Ryan Boot

Boot attended the Academy at Stoke City before he was released in 2010, at which point he joined the Port Vale youth system.[5] He signed a two-year professional contract with the club in April 2013.[6] He had a trial at Premier League club Fulham in October 2013.[7] He joined Conference North club Worcester City on loan in November 2013 and played four games.[8] He was recalled from his loan in March 2014 due to an injury to Chris Neal.[9] He played a number of friendly games in outfield positions for Vale in the 2014–15 pre-season as Sam Johnson and Chris Neal battled for the starting position in goal.[10]

He was loaned out to Norton United of the Northern Premier League Division One South in August 2014.[11] The following month he was loaned out to Newcastle Town, also in the Northern Premier League Division One South.[12] He returned on loan to Worcester City in February 2015 until the end of the 2014–15 season.[13] He signed a new two-year contract with Port Vale in June 2015.[14] On 9 September 2016, he returned to Worcester City for a third loan spell.[15] He played two games in the following four days, keeping clean sheets on both occasions.[16] Having kept six clean sheets in ten games for Worcester, and then went on to join National League club Macclesfield Town on loan on 11 November.[17] He played two FA Trophy games for the "Silkmen". He returned to Port Vale and made his EFL League One debut for the "Valiants" on 20 January, in a 2–2 draw with Bury at Vale Park.[18] He did not feature again in the 2016–17 relegation campaign, but was offered a new one-year contract by manager Michael Brown in May 2017.[19]

On 29 August, he started his first game of the 2017–18 season, and kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw with Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park, before saving two penalties to help Vale win the resulting penalty shoot-out.[20] Despite this, he did not get to feature in the first-team despite injuries to Rob Lainton, Sam Hornby and emergency loan signing Kelle Roos, with new manager Neil Aspin choosing to draft in another emergency loan goalkeeper at the last minute, Dimitar Evtimov, rather than allowing Boot to reach five appearances and thereby preventing the club from making any further emergency goalkeeping loan signings.[21] Evtimov proved to be a disappointment in his one appearance however, and Boot went on to play the following game and keep a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory over Oxford United on 3 November.[22] Boot retained his first-team place following Lainton's return from injury, whilst Hornby was allowed to leave on loan.[23] On 16 December, he impressed with what Aspin called a "a first-class display" in a 2–1 win at Carlisle United.[24] On 24 March, he kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw at Wycombe Wanderers and his performance earned him a place on the EFL Team of the Week.[25] However, on 2 April he dropped a routine catch to gift Crewe Alexandra the opening goal of a 2–2 draw before he was forced off with a foot injury; he apologised to supporters on Twitter after the game.[26] Following an inconsistent season and the fact that both Lainton and Hornby were still under contract, Boot was released upon the expiry of his contract in May 2018.[27][28]

On 3 July 2018, Boot was signed by former England international goalkeeper Tim Flowers, now manager of National League side Solihull Moors.[29] He made his Moors debut on the opening day of the 2018–19 season, in a 2–1 win at Eastleigh on 4 August, and his performance earned him a place in the National League Team of the Weekend.[30] He signed a contract extension in February 2019 after Flowers felt that Boot had proven himself a more than worthy successor to Max O'Leary.[31] He helped the Moors to a second-place finish in the league, before they were beaten by AFC Fylde in the play-offs.[32] He made 44 appearances in the 2019–20 season, which was permanently suspended on 26 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with Solihull in eighth-place.[33]