Ryan Shawcross

Ryan James Shawcross (born 4 October 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Shawcross began his career with Manchester United and made his debut for the club against Crewe Alexandra in the League Cup; he then spent time on loan at Belgian feeder club Royal Antwerp.

Shawcross progressed through the youth teams at Manchester United and made his first-team debut on 25 October 2006 as a substitute for fellow debutant Michael Barnes in a 2–1 League Cup third round win away at Crewe Alexandra.

He also came on in the final minute of a 1–0 defeat to Southend United in the next round.

He joined Championship club Stoke City on loan in August 2007 and made an instant impact scoring on his debut against Cardiff City.

In January 2007, he was sent on loan to Belgian club Royal Antwerp, where he appeared regularly, and helped Antwerp to make it into the Belgian Second Division play-offs, scoring three goals, before returning to Manchester in the summer.

On 9 August 2007, Shawcross was sent on loan again, this time to Championship club Stoke City, for six months.

He scored his first two goals for Stoke during his first two matches, one on his debut during a 1–0 win on the opening day of the season, against Cardiff City, with the other during a League Cup match against Rochdale in which Stoke lost on penalties.

After Stoke's 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic Shawcross expressed his delight at Stoke's early season form.

Shawcross was named as the Championship's player of the month for October 2007.

At the end of the 2007–08 season, Shawcross was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year along with teammates Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence.

After starting in Stoke's first match in the Premier League in a 3–1 defeat away at Bolton Wanderers Shawcross lost his place in the team to new signing Ibrahima Sonko and he stated that he might have to leave Stoke if the manager signed another defender.

His good form prompted Stoke to pay Manchester United £1 million in January 2008 to keep him at the Britannia Stadium.

He formed a good defensive partnership with Leon Cort as Stoke gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time, ending 23 years away from the top flight.

Despite making a bad start to Premier League football, Shawcross established himself as first-choice centre-back along with Abdoulaye Faye.

Stoke made advances to make Shawcross' loan permanent during the January 2008 transfer window, and the move was finally completed on 18 January 2008, with Stoke paying Manchester United an initial £1m, which eventually rose to a club record £2m due to Shawcross' appearances for Stoke and the team achieving promotion the following May.

Additionally, Alex Ferguson negotiated a clause that gives Manchester United first refusal on any offer for the player.

He lost his place in the team for the final few matches of the promotion winning season to loan signing Chris Riggott.

Although he did play in the final match against Leicester City.

Shawcross re-claimed his place in team in late 2008 due to Sonko's poor performances.

In a match against Arsenal in November 2008, a Shawcross off-the-pitch tackle led to a three-week injury to Emmanuel Adebayor.

Following his return to the team, Shawcross scored in matches against Aston Villa, Everton, and Middlesbrough.

The goal against Boro proved to be vital win for Stoke in the fight from relegation.

After a fine debut Premier League season, Shawcross was linked to several clubs Premier League rivals however both Shawcross and Stoke manager Tony Pulis dismissed this speculation.

Stoke comfortably stayed up, and after another mid-table finish in 2009–10, Shawcross was handed the captaincy by manager Tony Pulis ahead of the 2010–11 season.

He scored from a header in Stoke's first match of the 2009–10 season, helping them to a 2–0 win over Burnley.

On 12 December 2009, he scored his second goal in the 2009–10 season for Stoke against Wigan Athletic in a 2–2 draw.

Shawcross was again involved in an incident with Emmanuel Adebayor in a FA Cup fifth-round replay against Manchester City, Adebayor struck Shawcross in the face and was sent-off.

Shawcross went on to score Stoke's second goal in a 3–1 win.

On 27 February 2010, in a match against Arsenal, Shawcross was sent off after his tackle left Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey with a broken leg.

With Faye drifting out of the team, Robert Huth became Shawcross's defensive partner and the team reached the 2011 FA Cup Final, finishing runners-up to Manchester City.

The run to the final also meant that Stoke entered the UEFA Europa League in 2011–12, and they reached the round of 32 losing to Spanish team Valencia.

Shawcross continued to be a regular under Pulis in 2012–13 and then under Mark Hughes in 2013–14 which saw him win the player of the year award.

Shawcross remained at Stoke until February 2021, after making 453 appearances over a 14-year period with the club.

He ended his career with Inter Miami before retiring from playing in January 2022 and began coaching.

Born in Chester, Cheshire, Shawcross grew up in the Welsh town of Buckley, Flintshire where he attended Mountain Lane Primary School and Elfed High School.

While living in Buckley, Shawcross played in the youth team at Cymru Alliance club Buckley Town.

During his primary school days, Shawcross played representative level football for Flintshire Boys; this team counts Gary Speed, Michael Owen and Ian Rush amongst its former players.

When Shawcross was 15 years old, he and a number of Flintshire Boys players had a trial at Football League club Wrexham who offered contracts to some players but not to Shawcross.

However, just three weeks later, he had a trial at Manchester United and was offered a contract at their academy.