpur Way". Evening Standard. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  26. ↑ "Ryan Johnson: Boreham Wood sign Stevenage defender on loan". BBC Sport. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  27. 1 2 3 "Games played by Ryan Johnson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  28. 1 2 "Ryan Johnson joins Nuneaton Town". Stevenage F.C. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  29. ↑ "Stevenage FC youngster had no doubts about Boro deal". Coventry Telegraph. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  30. ↑ "Nuneaton Town 0–2 Brackley Town". Soccerway. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  31. ↑ "Northern Ireland U21 1–2 Scotland U21". Soccerway. 5 September 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  32. ↑ "Iceland U21 1–1 Northern Ireland U21". Soccerway. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  33. ↑ "NIFG – Ryan Johnson". NIFG. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "Northern Ireland U21 4–2 Estonia U21". Soccerway. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  35. ↑ "Games played by Ryan Johnson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  36. ↑ "Games played by Ryan Johnson in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  37. ↑ Ryan Johnson at Soccerway. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  38. ↑ "Ryan Johnson – St Albans". St Albans City FC. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
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