Ryan Oliver Jackson (born 31 July 1990) 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

right-back 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 ...

for club

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, ...

. Jackson joined the

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

reserve team in 2008 and broke into the first-team in the second half of the 2009–10 season. He made his

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 2011 following AFC Wimbledon's promotion to League Two, before loan spells at

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

and

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

. Following his release by Wimbledon in 2012, he signed for

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side Macclesfield Town. He joined League Two side Newport County one year later, where he made 63 league appearances before joining League One club Gillingham. He was released after two seasons and 71 league appearances, joining Colchester United in League Two. He signed again for Gillingham in July 2020 after being released by the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

side. Jackson has represented England C, making two appearances in 2013.

Club career

AFC Wimbledon

Born in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, London, Jackson joined the reserve team at

in 2008 and graduated to the first-team in the latter stages of the 2009–10 season. On 3 April 2010, he made his first-team debut for the Dons in a

match against

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road (England), A14 road which runs eas ...

in a 3–1 win, coming on as a substitute. In April 2010, he signed a full-time contract after a

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 ...

display against Tamworth in his first start for the club. He became a first-team regular in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, with 42 appearances in all competitions and goals against

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 ...

and Hayes & Yeading United, but did not feature in the 2011 Conference Premier play-off final win over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

, which saw the Dons gain a place in the

. On 10 September 2011, Jackson made his Football League debut in a 1–1 draw with

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

, coming on as a substitute. He joined Conference Premier side

on loan on 14 October 2011. He scored twice on his debut the same day in a 3–1 away win against Lincoln City. After four league games with Fleetwood, on 31 January 2012 he joined

on loan until the end of the season. He was told that he could leave the club in January, and he was released by Wimbledon at the end of the season when his contract expired.

Macclesfield Town

On 7 June 2012, Jackson signed a one-year contract at Macclesfield Town, dropping down one tier to return to the Conference Premier. He made his debut on 10 August 2012, earning his side a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

during a 2–1 away defeat to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

. He scored once for Macclesfield in a 2–0 home win against Tamworth on 6 November 2012.

Newport County

After training with Newport County for two weeks during the summer of 2013, Jackson signed for the League Two club on 1 August 2013 following confusion as to whether he was a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

or not. To settle the issue, Newport agreed to pay Macclesfield a "small compensation fee". On 6 August 2013, he made his debut in a 3–1

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

win over

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

in the League Cup.

Gillingham

In May 2015, Jackson turned down a new contract offer at Newport and signed for League One side Gillingham on a two-year contract, joining up with former Newport manager

Justin Edinburgh Justin Charles Edinburgh (18 December 1969 – 8 June 2019) was an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and Association football, footballer who played as a left back. He played in the Premier League for Totten ...

. On 8 August 2015, he made his debut in a 4–0 home win against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. He scored his first Gillingham goal on 28 November 2015 in a 2–2 away draw with

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

. After making more than 70 appearances for Gillingham during two seasons, he was released at the end of his two-year contract in 2017.

Colchester United

On 30 June 2017, Jackson agreed to return to League Two to join

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

on a two-year contract. He made his Colchester debut on 5 August in their 3–1 defeat at

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 9 September in Colchester's 3–1 win 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 ...

. He signed a new two-year contract with the club on 15 May 2018. On 28 April 2020 Colchester confirmed that Jackson would be released at the end his contract in June 2020.

Return to Gillingham

On 31 July 2020 it was announced that Jackson had signed again for Gillingham. Following relegation to League Two, Jackson was released at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Cheltenham Town

In July 2022, Jackson signed for

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

Sutton United

On 23 June 2023, Jackson agreed to join League Two club

upon the expiration of his Cheltenham Town contract.

International career

In January 2013, Jackson was named in

Paul Fairclough Paul Fairclough (born 31 January 1950) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of the England C team. As a player, he made five appearances for Cheshunt in the 1981–82 season. Managerial career Stevenage In ...

's England C team to face Turkey A2 in the

International Challenge Trophy The International Challenge Trophy, originally known as the European Challenge Trophy, was an international association football competition. It is open to national teams featuring semi-professional U-23 footballers who have not yet won senior inte ...

. He played in the 1–0 semi-final defeat on 11 February 2013. He made one further appearance for the C team, playing in a 6–1 defeat of

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

in June 2013.

Style of play

Jackson is a "pacy

" who possesses a long

throw-in A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football when the whole of ball passes over the touchline. It is governed by Law 15 of Laws of the Game (association football), the Laws of the Game. In Scotland it is known a ...

Career statistics

References

External links

Ryan Jackson profile
at the official

Colchester United F.C. Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Ryan 1990 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Streatham English men's footballers Black British sportsmen Men's association football fullbacks AFC Wimbledon players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players England men's semi-pro international footballers 21st-century English sportsmen