Ian Armstrong (born 16 November 1981) is an English former

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 le ...

who played mainly as a winger or an attacking

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played 101 league and cup games for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

between 2002 and 2005 before injury forced his early retirement at 23. He also represented England at under-16 and under-18 levels.

Career

After coming through the ranks of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

academy, he signed for

in the summer of 2001. He made his

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

debut at Vale Park under Brian Horton, in a 4–2 win over Notts County on 11 August 2001. He scored his first goal on 5 October in a 5–0 win over Cambridge United. He made a total of 34 appearances in his maiden season with the "Valiants", scoring five goals. He scored eight goals in 34 games in the 2002–03 campaign, including a brace in a 5–1 over Huddersfield Town on 26 April. However, a series of injuries dogged his career from the very start, severely reduced his impact in 2003–04, and he was limited to 22 appearances. Injuries continued in the 2004–05 season, though he did find the net three times in his eight League One appearances. His injuries ultimately led to his retirement in 2005, at the age of 23, following an unsuccessful trial with Brian Horton at

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

Personal life

He attended

Lathom High School Lathom High School is a coeducational secondary school and specialist technology college located in Skelmersdale in the English county of Lancashire. Following an amalgamation of two former schools Tawd Vale and West Bank High, Lathom High was ...

in Lancashire and is a half-brother to media personality Kerry Katona.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Ian 1981 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liverpool F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English Football League players