Ryan Shotton has played in the Premier League and European competitions for his boyhood club Stoke City, but as his playing career winds down, he has taken upon the role of a player/manager at his local Staffordshire club Hanley Town.
With over 200 Championship appearances for the likes of Middlesbrough, Birmingham City and Derby County, just under a half-century of appearances in the Premier League and a brief spell in Australia, Shotton has had a largely successful career.
Standing at 1.91m (6ft 3), Shotton has primarily played as a centre-back for the vast majority of his career, though has filled in at right-back, right-midfield and even as a makeshift centre-forward when required.
The Stoke-on-Trent native had a knack for scoring important goals for the Potters. With a bit of help from the defender, Shotton helped bundle the ball over the line in the 93rd-minute away at Hajduk Split to give Stoke a 1-0 victory.
Shotton also scored in the Europa League a couple of months later in a 3-0 win at home to Maccabi Tel-Aviv, as well as a 1-0 89th-minute winner away at West Brom in the Premier League.
After spending roughly half a year at Melbourne Victory in Australia, Shotton returned to the UK and joined Hanley Town in August 2021, initially as just a player.
In October 2022, Shotton was appointed as the first team manager of Hanley.
“It’s very good, the first six months last year was tough, but we’ve grown into it,” said Shotton, now reaching over a year into his tenure at the helm.
“We’ve got a settled squad that we know can go and compete, so I love it.
“The fans are brilliant and we’ve got a good group of lads that work really hard for each other”.
