Aidan Thomas Stone (born 20 July 1999) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

. Stone began his career at Sporting Khalsa and Brocton, before being signed by

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, from where he was

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed out to

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Foot ...

. He joined

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

in June 2019 and made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut in February 2020. He signed with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in June 2021 and helped the club to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of League Two via the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. He joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on a free transfer in June 2023. He was loaned to

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

in September 2024 and transferred to Yeovil Town in February 2025.

Early and personal life

Aidan Thomas Stone was born in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

on 20 July 1999. He grew up in

Hednesford Hednesford ( () is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase district of Staffordshire, England. The Cannock Chase area of natural beauty is to the north of the town. Hednesford is also to the north of Cannock and to the south of ...

and attended Kingsmead School and Wolgarston High School. He is a

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

supporter.

Career

Early career

Stone played as a

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

in his youth until he put on extra weight at the age of 14 and decided to concentrate on

goalkeeping In many team sports that involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He played for Sporting Khalsa. Having failed a three-month trial spell at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

at the age of 16, he joined

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

side Brocton in February 2016, winning the club's young player and players' Player of the Year awards during the 2016–17 Premier Division

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

campaign. He won a total of six caps for the England Schoolboys U18s team in 2017, playing against Northern Ireland and Australia in England's victorious Centenary Shield campaign.

Burnley

Stone was signed by

to a one-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with the option of a further 12 months in June 2017. He signed a new one-year contract in April 2018. He joined

in July 2018 in a

deal to run the first half of the 2018–19 season. He made one

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

appearance at Lancaster. He played for Burnley U23s in the 2019

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

final, which ended in a 2–0 defeat to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He credited Nick Pope,

Joe Hart Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two. In ...

and

Tom Heaton Thomas David Heaton (born 15 April 1986) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is currently a free agent. Heaton began his career in the Manchester United F ...

for having a positive influence on his career, saying "it's nice to have them as colleagues but also as friends".

Mansfield Town

Stone signed for

on 24 June 2019 after impressing

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

John Dempster on trial, and was expected to provide competition for first-choice goalkeeper

Conrad Logan Conrad Joseph Logan (born 18 April 1986) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Anstey Nomads. Logan joined the Leicester City academy in 2001, making his professional debut in 2005. He largely served Leicester as a ...

whilst

Bobby Olejnik Robert Olejnik (born 26 November 1986) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Olejnik came through the youth teams of Austria Wien and Aston Villa and has played professionally for Falkirk, Torquay United, Pe ...

recovered from a knee injury. He made his senior debut at

Field Mill Field Mill, currently known as One Call Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Football pitch, football ground in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, and the home of Mansfield Town F.C., Mansfield Town Football Club. It is the oldest ground in ...

on 27 August in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

game against Everton U21; the match finished 1–1 with Everton winning the resulting

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

4–1. On 1 December, he joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Division One North West club

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

on a one-month loan deal, having been recommended to the club by Mansfield's Head of Recruitment Andy Burgess. He played five games for the "Whites". In January 2020, Mansfield manager

Graham Coughlan Graham Coughlan (born 18 November 1974) is an Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a centre back. He is manager of club Boston United F.C., Boston United. Cou ...

said he was hoping to give Stone some more first-team experience before the end of the 2019–20 season. He made his

debut on 15 February, in a 1–0 home win over Newport County. He made 24 appearances in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season and was praised by manager

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was capped by ...

in April for recovering from a costly error in a 1–1 draw with Newport County to pick up the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award for his performance in a 1–0 win at

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

. The following month he was named as the club's Football in the Community's PFA Community Champion for his championing of a healthy eating campaign with Wynndale Primary School. However, the club confirmed that Stone would not be offered a new contract. Stone described the decision as "a bit of a shock" as "I thought I'd done enough to earn a new contract".

Port Vale

On 25 June 2021,

announced that they had signed Stone on a one-year deal to start on 1 July, with the option of a further 12 months; manager

Darrell Clarke Darrell James Clarke (born 16 December 1977) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played in the English Football League. He is the head coach of club Bristol Rovers ...

said that "we are pleased to have secured Aidan's future at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

and expect to have a healthy dose of competition now in the goalkeeping positions, following

Lucas Covolan Lucas Covolan Cavagnari (born 6 June 1991) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Worthing. A Brazil under-20 international, he began his career with Trieste before turning professional at Vasco da Gama. He ...

