Sean Aidan Raggett (born 25 January 1994) is a 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club Rotherham United.

Career

Dover Athletic

Raggett, a product of Gillingham's academy, joined

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

at 16, where he would go on to make over 150 appearances. In October 2010, he joined Sittingbourne on a dual registration basis. He made his debut for the club as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat at Fleet Town on 30 October 2010. with his full debut coming in the following Saturday's 2–1 home defeat to

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

where he "played well above the standard you would expect from a 16 year old". He made a total of seven starts and one substitute appearance for the club, with his final game coming in their last game of the season, a 2–2 draw at home to Godalming Town. In 2013 he had a loan spell at

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Division One South side Whitstable Town. It was at Dover, under the guidance of manager Chris Kinnear, that he learned his trade and as well as becoming a talented and uncompromising centre back, began to score trademark headed goals.

Lincoln City

A crowd favourite, his departure to Lincoln City in 2016 was a big loss to Dover but ultimately led to his big break. On the 18 February 2017 Raggett scored an 89th-minute winner in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

fifth round

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

against

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 ...

side

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 ...

taking Lincoln to The Competition's Quarter Finals, becoming the first non-League team to reach that stage in 103 years.

Norwich City

On 18 August 2017, Raggett joined Norwich City on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. As part of the deal, Raggett rejoined Lincoln City on loan until 1 January 2018. During the following preseason Norwich travelled to Lincoln City, a game in which Raggett, now back at Norwich, scored an “embarrassing own goal”, giving the Imps a consolation goal in a 3–1 win for Norwich.

Rotherham United (loan)

On 25 July 2018, Raggett joined Rotherham United on a season-long loan deal with an option for Norwich to recall him in January. Although he stayed beyond January, the loan was ended prematurely due to Raggett requiring surgery for an ankle injury. He returned to Norwich in early March 2019.

Portsmouth (loan)

On 27 June 2019, Raggett joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on a season-long loan deal.

Portsmouth

On 3 August 2020, Raggett joined

permanently, on a two-year deal after being released by Norwich. Raggett signed a new two-year deal at the end of a 2021–22 season that saw him win the Supporters' Player of the Season Award. On 13 February 2024, Raggett became the

player with the most appearances for the club in the 21st century, with 227 appearances, surpassing his former teammate

Ronan Curtis Ronan Curtis (born 29 March 1996) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a left-winger for the Republic of Ireland national team. Curtis started his career with Derry City in 2015, spending four seasons there and amassing 100 appear ...

. On 1 May 2024 the club said the player would be released when his contract expired.

Rotherham United

On 24 May 2024, Raggett agreed to return to League One side Rotherham United on a two-year deal.

International career

Raggett was born in England to an Irish father from Cork. Raggett has declared his intention to represent the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

internationally in the future. While playing semi-pro football at Dover, Sean Raggett was called up to the England national C team ahead of a friendly with

Republic of Ireland under-21s The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team, is the national under-21 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland. The team played its first match in 1978 and has competed in the U ...

on 1 June 2015.

Career statistics

Honours

Lincoln City *

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

: 2016–17 Portsmouth *

EFL 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 ...

: 2023–24 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Individual * Portsmouth Player of the Season: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raggett, Sean Living people 1993 births Sportspeople from Gillingham, Kent Footballers from Kent English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers English people of Irish descent Men's association football defenders Dover Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players Herne Bay F.C. players Whitstable Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players