John Ruddy issues emotional Birmingham City message as Charlton Athletic circle | OneFootball

John Ruddy has confirmed his departure from Birmingham City after a two-year stint

John Ruddy has confirmed his departure from Birmingham City after a two-year stint at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

Ruddy continued his long-standing career in the top two tiers of English football as the Blues' number one throughout his period in the Second City under a plethora of managers, despite initially joining under the management of John Eustace.

However, his second and final season at the club was extremely chaotic for all concerned, and despite continuing to be first-choice between the sticks, Blues suffered relegation to League One for the first time in 29 years, before beginning their rebuild with the appointment of Chris Davies.

Prior to Davies' appointment as manager, Birmingham confirmed the departure of fellow veteran keeper Neil Etheridge at the end of his contract, as well as announcing that new contracts had been offered to both Ruddy and the experienced centre-forward and club cult hero, Lukas Jutkiewicz.

However, just days after Ryan Allsop joined the goalkeepers union in B9, Davies will now be looking for more new blood in this department ahead of the new season.

John Ruddy pens farewell message to Birmingham City supporters

Just two weeks ago, Ruddy revealed to former Blues keeper Ben Foster that it was a matter of "keeping your options open and seeing what comes about," after stating that he'd held conversations with other clubs as well as Blues, before Charlton Athletic were mooted as his next potential destination by Football Insider.

However, the former Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers keeper was the first to reveal his departure on Thursday morning, penning this statement on his Instagram profile, relayed by club media.

"I would just like to say thank you," Ruddy began. "Thank you to all of you Bluenoses that made me and my family feel so welcome at your wonderful club over the last two years."

"It didn't end as any of us wanted to but I hope the one thing that you can say about me was I gave everything every time I pulled the shirt on," he continued. "Sometimes it was enough and other times it wasn't to be but it was a genuine privilege to play for your club."

"I wish the players, staff and fans nothing but success and as I've said previously I believe the club will get to where they want and should be!"

In total, the one-time England international made 89 appearances for Birmingham, and kept a total of 25 clean sheets in the process.

Birmingham City linked with potential John Ruddy replacement

Prior to the confirmation of Ruddy's departure, there had been reports suggesting that Birmingham were looking to bolster their goalkeeping department with the acquisition of Burnley's Bailey Peacock-Farrell, as per the Daily Mirror's live transfer blog (24:06, 13:15).

The Northern Irishman has endured a tough period at Turf Moor since joining from Leeds United for £2.5m five years ago, including loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and AGF Aarhus.

However, his spell at Hillsborough in the 2021/22 campaign proved his reliability as he kept 17 clean sheets in 47 appearances for the Owls, who were then managed by Darren Moore, eventually losing to Sunderland in the League One play-off semi-finals.