's arrival earlier in the week." He was given the chance to secure a starting place after Covolan was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

on the opening day of the 2021–22 season. Covolan was returned to the starting eleven upon serving his suspension, only to be sent off yet again in January; Stone had to then sit on the bench behind new loan signing

Tomáš Holý Tomáš Holý (; born 10 December 1991) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Czech National Football League club Artis Brno. Holý started his professional career at Sparta Prague, having previously been part of the ...

until giving an impressive performance upon being given his first league start in two months on 12 March. He remained in goal for the rest of the season and saved three penalties in the penalty shoot-out victory over

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

in the play-off semi-final. He started in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

as Vale secured

with a 3–0 victory over

; Michael Baggaley of '' The Sentinel'' wrote that "'' tone had anearly mix up with

Gibbons Gibbons may refer to: * Gibbon, an ape in the family Hylobatidae * Gibbons (surname) * Gibbons, Alberta Gibbons is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on Alberta Highway 28A, Highway 28A, northeast of Edmonton. Gibbons is situate ...

but retrieved the situation with a save from

Murphy Murphy is an Irish surname meaning "Sea Warrior". Origins and variants The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac Murchaidh"/" Mac Murchadh" (son of "Murchadh") derived ...

... spilled a ball into the area but

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

cleared off the line....

tone Tone may refer to: Visual arts and color-related * Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory * Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color * Toning (coin), color change in coins * ...

has played a huge part in getting Vale this far"''. The club named him as Young Player of the Year and invoked their option to extend his contract by a further 12 months in June 2022. The club then gave Stone a new deal to run until 2024. He lost his first-team spot to loan signing

Jack Stevens Jack Stevens may refer to: * Jack Stevens (officer) (1896–1969), Australian Army senior officer * Jack Stevens (cinematographer) (1903–1961), American cinematographer * Jack Stevens (Australian footballer) (1929–2013), Australian rules footbal ...

early in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

campaign, with Clarke claiming that further work with

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Carlo Nash Carlo James Nash (born 13 September 1973) is an English former professional footballer and goalkeeper coach. Nash started his career at North West Counties League clubs Rossendale United and Clitheroe, playing for the latter in the FA Vase fin ...

would bring out Stone's potential as a "top half of League One goalie". Stevens remained first-choice goalkeeper for much of the campaign, though Stone was returned to the

first XI The First XI (or, less commonly, First 11) are the eleven primary players in an organisation's leading team, particularly a football or cricket team. A player who is considered a core part of the starting line-up in a First XI team is often the ...

in February, at which stage Clarke said that there was little to choose between the two. Stone ended the campaign with 26 appearances, twenty of which were in the league. He was permitted to leave the club on a free transfer after Port Vale signed

Connor Ripley Connor James Ripley (born 13 February 1993) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Swindon Town F.C., Swindon Town. Ripley turned professional at his lo ...

from

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Notts County

On 23 June 2023, Stone signed a two-year deal with League Two club

, where he would compete with

Sam Slocombe Sam Oliver Slocombe (born 5 June 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for side Notts County. He began his career with Bottesford Town in the Northern Counties East Football League. In 2008, he moved to his home ...

for a first-team place. He was

on his debut for the club as County were beaten 5–1 at

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

on the opening day of the 2023–24 season; he had brought down

Scott Kashket Scott Connor Kashket (born 25 February 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Welling United. He has also played in his youth career for Spanish B side club Hércules, Wingate & Finchley, and Leyton Orien ...

following a poor back-pass. He was transfer-listed at the end of the season by new head coach Stuart Maynard. He started the 2024–25 season on the sidelines as new signing

Alex Bass Alexander Michael Bass (born 1 April 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL League One club Peterborough United. Club career Portsmouth Born in Huntingdon, Bass progressed through Portsmouth's youth ca ...

was preferred in goal. On 25 September, he joined

in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

on loan until January. On 30 January 2025, Stone mutually terminated his contract with Notts County to pursue opportunities closer to his family home in the south-west.

Yeovil Town

On 3 February 2025, Stone signed for National League side

. He said he wanted to help the club to regain their Football League status. Manager Mark Cooper said that Stone had settled in well at

Huish Park Huish Park is a Association football, football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish Athletic Ground, Huish. Huish Park has ...

. He played 17 games in what remained of the 2024–25 campaign.

Style of play

Stone is a very vocal

with good distribution skills.

Career statistics

Honours

Burnley *

runner-up: 2019 Port Vale *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Aidan 1999 births Living people Footballers from Stafford English men's footballers England men's schools international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sporting Khalsa F.C. players Brocton F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Lancaster City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Widnes F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen