Born in Belfast, Ryan began his footballing career with the Youth set up at Peterborough United, duing which time he had a tria with Manchester United. The right sided midfielder made his League debut at the age of 17 against BristolCity in October 2002, but suffered a broken leg in February 2003. In a bid to regain fitness, he went out on loan to Conference side Farnborough Town in November 2003 for two month, returning to Peterborough United the following January. He was released in July 2006, and joined LincolnCity, but he again suffered from injury problems which restricted the number of appearances for the Imps. He went to ChesterCity for another loan period in November 2006.
He was brought to NenePark by manager Garry Hill on 10 August 2007, initially for a one month loan period, but after four games, he returned back to Sincil Bank where his contract was eventually cancelled by mutual consent in January 2008. He joined Oxford United on non-contract forms in February, but only spent a few weeks before joining BrackleyTown in March. He left in May, and joined Deeping Rangers of the UCL Premier Division at the start of the 2008/09 season. Agreed a dual signing deal to enable him to play for Haverhill Rovers of the Ridgeons League Premier Division. On 4 June 2009, he joined Gainsborough Trinity of the Conference North, but then signed for Northern Premier League (Unibond) Premier Division side Boston United on 4 March 2010 in their quest for promotion to the Conference North.
