Ben Wilson (footballer, born 1992) explained

Ben Wilson
Full Name:Ben Wilson[1]
Birth Date:1992 8, df=y[2]
Birth Place:Stanley, England
Height:1.86 m
Position:Goalkeeper
Currentclub:Coventry City
Clubnumber:13
Youthyears1:2006–2011
Youthclubs1:Sunderland
Years1:2011–2013
Clubs1:Sunderland
Caps1:0
Goals1:0
Years2:2011
Clubs2:Harrogate Town (loan)
Caps2:3
Goals2:0
Years3:2012
Clubs3:Gateshead (loan)
Caps3:0
Goals3:0
Years4:2012–2013
Clubs4:Chesterfield (loan)
Caps4:0
Goals4:0
Years5:2013
Clubs5:Cambridge United
Caps5:0
Goals5:0
Years6:2013
Clubs6:Accrington Stanley
Caps6:0
Goals6:0
Years7:2014–2018
Clubs7:Cardiff City
Caps7:3
Goals7:0
Years8:2015
Clubs8:AFC Wimbledon (loan)
Caps8:8
Goals8:0
Years9:2017
Clubs9:Rochdale (loan)
Caps9:8
Goals9:0
Years10:2017–2018
Clubs10:Oldham Athletic (loan)
Caps10:5
Goals10:0
Years11:2018
Clubs11:Telford United (loan)
Caps11:17
Goals11:0
Years12:2018–2019
Clubs12:Bradford City
Caps12:4
Goals12:0
Years13:2019–
Clubs13:Coventry City
Caps13:93
Goals13:1
Club-Update:13:15, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Ben Wilson (born 9 August 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Coventry City.

Career

Early career

Wilson began his career with Sunderland in 2006, earning a professional contract in 2010. He was sent on loan to Harrogate Town in 2013, playing three times.[3]

Wilson was sent out on loan to Gateshead and Chesterfield, failing to make an appearance for either and was released by Sunderland in the summer of 2013.[4] [5]

After leaving Sunderland, Wilson joined Cambridge United on a non-contract basis on 9 August 2013.[6] He joined Accrington Stanley on 27 August 2013, and made his professional debut on 3 September 2013 in a 1–0 defeat against Crewe Alexandra in the Football League Trophy.[7] [8]

Wilson left Stanley after a single Football League Trophy appearance for the side in November 2013; his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[9]

Cardiff City

Wilson joined Cardiff City in the same month. On 7 July 2014, he played 10 minutes as a midfielder, against Carmarthen Town in a friendly. he featured on the bench several times during the 2014–15 season as well as making a number of under-21 appearances. The following season, Wilson signed a new contract, keeping him in South Wales until 2017.[10] He made his Cardiff debut against AFC Wimbledon on 11 August 2015, in the League Cup.[11]

Two months later, Wilson joined AFC Wimbledon on an emergency one-month loan deal. Wilson was signed as a short-term replacement for the injured first choice keeper James Shea. He made his Wimbledon debut on the same day he was signed in a 4–3 League Two away win against Accrington Stanley.[12] [13] However, having let in a goal from a speculative long free-kick taken by Jerome Okimo from inside his own half during a 2–1 defeat to Stevenage,[14] Wilson became embroiled in a social media row with Wimbledon supporters after they criticised his performance on the website Twitter. Wilson responded to some messages of criticism by posting "you're still paying to watch me every week and helping towards my wage, I'm laughing and you're losing out".[15] [16] As a result, his loan spell was terminated early by Wimbledon on 14 December 2015.[17]

His league debut for Cardiff City came on 27 August 2016, where he played in a 1–0 loss to Reading, after signing a two-year contract extension.[18] [19] Having not made an appearance for Cardiff since September 2016, Wilson then joined League One side Rochdale on loan for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.[20]

At the start of the following season, Wilson joined Oldham Athletic on loan until 1 January 2018.[21] On 31 January 2018, he was then loaned to non-league Telford United, making 17 league appearances.[22]

Bradford City

Wilson signed for Bradford City in July 2018.[23] In May 2019, following Bradford City's relegation to League Two, it was announced that he would leave the club upon the expiry of his contract on 30 June 2019. He was one of eleven players to be released.[24]

Coventry City

In May 2019, Wilson agreed a three-year deal with Coventry City, which began in July 2019.[25] He spent the 2019–20 season acting as back-up to first-choice goalkeeper Marko Marosi, and was limited to playing in cup competitions.

He began the 2020–21 season in the same role, but made his league debut for the club as a late substitute in a 1–0 win at Cardiff, due to an injury to Marosi.[26] Subsequently, in Marosi's absence, he went on to start Coventry's next five matches.

Wilson ended the 2020–21 season as The Sky Blues' first choice keeper. However following the arrival of Simon Moore[27] ahead of the 2021–22 season, Wilson reverted to the role of substitute keeper as the club mounted a play-off push over the course of the campaign. Wilson did however play the final three matches of the season and in the first of which he saved a last minute penalty to ensure a point and a 0–0 draw in an away match with West Bromwich Albion[28]

After Moore made several costly errors in the first three matches of the 2022–23 season, Wilson regained his starting berth and played in every league match after. On 20 January 2023, Wilson signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract keeping him at the club until 2025.[29] On 19 April 2023, he scored a 95th minute equaliser from a corner to secure a 1–1 away draw against fellow play-off rivals Blackburn Rovers, becoming the first Sky Blues keeper to score a goal from open play since club legend Steve Ogrizovic in 1986.[30] Wilson ended the campaign with a EFL Golden Glove-winning 20 clean sheets in 43 league starts, adding two more shut-outs in the Championship playoffs, and was named to the Championship Team of the Season.

