Richard Jackson (footballer, born 1980)

Born in Whitby, North Yorkshire,[1] Jackson began his career at Third Division club Scarborough, as a trainee in August 1997. He made his first-team debut for the club in a 4–0 win at home to Doncaster Rovers on 1 November 1997.[2] Jackson signed his first professional contract with Scarborough on 27 March 1998.[1] In 1998–99, Jackson made 22 appearances in all competitions for Scarborough.[3]

Jackson signed for Premier League club Derby County in March 1999 for a transfer fee of £30,000.[1] He did not feature for the club until making successive appearances in the final two matches of 1999–2000, including his debut for Derby in a 0–0 draw at home to Newcastle United on 6 May 2000.[4] Jackson made three appearances in 2000–01,[5] and seven in 2001–02 respectively,[6] with the latter resulting in Derby's relegation to the First Division.[7] He broke into the first-team on a regular basis in 2002–03, during which he made 21 appearances,[8] and was offered a new contract at the end of the season.[9] Jackson consolidated his place in the first-team in 2003–04, making 37 appearances,[10] and signed a new two-year contract on 12 May 2004.[11] He made 20 appearances in 2004–05, until he suffered a groin injury in a match against Leeds United in January 2005, which ruled him out of first-team action until May as Derby reached the Championship play-offs.[12][13][14] Jackson featured in both play-off semi-final matches against Preston North End, which resulted in a 2–0 defeat for Derby on aggregate.[12][15] He made 27 appearances in 2005–06,[16] which was interrupted by another groin injury that saw him ruled out of first-team action for all of September and October 2005 and a hamstring injury that ruled him out for several weeks in the spring of 2006.[17][18] By this time, Jackson was the longest serving player at Derby and, on 26 January 2006, signed a contract keeping him at the club until the summer of 2008.[19] However, Jackson made only seven further appearances for Derby in 2006–07.[20]

Jackson moved to newly relegated League One club Luton Town on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract on 8 August 2007.[21] He made his Luton debut on the opening day of 2007–08 in a 2–1 win at home to Hartlepool United.[22] Jackson made 37 appearances in all competitions,[22] but his contract was terminated by mutual consent on 21 August 2008.[23]

On 4 September 2008, Jackson signed a one-year contract with League One club Hereford United.[24] He made his Hereford debut one day later in a 1–1 draw at home to Swindon Town.[25] Jackson made 26 appearances for Hereford,[26] but left the club before the end of the season.[27]

On 22 October 2009, Jackson was set to sign for Darlington as one of four new players brought in by manager Steve Staunton, but Jackson's own deal fell through.[28] He dropped into non-league to play for his hometown club Whitby Town, before he was signed by League Two club Burton Albion on a one-month contract on 4 December 2009, managed by his former Derby and Luton teammate Paul Peschisolido as cover for injuries to Ryan Austin and Andrew Corbett.[29] He made his debut one day later when he was named in the starting lineup in a 2–2 draw away to Rotherham United.[30] He made two further appearances, before signing a new one-and-a-half-year contract until the end of 2010–11.[31] However, Jackson only made two appearances during this time as a result of various injuries,[32] and was released by Burton at the end of 2010–11.[33]