Ryan Edmondson spent six months in the Granite City on loan from Leeds United in 2020
(Image: SNS Group)
Former Aberdeen striker Ryan Edmondson has described getting a brief taste of European football in his loan spell at Pittodrie as a “dream come true”.
But five-and-a-half years on, the ex-Leeds United man reckons that he wasn’t able to find form in the early part of his career after quickly learning that football isn’t as “easy” as he first thought.
After making two first team appearances at Elland Road while they were in the Championship, the Yorkshire club sent the forward up to the Granite City on a six-month loan deal in the summer of 2020.
Edmondson made his debut for the Dons as a substitute in a 1-0 defeat to Rangers on the opening day of the season but then suffered a major blow when he was ruled for up to three months with a serious ankle injury. However, the former England youth international made a remarkable recovery and came off the bench for the final nine minutes of Aberdeen’s narrow 1-0 defeat away to Sporting Lisbon in a Europa League qualifier right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, the striker netted two goals in 16 matches for Derek McInnes’ team, both of which came in a 4-2 victory over Hamilton Academical. Further loans with Fleetwood, Port Vale and Carlisle followed, and after being released by Leeds he joined the latter on a permanent deal in 2022.
Some decent displays at Brunton Park saw Edmonton win a shock move to Australian side Central Coast Mariners in January 2024, where he quickly won a domestic treble, being named as the man of the match in their A-League Grand Final triumph against Melbourne Victory having bagged a brace in the 3-1 win.
Ryan Edmondson collected three major honours with the Mariners(Image: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The 24-year-old is now back and closer to home after signing for Irish Premier Division side St Patrick’s Athletic FC earlier this year and has reflected on his various loan stints away from Leeds, where he was initially seen as a hot prospect.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, he said: “I kind of came on the scene quite abruptly. I was in and around academy football as a youth, and then went back to lower league level.
“I was playing with York City at the age of 15, was bought by Leeds United and my career at Leeds at that age excelled quite quickly. I had my Championship debut at 16, so it was a bit of a dream come true, really.
“Then going on loan to places like Aberdeen and playing in Europe against Sporting Lisbon, and things like that, it was all a bit of a dream come true.
“I think I was a bit naive as a young player and I thought football was going to be easy, but we all know that’s not how it goes.”