Ryan Stirk

Birmingham City When head coach Pep Clotet fielded an inexperienced team for the visit to Portsmouth in the 2019–20 EFL Cup first round, in which several youngsters made their senior debuts, Stirk was an unused substitute. The club took up their one-year option on his contract, and when the Championship season resumed after its suspension because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was named on the nine-man bench for six of Birmingham's remaining nine matches under the temporary rules, but remained unused. Described by the Birmingham Mail as a "diminutive but neat defensive midfielder who reads the game well and breaks up play before inviting team-mates into the play", Stirk made his first-team debut in a much-changed starting eleven for the Championship match at home to Cardiff City on 1 May 2021, played the whole of the 4–0 defeat, and kept his place for the last fixture of the season.

Loans Stirk signed for League Two club Mansfield Town on 27 July 2021, on loan for the 2021–22 season. He joined up with former Birmingham U23 team-mate Ryan Burke, who joined Mansfield earlier in the month after being released by Birmingham. He made his debut on the opening day of the season, as a stoppage-time replacement for George Maris in a 2–1 win at home to Bristol Rovers, and came close to opening the scoring with a "low first-time shot ... through a crowd of players" in the EFL Cup first-round tie at home to Championship opponents Preston North End before the visitors went on to win 3–0. In mid-September he damaged ankle ligaments and was out for six weeks, but returned to score his first senior goal and secure a 2–1 win away to Stevenage on 13 November. He finished the season with 36 appearances in all competitions,

He made a couple of appearances for Birmingham in August 2022, He was a regular in the starting eleven, scoring once from 14 appearances in the regular season, as he helped the team reach the play-offs. He "was behind most of Bromley's good moves" as they beat Woking in the play-off eliminator, but was substituted in the semi-final as they lost out to Chesterfield 3–2 after extra time. On 16 June 2023, League Two club Walsall confirmed that Stirk would join them on 1 July on a two-year contract.

On 18 June 2025, Stirk joined Chesterfield after leaving Walsall.

International career Stirk was born in England, and qualifies for Wales via his maternal grandmother. He was an unused substitute for Wales U16 while still a 13-year-old, made his under-17 debut at 15, and went on to play at under-19 and under-21 levels.

Career statistics