Alistair Benjamin Wilkinson (born 25 April 1987), better known as Ben Wilkinson, is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and is currently working at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

's academy. He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

, Gretna,

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

, Chester City, Tamworth and

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

Playing career

Early career

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, Wilkinson is the son of former player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

. He played with the youth teams of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

, becoming a scholar with the latter in May 2003. He joined

in January 2005, where he completed his scholarship. He signed a two-year professional contract with Hull in the summer of 2006. He joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

on 9 December 2006 on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

, where he made five appearances before returning to Hull in January 2007. Wilkinson went on

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

with

of the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

in January 2008, in which he scored two goals in a

reserve-team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

match against Sheffield United. On 31 January 2008, he joined Gretna of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season. He made his debut in a 2–0

away Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a 2016 British film * ''Away'' (2019 film), a 2019 animated silent film * ''Away'' (TV series), a 2020 science fiction drama on Netflix Literature * ''Away'' (play), a 1986 play by M ...

defeat against Heart of Midlothian on 9 February 2008 and made 13 appearances for the club.

York City

He joined Conference Premier club York City on 10 June 2008 on a two-year contract. His debut came in a 1–0

win against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on 9 August 2008. He scored his first goal in a 3–1 defeat

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on 7 October 2008. On 26 March 2009, Wilkinson joined York's Conference Premier rivals

on loan until the end of 2008–09. He made his debut two days later, coming on as a 90th-minute substitute in a 2–2

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

draw with Crawley Town, and started in the subsequent match, a 1–0

defeat to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

. He finished the spell with nine appearances. He left York on 2 July 2009 after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.

Chester City

Wilkinson signed for newly relegated Conference Premier club Chester City on 9 July 2009. Wilkinson scored in the first minute of his debut against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

on 15 August 2009, but Chester lost 4–2. He made 28 appearances for Chester in 2009–10, although these were expunged from the records after Chester were expelled from the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

in March 2010. He left the club following their liquidation on 10 March 2010 and in April went on trial with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, playing in reserve-team matches against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Tamworth

Wilkinson signed for Conference Premier club Tamworth on 26 August 2010 following a trial. His first goal came in a 1–0

win over

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

, with a shot into the bottom corner from six yards from

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...

' pass on 30 minutes. Wilkinson scored a goal against York in a 2–1

win on 16 April 2011 to help Tamworth fight

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Boston United

Wilkinson signed for Conference North club

on 30 July 2011 after a trial, having been set to follow former Tamworth players Aaron Mitchell and Jason Bradley to

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

. 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. He left Boston on 7 November 2011 after making 10 appearances for the club.

Coaching career

By November 2013, Wilkinson had taken on the position of youth development phase coach at Sheffield Wednesday. He joined

’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.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Ben 1987 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English footballers Men's association football midfielders Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Gretna F.C. players York City F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Boston United F.C. players National League (English football) players Scottish Premier League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Manchester City F.C. non-playing staff