Ben Wilson (footballer, born 1992)

Not to be confused with Ben Wilson (footballer, born 2001).

Ben Wilson

Wilson in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Ben Wilson [1]
Date of birth	(1992-08-09) 9 August 1992 (age 31) [2]
Place of birth	Stanley, England
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) [2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Coventry City
Number	13
Youth career
2006–2011	Sunderland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2013	Sunderland	0	(0)
2011	→ Harrogate Town (loan)	3	(0)
2012	→ Gateshead (loan)	0	(0)
2012–2013	→ Chesterfield (loan)	0	(0)
2013	Cambridge United	0	(0)
2013	Accrington Stanley	0	(0)
2014–2018	Cardiff City	3	(0)
2015	→ AFC Wimbledon (loan)	8	(0)
2017	→ Rochdale (loan)	8	(0)
2017–2018	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	5	(0)
2018	→ Telford United (loan)	17	(0)
2018–2019	Bradford City	4	(0)
2019–	Coventry City	93	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13:15, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Ben Wilson (born 9 August 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship 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. ^[26]

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. ^[27] Subsequently, in Marosi's absence, he went on to start Coventry's next five matches. ^[28]

Wilson ended the 2020–21 season as The Sky Blues' first choice keeper. However following the arrival of Simon Moore ^[29] 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 ^[30]

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. ^[31] 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. ^[32] 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

As of match played on 1 March 2024 ^[33]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Harrogate Town (loan)	2011–12 [33]	Conference North	3	0	0	0	—		—		3	0
Gateshead (loan)	2011–12 [34]	Conference Premier	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
Chesterfield (loan)	2012–13 [35]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Cambridge United	2013–14 [36]	Conference Premier	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Accrington Stanley	2013–14 [36]	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	1	0
Cardiff City	2014–15 [37]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2015–16 [38]	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	2016–17 [39]	Championship	3	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
AFC Wimbledon (loan)	2015–16 [38]	League Two	8	0	1	0	0	0	—		9	0
Rochdale (loan)	2016–17 [39]	League One	8	0	0	0	0	0	—		8	0
Oldham Athletic (loan)	2017–18 [40]	League One	5	0	0	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	7	0
AFC Telford United (loan)	2017–18 [40]	National League North	17	0	0	0	—		—		17	0
Bradford City	2018–19 [41]	League One	4	0	1	0	1	0	—		6	0
Coventry City	2019–20 [26]	League One	0	0	1	0	2	0	4 [lower-alpha 2]	0	7	0
	2020–21 [28]	Championship	27	0	1	0	0	0	—		28	0
	2021–22 [42]	Championship	5	0	1	0	1	0	—		7	0
	2022–23 [43]	Championship	43	1	0	0	1	0	3 [lower-alpha 3]	0	47	1
	2023–24 [44]	Championship	18	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	22	0
	Total		93	1	7	0	4	0	7	0	111	1
Career total			142	1	9	0	7	0	9	0	167	1

1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
2. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
3. Appearance in 2023 English Football League play-offs

Honours

Individual

• EFL Championship Golden Glove: 2022–23 ^[45]
• EFL Championship Team of the Season: 2022–23 ^[46]

References

1. "The Football League Limited: Club list of registered players as at 16th May 2015" (PDF). The Football League. 16 May 2015. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
2. "Ben Wilson". 11v11. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
3. "Harrogate Town sign goalkeeper Ben Wilson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
4. "Gateshead sign Sunderland goalkeeper Ben Wilson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
5. "Chesterfield sign Chris Atkinson & Ben Wilson on loan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
6. "Ben Wilson: Cambridge United sign ex-Sunderland keeper". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
7. "Accrington Stanley sign keeper Ben Wilson on short-term deal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
8. "Crewe 1–0 Accrington". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
9. "Ben Wilson Leaves Club". Accrington Stanley. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
10. "Cardiff City: McNaughton, Maynard and Gabbidon to leave". BBC Sport. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
11. "COC1 Report: Cardiff 1–0 AFC Wimbledon". Cardiff City FC. 11 August 2015. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
12. "Neal swoops for keeper". AFC Wimbledon. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
13. "Dons earn thrilling win". AFC Wimbledon. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
14. "AFC Wimbledon 1-2 Stevenage". BBC Sport. 12 December 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
15. "AFC Wimbledon star Ben Wilson calls fans c***s before leaving club". Metro. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
16. "Cardiff goalkeeper Ben Wilson calls AFC Wimbledon fans 'c****' before ending loan spell at Kingsmeadow". Mirror. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
17. "Ben Goes Back to Cardiff". AFC Wimbledon. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
18. "Cardiff City 0–1 Reading". BBC Sport. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
19. "Murphy sings, Amos Interview, Wilson new contract". Cardiff City Official Site. 2 September 2016. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
20. "Ben Wilson: Rochdale sign Cardiff City goalkeeper on loan". BBC Sport. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
21. "Ben Wilson joins Oldham on loan". 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
22. Joe Edwards (31 January 2017). "AFC Telford sign Amari Morgan-Smith and Ben Wilson". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
23. "Bradford City: Goalkeeper Ben Wilson joins League One club". BBC Sport. 28 July 2018.
24. Simon Parker (7 May 2019). "Bradford City announce retained list". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
25. "Ben Wilson: Coventry City to sign Bradford City goalkeeper on three-year deal". BBC Sport. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
26. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
27. "Coventry City 1-0 Cardiff City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
28. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
29. "TRANSFER: Simon Moore joins Coventry City!". www.ccfc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
30. "REPORT: West Brom 0-0 Sky Blues". www.ccfc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
31. "Ben Wilson: Coventry City goalkeeper signs new deal until 2025". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
32. "Coventry keeper earns last-gasp draw at Blackburn". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
33. Ben Wilson at Soccerway
34. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
35. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
36. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
37. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
38. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
39. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
40. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
41. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
42. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
43. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
44. "Games played by Ben Wilson in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
45. "A look at the Sky Bet EFL Golden Boot and Golden Glove winners". English Football League . 12 May 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
46. "EFL Team of the Season line-ups revealed". English Football League. 23 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.

External links

• Ben Wilson at Soccerbase