Rob Lainton

Robert Paul Lainton (born 12 October 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Wrexham.

Lainton came through the Academy at Bolton Wanderers, and began the 2009–10 season as the club's first choice goalkeeper in the Premier Reserve League under coach Alan Cork.

He turned professional at Bolton Wanderers in March 2011 but never played a first team game for the club.

In March 2011, Lainton signed his first (two-year) professional contract with the club.

Although a regular in the first team squad and on the bench, he never made a senior appearance for the "Trotters".

Lainton was also listed on loan on two occasions, but no clubs were interested.

Speaking in July 2012, manager Owen Coyle said that Lainton "had a terrible time with injuries last year".

He joined Bury in July 2013 and would go on to play 45 games for the club over the next four seasons, 22 of which came in their 2014–15 promotion campaign out of League Two; he was actually a free agent for the first half of the 2016–17 season in between being released and re-signed by Bury.

He also played 14 games on loan at Burton Albion in the second half of the 2013–14 season, and played one game on an emergency loan at Cheltenham Town in April 2017.

Following nine years at the Reebok Stadium, Lainton was released by manager Dougie Freedman in summer 2013.

After leaving Bolton Wanderers, Lainton had a trial spell at Championship side Doncaster Rovers.

In July 2013, he signed a two-year contract at League Two club Bury after a successful trial to become "Shakers" boss Kevin Blackwell's sixth summer signing.

He made his Football League debut in a 2–0 home to Chesterfield at Gigg Lane on 3 August.

After making six straight appearances in all competitions from the start of the 2013–14 season, Lainton suffered a shoulder injury.

After recovering from his injury, Lainton struggled to make a return to the first team after being dislodged by newly signed goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

On 11 March, Lainton extended his loan stay with the "Brewers" until the end of the 2013–14 season.

Lainton remained the first choice goalkeeper at the Pirelli Stadium, making fourteen appearances until he came off as a substitute at half-time after dislocating his thumb during a 1–0 defeat to Northampton Town on 12 April.

The injury caused him to miss the last seven matches of the campaign, including the play-off final defeat to Fleetwood Town.

Upon his return to Bury, Lainton competed with Shwan Jalal for the position of first choice goalkeeper, and made his first appearance against his former club Bolton in the opening round of the League Cup, coming on as a substitute for Jalal after he was injured during the match; the game ended in a 3–2 defeat following extra time.

Lainton continued to be the first choice goalkeeper for the club until the arrival of Scott Loach and Nick Pope, at which point manager David Flitcroft placed Lainton as second-choice goalkeeper and listed him as available to be loaned out.

Lainton remained as a second-choice goalkeeper at Bury until 8 February 2014, when he joined divisional rivals Burton Albion on a one-month loan to fill in for injured custodian Dean Lyness; he kept a clean sheet on his debut in a 1–0 victory at Morecambe later that same day.

However, ten days later he punched a high ball into his own net to gift Rochdale the equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Spotland; manager Gary Rowett backed Lainton, saying "we write it off and move on".

He stayed put however, and made a total of 17 league appearances during the 2014–15 campaign as Bury secured automatic promotion to League One.

He signed a new one-year contract in May 2015.

He began the 2015–16 season in excellent form after taking over from the injured Christian Walton, and was named in the Football League Team of the Week after making "a number of superb stops" in a 1–0 win at Colchester United on 3 October.

However, he was sidelined with a groin tear he picked up in October.

He failed to win back his first team spot after recovering from his injury.

In April 2016, he was told that his Bury contract would not be renewed.

He was however, re-signed on a pay-as-you-play deal by Chris Brass in December, and was described as looking "surprisingly sharp" as he kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw at Fleetwood Town on Boxing day.

The next month he signed a contract to keep him at the club until the end of the 2016–17 season.

However, he picked up another injury and lost his first team place to new signing Joe Murphy.

He signed with Port Vale in June 2017.

After struggling with injury during his first season at the club, he was allowed to sign with Wrexham after a spell on loan at the Welsh club.

On 7 April 2017, he joined Gary Johnson's Cheltenham Town on a seven-day emergency loan deal, as Calum Kitscha was injured and loanee Scott Brown was unavailable to play against his parent club Wycombe Wanderers.

He did not feature at Bury after Lee Clark was appointed manager in February, and was released by the club for a second time three months later.

Lainton signed a two-year contract with newly-relegated League Two side Port Vale in June 2017.

He started the 2017–18 season as the club's first choice goalkeeper, but had to be taken off with a thigh injury at half-time during the opening round of the EFL Cup and was ruled out of action for four weeks.

He returned to action for two more games before he was forced to leave a 1–0 defeat at Coventry City early in the second half after damaging his ankle; he was subsequently ruled out of action for two months.

He went on to be named as Wrexham's Player of the Season for the 2018–19 campaign.

Wrexham won the National League title at the end of the 2022–23 campaign.