Ryan Thomas Cooney (born 26 February 2000) 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for side Crewe Alexandra.

Career

Bury

Cooney was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Greater Manchester. He joined

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

at the age of nine, progressing through the club's youth academy and being made

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the youth team. Cooney was promoted to the first-team squad in the 2016–17 season while still a scholar because of injuries. He made his debut on 26 August 2017, playing against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in a League One match which ended 0–0. He signed a two-year professional contract with the club in October 2018. He made a total of 29 appearances in all competitions having been given the opportunity of first team football by manager

Ryan Lowe Ryan Thomas Lowe (born 18 September 1978) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is manager of Championship side Preston North End. His playing career, as a striker, began at Burscough in 1999 and he became a Footbal ...

. He got used to spending time around older, more experienced players and he adapted on and off the pitch. Despite gaining promotion from

EFL 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 ...

in the 2018–19 season, Bury's future looked bleak amid financial problems and Cooney was hoping for a move.

Burnley

Cooney signed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on 15 July 2019 on a one-year contract with the option of a further year, initially joining the under-23 team. In the first half of the season he was a regular part of Steve Stone's side and contributed towards a 17-match unbeaten run. He became a part of Burnley's first-team bubble until the end of the 2019–20 season, along with a number of youngsters, following the return to football post-lockdown. He was rewarded with a new one-year contract in June 2020.

Morecambe (loan spells)

On 2 January 2020, he was sent out on loan for the first time when he joined League Two side

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

until the end of the season along with Adam Phillips. There was frustration in March 2020, as

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

brought the loan to an abrupt halt as Cooney had been beginning to settle in and was playing and performing consistently. Cooney and Phillips spoke during the lockdown and agreed that they would return to Morecambe if the opportunity arose in the following season, describing manager Derek Adams as a big influence. On 11 August 2020, Cooney re-joined

on loan until the end of the season along with Phillips. Morecambe made a good start to the season and were top of the league after five games with four wins.

Morecambe

On 24 June 2021, it was announced that Cooney had signed for

on a free transfer on a two-year deal after turning down the offer of a new contract at

. In May 2023, Cooney was one of 14 players released by Morecambe following their relegation to League Two.

Crewe Alexandra

On 23 June 2023,

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 Crewe Alexandra announced the signing of Cooney on a two-year deal. He made his Crewe debut at Gresty Road on 5 August 2023, coming on as an 81st minute substitute for Zac Williams in a 2–2 draw with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, 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 ...

. Cooney was sent off after a second yellow card in Crewe's 1–0 defeat at

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 ...

in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

tie on 5 September 2023.

Career statistics

Honours

Bury *

runner-up: 2018–19 Morecambe * EFL League Two play-offs:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

External links

Profile
on the Burnley F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooney, Ryan 2000 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bury F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English Football League players