Colin John Gibson (born 6 April 1960) 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 lea ...

. He was an attacking

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

who could also play in midfield. In a 17-year career, he scored 34 goals in 448 league and cup appearances and also won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for the England under-21 and England B teams. Gibson started his career at Aston Villa in 1978 and made around 200 appearances for the club in seven years, as well as winning the First Division title, the European Cup and the European Super Cup. He moved on to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in 1985, and during his five years at United he played 79 league games. He signed with Leicester City in 1990, after a short

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

at Port Vale. After four years with the "Foxes" in which he helped the club to win promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

via the play-offs in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, he transferred to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, before finishing his career by winning promotion out of the Third Division with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in 1995.

Club career

Aston Villa

Born in Bridport, Dorset, Gibson started his career as a

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

scholar at Aston Villa in July 1976 and turned professional after he played in the 1978 FA Youth Cup defeat to Crystal Palace. After making his debut against Bristol City on 18 November 1978, he broke into the first-team in a Ron Saunders side narrowly missing out on European qualification in 1978–79 and 1979–80. He faced competition from Gary Williams, Mike Pejic, and Eamonn Deacy for the left-back spot. He went on to make 21 appearances in the 1980–81 season, as the "Villans" were crowned First Division champions. He then played at Wembley in the

1981 FA Charity Shield The 1981 FA Charity Shield was the 59th FA Community Shield, FA Charity Shield, an annual association football, football match played between the winners of the previous season's The Football League, Football League and FA Cup competitions. The ma ...

, as Villa shared the trophy after a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. In the 1981–82 campaign, he featured in both legs of the European Cup wins over

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ers Valur and German side Berliner FC Dynamo, but remained on the bench for the 1982 European Cup final victory over Bayern Munich at

De Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

. He took the trophy out on a night of drinking with Gordon Cowans and lost it before it was returned to him the following day by police officers. Gibson featured in both legs of Villa's 1982 European Super Cup victory over

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, as Villa overturned a 1–0 defeat at the Camp Nou to claim an

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

victory at

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

. Tony Barton's side went on to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 1982–83, where they were knocked out by a

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

side fronted by Michel Platini. This was the end of the club's glory years, as they could only manage tenth-place league finishes in 1983–84 and 1984–85. Villa manager Graham Turner allowed Gibson to be transferred to

in November 1985 for a fee of £275,000.

Manchester United

Gibson scored five goals in 22 games in the 1985–86 campaign, scoring his first goal for United in a 1–0 New Year's Day victory over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

at Old Trafford. He also scored goals against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

at home and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

at Anfield, earning United a draw on both occasions. He played 26 games in the 1986–87 season, as an under-performing United side cost manager

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

his job. Gibson made 33 starts in the 1987–88 season, as the "Red Devils" finished second in the league behind Liverpool. After the season ended he was rarely involved in first-team games due to manager

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

's decision to field Lee Martin as left-back. He was also beset with injury problems, which kept him out of action for protracted periods. He played three first-team games in the entire 1988–89 season. By the end of the 1989–90 season, he was fit and had appeared in the first FA Cup semi-final against Oldham Athletic. In September 1990, he joined Second Division club Port Vale on

, scoring on his debut at left-back in a 3–2 defeat by Hull City at Boothferry Park on 29 September. He left Vale Park and returned to Manchester the next month after a further five games for John Rudge's "Valiants".

Leicester City

He left United for

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English association football, football player turned manager (association football), manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He ...

's Leicester City in December 1990 for £100,000. He did well at Filbert Street, helping the "Foxes" to avoid relegation from the Second Division in 1990–91 under

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

Gordon Lee. He then played his part in the revival under new manager Brian Little. City finished fourth in 1991–92, before losing 1–0 to Blackburn Rovers in the play-off final. They again suffered heartbreak in 1992–93, reaching the play-off final again, only to lose 4–3 to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

(Gibson was an unused substitute). A third consecutive play-off final appearance came at the end of the 1993–94 campaign, and this time Leicester won promotion with a 2–1 victory over Derby County as Gibson played the game as a central midfielder. During his time at City he became the first substitute to be substituted, and the first substitute to be sent off.

Blackpool to Walsall

Gibson never featured for Leicester in the

, however, and instead signed for

. He played just two Second Division games for Sam Allardyce's "Seasiders" at the start of the 1994–95 season, before departing Bloomfield Road for Third Division club

. He played 33 league games to help

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (12 October 1946 – 24 February 2024) was a professional footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. A centre-back, Nicholl began his playing career at Burnley, but moved to Witton Albion after failing to br ...

's "Saddlers" to win promotion as the division's runners-up in 1994–95. He then departed the Bescot Stadium and retired from the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

International career

Gibson won one

for the England under-21s on 8 September 1981, in a 0–0 draw with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He also won one cap for the England B team on 13 November 1984, in a 2–0 win over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at the City Ground.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Aston Villa * FA Youth Cup runner-up: 1978 *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1980–81 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

(shared) * European Cup: 1981–82 * European Super Cup: 1982 Leicester City *

play-offs:

Walsall *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

second-place promotion: 1994–95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Colin 1960 births Living people People from Bridport Footballers from Dorset English men's footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Aston Villa F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Walsall F.C. players English Football League players UEFA Champions League–winning players