Thanks to Dave Rowntree for many of the player images after 1984.
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JACK RUDDY
Full Name: John Robert Ruddy
Born: 27 December 1997
Came from: Leganés B, Spain Went to: Released
First game: 08 September 2020 Last game: 06 October 2020
Appearances: 2 (2/0) Goals: 0
Ruddy joined the Pilgrims in the first week of the 2020-21 season, to provide goalkeeping cover for Mike Cooper after the returning Luke McCormick suffered a shoulder injury in training.
Born in Glasgow, Ruddy began his football career with Rangers, joining their academy at the age of seven. Five years later his family relocated to southern Spain, where he joined the Real Murcia youth set-up. Having reached the age to turn professional, he went on trial with La Liga side Villarreal, but found that he was unable to sign senior terms with any club until he was 21 because of a change in Spanish regulations for foreign players.
As a result, the Scotland youth international returned to the UK in the summer of 2014 to sign his first professional deal, at Bury, joining up with Ryan Lowe, who was a player at Gigg Lane at the time. Another future Home Park connection came in November 2015 when he made his only first team appearance for the Shakers, lining up with Danny Mayor.
Ruddy's potential was spotted by Wolverhampton Wanderers, and in August 2016 he joined the Championship side on an initial two-year deal. After making his debut for Scotland's under-21s in March 2017, he was loaned to Oldham Athletic for the first half of the 2017-18 campaign, followed immediately by a loan to Ayr United until the end of the season.
Ruddy returned to familiar surroundings when he was one of nine young Wanderers to be sent on loan to FC Jumilla in the Spanish third tier in August 2018. Later that season he remained in Spain for a short spell with SS Reyes, before being released by Wolves in the summer of 2019.
Swapping the temperatures of southern Spain for northern Scotland, Ruddy signed a 12-month contract for Ross County in July 2019, but seven months later he left Victoria Park for CD Leganes B on the outskirts of Madrid for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
After a late spell of pre-season training at Home Park, the 22-year-old became Ryan Lowe's ninth signing of 2020's extended summer transfer window, and later that day he made his Argyle debut in an EFL Trophy match at Home Park.
In total, two EFL Trophy appearances represented his career in green, and he was released in the summer of 2021. Following his time at Home Park, he had spells with Linfield in Northern Ireland, then West of Scotland League Premier Division side Darvel before a short spell with East Kilbride and then the 2022-23 season at Cowdenbeath. Then, following a successful trial period, Ruddy signed for Isthmian League Premier Division side Dulwich Hamlet ahead of the 2023-24 season.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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