| Ben Wilkinson | |
| Full Name: | Alistair Benjamin Wilkinson[1] |
| Birth Date: | 25 April 1987[2] |
| Birth Place: | Sheffield, England |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Currentclub: | Manchester City U-23 (Manager) |
| Youthclubs1: | Sheffield Wednesday |
| Youthclubs2: | Sheffield United |
| Youthyears3: | 2003–2005 |
| Youthclubs3: | Derby County |
| Youthyears4: | 2005–2006 |
| Youthclubs4: | Hull City |
| Years1: | 2006–2008 |
| Clubs1: | Hull City |
| Caps1: | 0 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2006–2007 |
| Clubs2: | → Harrogate Town (loan) |
| Caps2: | 3 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2008 |
| Clubs3: | → Gretna (loan) |
| Caps3: | 13 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2008–2009 |
| Clubs4: | York City |
| Caps4: | 21 |
| Goals4: | 2 |
| Years5: | 2009 |
| Clubs5: | → Altrincham (loan) |
| Caps5: | 9 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2009–2010 |
| Clubs6: | Chester City |
| Caps6: | 0 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Years7: | 2010–2011 |
| Clubs7: | Tamworth |
| Caps7: | 28 |
| Goals7: | 2 |
| Years8: | 2011 |
| Clubs8: | Boston United |
| Caps8: | 8 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Totalcaps: | 82 |
| Totalgoals: | 4 |
Alistair Benjamin Wilkinson (born 25 April 1987) is a former professional footballer and is currently a coach working at Manchester City's academy. He played as a midfielder for Hull City, Harrogate Town, Gretna, York City, Altrincham, Chester City, Tamworth and Boston United.
Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire,[3] Wilkinson is the son of former player and manager Howard Wilkinson.[4] He played with the youth teams of Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United and Derby County,[5] becoming a scholar with the latter in May 2003.[6] He joined Hull City in January 2005, where he completed his scholarship.[7] He signed a two-year professional contract with Hull in the summer of 2006.[2] He joined Conference North club Harrogate Town on 9 December 2006 on a one-month loan,[8] where he made five appearances before returning to Hull in January 2007.[9]
Wilkinson went on trial with York City of the Conference National in January 2008, in which he scored two goals in a reserve-team match against Sheffield United.[4] On 31 January 2008, he joined Gretna of the Scottish Premier League on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season.[10] He made his debut in a 2–0 away defeat against Heart of Midlothian on 9 February 2008 and made 13 appearances for the club.
He joined Conference Premier club York City on 10 June 2008 on a two-year contract.[11] [12] His debut came in a 1–0 away win against Crawley Town on 9 August 2008. He scored his first goal in a 3–1 defeat away to Wrexham on 7 October 2008.[13]
On 26 March 2009, Wilkinson joined York's Conference Premier rivals Altrincham on loan until the end of 2008–09.[12] He made his debut two days later, coming on as a 90th-minute substitute in a 2–2 home draw with Crawley Town, and started in the subsequent match, a 1–0 away defeat to Ebbsfleet United.[14] He finished the spell with nine appearances. He left York on 2 July 2009 after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.[15]
Wilkinson signed for newly relegated Conference Premier club Chester City on 9 July 2009.[16] Wilkinson scored in the first minute of his debut against Cambridge United on 15 August 2009, but Chester lost 4–2.[17] He made 28 appearances for Chester in 2009–10,[18] although these were expunged from the records after Chester were expelled from the Football Conference in March 2010.[19] He left the club following their liquidation on 10 March 2010[20] [21] and in April went on trial with League Two club Bradford City, playing in reserve-team matches against Newcastle United and Leeds United.[22]
Wilkinson signed for Conference Premier club Tamworth on 26 August 2010 following a trial.[23] His first goal came in a 1–0 away win over Mansfield Town, with a shot into the bottom corner from six yards from Danny Thomas' pass on 30 minutes.[24] Wilkinson scored a goal against York in a 2–1 away win on 16 April 2011 to help Tamworth fight relegation.[25]
Wilkinson signed for Conference North club Boston United on 30 July 2011 after a trial,[26] [27] having been set to follow former Tamworth players Aaron Mitchell and Jason Bradley to Eastwood Town.[28] He found himself out of the team early in 2011–12 because of a knee injury but later established himself at right back due to a shortage in that position.[29] He left Boston on 7 November 2011[30] after making 10 appearances for the club.
By November 2013, Wilkinson had taken on the position of youth development phase coach at Sheffield Wednesday.[31]
He joined Manchester City's academy in July 2018 as Under 23 Assistant Coach to Paul Harsley. In August 2020, he moved into a role as Under 16 Lead Coach.[32]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Hull City | 2006–07 | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Harrogate Town (loan) | 2006–07[33] | Conference North | 3 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |||
| Gretna (loan) | 2007–08 | Scottish Premier League | 13 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 0 | ||||
| York City | 2008–09[34] | Conference Premier | 21 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 25 | 2 | ||
| Altrincham (loan) | 2008–09[35] | Conference Premier | 9 | 0 | — | — | — | 9 | 0 | ||||
| Tamworth | 2010–11[36] | Conference Premier | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 31 | 2 | ||
| Boston United | 2011–12[37] | Conference North | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 82 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 93 | 4 | |||