Jordan Alexander Houghton (born 5 November 1995) is an English professional
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 ...
who plays as a
defensive 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 boundari ...
for
EFL Championship club
Plymouth Argyle.
Club career
Chelsea
Houghton joined Chelsea's academy at Under-8. In November 2014, he signed his first professional contract which would keep him at the club until the end of the 2016–17 season.
Loan to Gillingham
On 20 July 2015, Houghton signed for
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
side
Gillingham on loan until 3 January 2016. On 8 August 2015, he made his professional debut in a 4–0 home victory against
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
, playing the full 90 minutes. After establishing himself in the starting 11, Houghton scored his first professional goal in a 5–1 victory over
Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...
on 29 September, also at
Priestfield Stadium
Priestfield Stadium (popularly known simply as Priestfield and officially known from 2007 to 2010 as KRBS Priestfield Stadium and from 2011 as MEMS Priestfield Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a football stadium in Gillingham, Kent. It has ...
.
On 2 January 2016, Houghton announced via his social media accounts that Gillingham had decided against extending his loan and that he would return to Chelsea after failing to impress under manager
Justin Edinburgh
Justin Charles Edinburgh (18 December 1969 – 8 June 2019) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a left back.
He notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, where he made 213 league appearance ...
.
Loan to Plymouth Argyle
On 10 March 2016, Houghton signed for
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
side
Plymouth Argyle on loan. Two days later, he made his "Pilgrims" debut in a 2–1 away defeat to
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
, playing the full 90 minutes. On 25 March, he scored his first Plymouth goal in the 14th minute of a 2–0 away victory against
Morecambe.
Loan to Doncaster Rovers
On 6 August 2016, it was announced that Houghton will join
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
on loan until 3 January 2017. After the loan move was completed, Houghton made his debut as he started against
Accrington Stanley
Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...
in a 3–2 loss. His loan deal was extended till the end of the season on 1 January 2017. On 1 January 2017, the loan deal got extended once more, this time until 31 May 2017. On 21 February 2017, Houghton's loan spell was terminated after the midfielder suffered a knee injury during Doncaster's 1–1 draw with
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
on 18 February.
On 31 August 2017, Houghton returned to Doncaster on loan until 3 January 2018. Two days later, he made his Doncaster return during their 0–0 draw with
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
, replacing
Niall Mason in the 59th minute. On 5 January 2018, Houghton's loan spell at Doncaster was extended until the end of the campaign.
Milton Keynes Dons
On 6 July 2018, following his release from
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, Houghton signed for
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
club
Milton Keynes Dons
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...
on a two-year deal. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 October 2018, a long range strike in a 1–1 draw away to
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...
. Following three seasons, a promotion and 107 appearances for the club, on 6 May 2021, MK Dons announced Houghton was one of four players to be released at the end of the
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
season.
Plymouth Argyle
On 25 June 2021, Houghton signed for
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
side
Plymouth Argyle on a permanent basis after his last spell at the club five years ago. Following the
2021–22 season, the club opted to have the extension option on his contract extended.
On 2 June 2023 Houghton signed a new two year contract following
Plymouth Argyle's promotion to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
Chelsea
*
FA Youth Cup:
2013–14
Doncaster Rovers
*
EFL League Two third-place promotion:
2016–17
Milton Keynes Dons
*EFL League Two third-place promotion:
2018–19
Plymouth Argyle
*
EFL League One:
2022–23
*
EFL Trophy runner-up:
2022–23
England U16
*
Victory Shield
The Victory Shield is an annual football tournament competed for by the under-16 teams of Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Victory Shield had traditionally been competed for by the four Home Nations, but the Football ...
: 2010
References
External links
England profile at The FA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Jordan
1995 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Chertsey
English men's footballers
Men's association football defenders
Chelsea F.C. players
Gillingham F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players
English Football League players
England men's youth international footballers
Footballers from Surrey