Following a strong previous campaign Wilson began the 2023–24 season as the club's first choice goalkeeper, however he eventually lost his place in the side to summer arrival Brad Collins and reverted to substitute keeper.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Harrogate Town (loan)2011–12Conference North300030
Gateshead (loan)2011–12Conference Premier000000
Chesterfield (loan)2012–13League Two00000000
Cambridge United2013–14Conference Premier00000000
Accrington Stanley2013–14League Two0000001010
Cardiff City2014–15Championship00000000
2015–16Championship00001010
2016–17Championship30000000
Total3000100040
AFC Wimbledon (loan)2015–16League Two80100090
Rochdale (loan)2016–17League One80000080
Oldham Athletic (loan)2017–18League One5000101070
AFC Telford United (loan)2017–18National League North17000170
Bradford City2018–19League One40101060
Coventry City2019–20League One0010204070
2020–21Championship2701000280
2021–22Championship50101070
2022–23Championship431001030471
2023–24Championship180400000220
2024–25Championship0000100010
Total9317050701121
Career total14219080901681

Honours

Individual

Notes and References

  1. News: The Football League Limited: Club list of registered players as at 16th May 2015 . The Football League . 13 . 16 May 2015 . 1 December 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053003/http://www.football-league.co.uk/documents/pages-from-fl-professional-retain-list-free-transfers-2014-15-2.pdf-...549-2491536.pdf . 4 March 2016 . dead .
  2. Web site: Ben Wilson. 11v11 . 1 December 2015.
  3. News: Harrogate Town sign goalkeeper Ben Wilson. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  4. News: Gateshead sign Sunderland goalkeeper Ben Wilson. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  5. News: Chesterfield sign Chris Atkinson & Ben Wilson on loan. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  6. News: Ben Wilson: Cambridge United sign ex-Sunderland keeper. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  7. News: Accrington Stanley sign keeper Ben Wilson on short-term deal. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  8. News: Crewe 1–0 Accrington. BBC Sport. 5 September 2013.
  9. Web site: Ben Wilson Leaves Club. Accrington Stanley. 7 January 2014.
  10. News: Cardiff City: McNaughton, Maynard and Gabbidon to leave . BBC Sport . 5 May 2015 . 5 May 2015.
  11. News: COC1 Report: Cardiff 1–0 AFC Wimbledon. Cardiff City FC. 11 August 2015. 21 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151227134535/http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/match-report/index.aspx?matchid=3838650. 27 December 2015. dead.
  12. News: Neal swoops for keeper. AFC Wimbledon . 20 October 2015. 21 October 2015.
  13. News: Dons earn thrilling win. AFC Wimbledon . 20 October 2015. 21 October 2015.
  14. Web site: AFC Wimbledon 1-2 Stevenage . BBC Sport . 12 December 2015 . 9 May 2016.
  15. Web site: AFC Wimbledon star Ben Wilson calls fans c***s before leaving club . Metro . 15 December 2015 . 9 May 2016.
  16. Web site: Cardiff goalkeeper Ben Wilson calls AFC Wimbledon fans 'c****' before ending loan spell at Kingsmeadow . Mirror . 14 December 2015 . 9 May 2016.
  17. News: Ben Goes Back to Cardiff. AFC Wimbledon . 14 December 2015. 14 December 2015.
  18. News: Cardiff City 0–1 Reading . BBC Sport . 27 August 2016 . 27 August 2016.
  19. News: Murphy sings, Amos Interview, Wilson new contract . Cardiff City Official Site . 2 September 2016 . 2 September 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160903230857/http://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/deadline-day-brian-murphy-signs-3284652.aspx . 3 September 2016 . dead .
  20. Web site: Ben Wilson: Rochdale sign Cardiff City goalkeeper on loan . BBC Sport . 31 January 2017 . 1 February 2017.
  21. Web site: Ben Wilson joins Oldham on loan . 4 August 2017 . 4 August 2017.
  22. Web site: AFC Telford sign Amari Morgan-Smith and Ben Wilson . Shropshire Star . Joe Edwards . 31 January 2017 . 2 February 2018.
  23. Web site: Bradford City: Goalkeeper Ben Wilson joins League One club. 28 July 2018. BBC Sport.
  24. Web site: Bradford City announce retained list. 7 May 2019. 7 May 2019. Simon Parker. Telegraph & Argus.
  25. News: 23 May 2019 . Ben Wilson: Coventry City to sign Bradford City goalkeeper on three-year deal . BBC Sport . 2 June 2019.
  26. News: Coventry City 1-0 Cardiff City. en-GB. BBC Sport. 7 December 2020.
  27. Web site: TRANSFER: Simon Moore joins Coventry City! . 20 June 2022 . www.ccfc.co.uk . en-gb.
  28. Web site: REPORT: West Brom 0-0 Sky Blues . 20 June 2022 . www.ccfc.co.uk . en-gb.
  29. News: Ben Wilson: Coventry City goalkeeper signs new deal until 2025 . BBC Sport . 20 January 2023.
  30. News: Coventry keeper earns last-gasp draw at Blackburn . BBC Sport . 19 April 2023.
  31. Web site: 12 May 2023 . A look at the Sky Bet EFL Golden Boot and Golden Glove winners . 5 August 2023 . .
  32. Web site: 23 April 2023 . EFL Team of the Season line-ups revealed . 24 April 2023 . English Football League.