Goalkeeper John Ruddy signed for Norwich on 5th July 2010.

Ruddy began his professional career at Cambridge United and made his professional debut in the final game of the season at Leyton Orient's Brisbane Road stadium on 8th May 2004, noticeable for a clean sheet and penalty save. he made 39 league appearances for Cambridge, and had a trial at Manchester United before joining Everton in the summer of 2005 for a fee of around £250,000.

Whilst at Everton, he was called into the England Under-19 squad.

In September 2005, Ruddy signed for Walsall on loan, making four appearances in League One before being allowed to return to Everton. Loan spells with Rushden & Diamonds and Chester City soon followed.

Ruddy made his first team debut for Everton in February 2006, but in a rather bizarre way. Nine minutes into the match against Blackburn Rovers, Iain Turner was sent off for handling outside the area. Since Turner was substituting for injured first-choice and second-choice keepers Nigel Martyn and Richard Wright, it meant that Ruddy was the only keeper left who could play. Ruddy went on to keep a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory.

In September 2006, Ruddy was given another chance on loan. A one-month deal was agreed with Stockport County, which was extended to three months after an impressive performance. Since then he agreed another one month loan with Wrexham in February 2007 but failed to establish a place in the team during his time at the Racecourse Ground and the Red Dragons decided against extending the loan beyond the initial month. On 21st April, Ruddy completed an emergency one-week loan to League One side Bristol City and helped them move closer to promotion. In January 2009, he went out on loan till the end of the 2008–09 season at Crewe Alexandra.

On 24th July 2009, Ruddy joined Scottish Premier League side Motherwell on a six-month loan deal, to vie with Michael Fraser and Sebastian Kosiorowski for the number one jersey.. But when the original loan deal expired in January 2010, the Fir Park outfit decided that they wanted to keep Ruddy further and a month extension was agreed with Everton, whilst their futures were sorted out. On 27th January 2010, it was announced that both Ruddy and Everton teammate Lukas Jutkiewicz were to extend their stay at the Scottish Premier League side until May 2010

Ruddy made his Norwich debut in the 3-2 home defeat to Watford on the opening day of the 2010/11 season. His season improved and Norwich won promotion to the Premiership on 2nd May 2011 with a 1-0 win at Portsmouth. He finished the season with 46 appearances to his name.