Trevor Carson

On 14 August 2008, Carson joined Chesterfield on a season-long loan deal. He made his professional début in a 1–0 victory against Grimsby Town keeping a clean sheet. He was recalled by Sunderland early in January 2009 after a shortage of keepers due to injuries. He made his debut for Sunderland on 16 July, against Darlington in a 4–0 win. Later that year, with Craig Gordon out through injury, manager Steve Bruce urged Carson to push Márton Fülöp for the No.1 spot in the squad. He signed a new contract with Sunderland on 22 October 2009 which would keep him at the Stadium of Light until 2012.

He played two games in two days when appearing for Northern Ireland U21s in Wuppertal, Germany on 5 September 2008, with his side losing 3–0, before making a dash back to Chesterfield to play in a 1–0 win over Rotherham United. He also represented Northern Ireland B in a 3–0 defeat against Scotland B in May 2009.

He was loaned out to Lincoln City on 20 January 2011 until the end of the season, and made his debut on 22 January against Stockport County in a 4–3 win. The following season he was loaned out again in January 2012, where he went to Hull City for a month, and spent time at Bury, where he made 17 appearances over two loan spells either side of his time at Hull. After showing promise at Sunderland, he was released by the Premier League club on 19 May 2012.

On 22 May 2012 it was announced that Bury had completed the signing of Carson on a two-year contract after impressing on loan. In his first season at Gigg Lane he made 39 league appearances, but Bury were relegated to the fourth tier (EFL League Two).

On 3 October 2013, Carson joined Portsmouth in a three-month loan deal. He was given the number 40 shirt and made his debut in a league match against Rochdale, he kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 victory. He established himself as number one ahead of John Sullivan and Phil Smith and set himself up to be signed up permanently in January 2014, when he outlined that he was keen to stay at the South Coast club. He was released by Bury on 1 May 2014.

In January 2013 he was called up to the full Northern Ireland squad for their game with Malta, but was forced to withdraw with a broken finger. In May 2015 he was called up again for a friendly against Romania. He made his international debut on 24 March 2018, against South Korea at Windsor Park.

On 30 June 2014, Carson joined Cheltenham Town on a free transfer after his release from Bury.

On 15 June 2015, Carson signed for Hartlepool United after Cheltenham's relegation.

On 6 June 2017, Carson joined Motherwell for an undisclosed fee from Hartlepool United, on a three-year contract. He was the regular goalkeeper in his first season, taking part in the 2017 Scottish League Cup Final and the 2018 Scottish Cup Final, both 2–0 losses to Celtic. He kept the jersey at the start of the next season but was replaced by Mark Gillespie after a 7–1 defeat to Rangers in November 2018, which coincided with him developing deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder and lung, a life-threatening condition for someone in a contact sport. He returned to fitness in May 2019, but was now second-choice in the squad. On 7 January 2020, at that time still backup to Gillespie, he signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract keeping him at Fir Park until 2022.

When Gillespie moved on to Newcastle United in the summer of 2020, Carson regained the starting place; in a 2020–21 UEFA Europa League tie against Northern Irish club Coleraine (the first senior club match he had played in his homeland), he conceded two goals from penalties during the match which finished 2–2, but then made a 'hat-trick' of saves from kicks in the resultant shootout which Motherwell won 3–0 to progress in the tournament. In October 2020, Carson suffered a knee injury that required surgery.