Former Derby forward Waghorn announces retirement

Martyn Waghorn helped Derby to win promotion from League One last season

Former Derby County forward Martyn Waghorn has announced his retirement from football, aged 35.

Waghorn began his career at local club Sunderland before permanent spells at Leicester City, Wigan Athletic, Ipswich Town, Coventry City as well as two years in Scotland at Rangers, England Under-21s and a number of loan clubs.

In a much-travelled career, his last club was Northampton Town for whom he played eight games before Christmas.

"I am proud to have worn the shirt of every one of these great clubs," he said in a post on X. "Every time I stepped on the pitch, all I wanted to do was make my family proud."

Waghorn made his debut at 17 for Sunderland under Roy Keane on Boxing Day 2007 against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Overall he played 527 games over his 17-year career, scoring 135 goals but he enjoyed his most successful spell at Ibrox.

Moving to Scotland in 2015, he was the leading scorer in the Scottish Championship with 20 goals, and 28 in total that season, as Rangers won the title to secure promotion back to the top-flight.

He managed 16 more the following season before returning to England where he scored 16 in the Championship for Ipswich.

That earned him a move to Derby where he was part of the Rams' squad that lost to Aston Villa in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

After a spell at Coventry, he returned to Pride Park last year for what turned out to be his final full season as he helped the club achieve promotion back up to the Championship.