John Gidman (born 10 January 1954) is an English former

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 ...

who played for Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City, Stoke City and Darlington. Gidman was a product of the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Aston Villa academies.

Career

Gidman played for the

youth team without ever playing for their first team, before he joined Aston Villa in 1971, playing in his first season in their youth side that won the 1972 FA Youth Cup, beating his former side Liverpool in the final. He was later a member of the 1977

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winning side. In August 1979 Gidman demanded better terms, despite two years remaining on his existing contract;

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...

agreed that he could leave the club. He was subsequently signed by Everton for £650,000 in a deal which saw midfielder

Pat Heard Pat Heard (born 17 March 1960 in Hull) is an English retired football midfielder and left-back. He was a member of Villa’s history-making ‘82 squad. Early life and youth career In the mid-70s, Heard attended Malet Lambert High School and ...

move the other way at a valuation of £100,000. Gidman then became Manchester United's new manager

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

's first signing as he moved to United in 1981 as part of a £450,000 swap deal, with Mickey Thomas moving to Everton. He helped United win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 1985. After scoring 4 goals in 120 appearances for United (including 4 substitute appearances), he left the club for rivals Manchester City in 1986. During his two seasons at City, the club was relegated to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He then moved to Stoke City and Darlington, and retired after seeing his final club relegated to 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 1989. Gidman made his solitary

appearance Appearance may refer to: * Visual appearance, the way in which objects reflect and transmit light * Human physical appearance, what someone looks like * ''Appearances'' (film), a 1921 film directed by Donald Crisp * Appearance (philosophy), or p ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in March 1977 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the FA Charity Shield,

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

, Screen Sport Super Cup,

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

and

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

International

Source:

References

External links

Profile at football-england.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gidman, John 1954 births Living people Men's association football defenders English footballers England men's under-23 international footballers England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers Liverpool F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Everton F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool English Football League players FA Cup final players