Former Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Middlesbrough man makes surprise appearance for club in eighth tier

The 35-year-old is a veteran of the EFL and also counts Middlesbrough, Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City among his former clubs. Until the end of the 2023/24 campaign, he was on the books of National League side Rochdale.

Eyebrows were raised earlier today (August 10), when non-league outfit Liversedge named Clayton in their starting XI for their fixture against Garforth Town.

The club compete in the Northern Premier League Division One East, on the eighth rung of the English football ladder. Clayton was playing in the Premier League for Middlesbrough as recently as 2017, and in the Championship for Birmingham City in 2021.

Despite the high-profile addition to their midfield, Liversedge fell to a 3-0 defeat to Leeds-based Garforth. The club are no strangers to high-profile signings, having brought Clayton’s former Leeds teammate Ross McCormack on board last year. He took on a dual player/director of football role but left the club after a short stint.

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Clayton is a product of Manchester City’s academy but failed to make the grade at the Etihad Stadium. Leeds were the first to offer him regular minutes and he scored six goals in 50 appearances for the Whites.

A move to Huddersfield followed in 2014 and he racked up 94 appearances for the Terriers. He then joined Middlesbrough, spending six years at the Riverside and appearing on nearly 250 occasions.

In 2020, he was reunited with his former Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka at Birmingham City, although his time in the Midlands was short-lived. He returned to Yorkshire for spells at Doncaster and Bradford before dropping into the non-league pyramid with Rochdale last year.