Jonathan Peter McLaughlin (born 9 September 1987) is a Scottish 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

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

. He previously played for Harrogate Railway Athletic, Harrogate Town,

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

(including appearing in the

2013 Football League Cup Final The 2013 Football League Cup Final was a association football, football match between Bradford City A.F.C., Bradford City and Swansea City A.F.C., Swansea City, which took place on 24 February 2013 at Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final m ...

), Burton Albion, Heart of Midlothian,

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, and

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. He made his international debut for Scotland in 2018.

Career

Early career

Born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, McLaughlin played

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for both Harrogate Railway Athletic and Harrogate Town.

Bradford City

He signed for

in May 2008. He had trained with Bradford for a year prior to his signing and combined playing for the two Harrogate clubs with a sports coaching degree at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

. He made his league debut for Bradford City in the final match of the 2008–09 season, on 2 May 2009, against Chesterfield. McLaughlin had been due to make his debut earlier in the season, but was prevented by doing so because of injury. He signed a new one-year contract with Bradford City on 3 June 2009. McLaughlin signed a new three-year contract in early June 2010. In the 2010–2011 season McLaughlin was in and out of the team, with Lenny Pidgeley also challenging for the goalkeeper spot. However, Pidgeley was released by Bradford at the end of the season. At the start of the following season McLaughlin fell ill, and Matt Duke was brought in as first choice goalkeeper. On 27 March 2012, he received a 3 match ban after being sent off against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

as he took part in a post-match brawl. On 17 September 2012, McLaughlin was named in the Football League Team of the Week for League Two. After appearing as a substitute in the 2013 League Cup Final, McLaughlin enjoyed an extended run in the first-team, and played in the League Two play-off final in May 2013. Following the match, and Bradford City's subsequent promotion, McLaughlin was told by the club he had a future with them, after a clause in his contract to extend it by one year was utilised. Ahead of the 2013–14 season, recently departed goalkeeper Matt Duke said he believed McLaughlin would be the club's new first-choice goalkeeper, though McLaughlin later stated that he felt he still had work to do to prove himself as the club's first-choice keeper. In December 2013, McLaughlin stated that the club had had a "great start to the season", though he felt that recent performances had been poor. Later that month, manager

Phil Parkinson Philip John Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of club Wrexham. Parkinson acquired a Social Science degree early into his career as a man ...

praised McLaughlin's performances. As of April 2014, McLaughlin was one of only two players to have appearance in every league match for the club. McLaughlin left the club in July 2014 after failing to agree a new contract. McLaughlin stated that he left the club "on a sour note."

Burton Albion

McLaughlin signed a one-year contract with Burton Albion on 23 July 2014. After winning promotion with Burton to League One, McLaughlin stated how excited he was at the prospect of meeting former club Bradford City in the league. He was released by Burton Albion at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Heart of Midlothian

After a trial spell, McLaughlin signed a one-year contract with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club Heart of Midlothian in August 2017. He made his first appearance for Hearts on 9 September, in a goalless draw against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

. He left Hearts on 31 May 2018, at the expiry of his contract.

Sunderland

McLaughlin signed for League One club

in June 2018. In October 2018 he said he was comfortable with the pressure of playing for such a big team.

Rangers

On 23 June 2020, McLaughlin joined

on a two-year deal. On 30 January 2022, McLaughlin signed a contract extension until summer 2024. He was released by Rangers at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Swansea City

On 28 August 2024, McLaughlin signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

on a short-term deal through to January 2025. On 17 January 2025, he agreed a contract extension to the end of the season. He was released by Swansea at the end of the 2024–25 season. His only appearance for the club was in a 3–0 defeat against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

International career

McLaughlin's debut call-up to the Scotland national team was in March 2018, and again in May 2018. He made his first full international appearance on 2 June 2018, in a 1–0 defeat against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. He was without a club contract at the time, as his debut came just a few days after he had left Hearts. In May 2021 he was selected to the Scotland squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament. In September 2022 he was recalled to the Scotland squad for the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

, but had to withdraw.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Bradford City *

Football 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 Engli ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

runner-up: 2012–13 Burton Albion *

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2015–16 *

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

: 2014–15 Sunderland *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Rangers *

: 2020–21 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2021–22 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2015–16 League One

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Jon 1987 births Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Footballers from Yorkshire Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Harrogate Railway Athletic F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Anglo-Scots 21st-century Scottish sportsmen