Ben George Liddle (born 21 September 1998) is an English 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 ...

who plays as a

central 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 club

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

. He previous played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

, in the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

for Queen of the South, and in

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

for

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before ...

Personal life

Liddle was born in 1998 in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. He is the son of former

and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Craig Liddle Craig George Liddle (born 21 October 1971 in Chester-le-Street, County Durham) is an English former professional footballer, who played in central defence. During his playing career, made more than 300 appearances in the Football League, pla ...

Club career

Middlesbrough

Liddle signed his first professional contract with

in the summer of 2016. Liddle appeared in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL ...

for the Middlesbrough U23 side in both the 2017–18 and the 2018–19 competitions, featuring in all three group matches in each. He made his

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

debut for Middlesbrough on 30 November 2019, replacing Lewis Wing in the 70th minute of a 4–0 defeat at

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 ...

. He made his first start for the club on 14 January 2020, playing 57 minutes of a 2–1 defeat away at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in 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 competit ...

. This proved to be his last game for the club.

Blyth Spartans (loan)

On 22 March 2018, he joined

National League 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 ...

side

on loan until the end of the season.

Forest Green Rovers (loan)

Liddle joined

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 Le ...

club

on 31 January 2019

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

until the end of the season. He made his debut on 12 February 2019, coming on as a substitute for Lloyd James in a 2–0 loss to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

at the County Ground.

Scunthorpe United (loan)

On 31 January 2020, Liddle joined another League Two club,

, on loan until the end of the season. The following day he made his debut in the starting eleven away to

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 com ...

, but was replaced at half-time with the score 3–0 to the hosts; the match ended 3–1. Liddle made another three appearances before the season was ended early due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bristol Rovers

On 8 October 2020, Liddle joined

for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year deal. He made his debut on 7 November, coming on in the 73rd minute of a 2–1 FA Cup victory over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

. On 6 February 2021, Liddle made his league debut, and fourth appearance in all competitions, as he started before being replaced in the 65th minute of a 0–0 draw with

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed ...

. He made one appearance in the

2021–22 EFL Cup The 2021–22 EFL Cup is the 62nd season of the EFL Cup (known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League. The winner of the competition qua ...

before joining

club Queen of the South on a season-long loan. He made 19 appearances in all competitions, and scored his first senior goal, opening the scoring in a 3–3 draw away to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

, before returning to Bristol Rovers, who released him when his contract expired at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Darlington

Having been without a club since leaving Bristol Rovers, Liddle signed for National League club

on 18 August 2022. He finished the season with six goals from 34 league appearances.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liddle, Ben 1998 births Living people Footballers from County Durham English footballers Men's association football midfielders Middlesbrough F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Darlington F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players