Connor Ripley

Connor Ripley spent eight years on Middlesbrough's books and played twice for the first team. The rest of that time he was loaned out, and the loans made him a goalkeeper.

He had started at Blackburn Rovers before joining the Middlesbrough academy in 2009. He signed his first professional contract in January 2011 and made his debut two months later. He went out to Oxford United, Bradford City and then Östersunds FK in Sweden, where he played 14 games in the Superettan. At Motherwell he played roughly 36 to 40 matches. Middlesbrough's Under-21s won a league and cup double around 2014–15 with him in the squad.

His best individual season came at Oldham Athletic in 2016–17. He won both the club's Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards and was named in the League One Team of the Season. Two later loans, at Burton Albion and Accrington Stanley, were ended early, and he spent a spell at Bury in between. In January 2019 he moved permanently to Preston North End. A short emergency loan at Salford City in 2021 gave him games.

Regular football returned at Morecambe, which he joined on a free transfer in June 2022. He was named EFL League One Player of the Month for November 2022 and finished the season as the club's Player of the Year. Port Vale signed him a year later, and he stayed until his contract was ended by mutual consent in February 2025.

He joined Swindon Town on a free transfer that month and played all 46 League Two games in 2025–26. He has made 67 appearances for the club.

Ripley won four England Under-19 caps and was in the squad for the 2012 European Under-19 Championship in Estonia, though he did not play. He was also in the England squad at the 2013 Under-20 World Cup, where he stayed on the bench for all three matches.