Darron Gibson

Manchester United

Gibson was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. A former pupil of St Columb's College, he played junior football in the Derry and District League, and then with Institute before joining Manchester United in 2004. He made his senior debut for United on 26 October 2005 in a League Cup match against Barnet, coming on as a substitute for Lee Martin. During the 2005–06 season he played regularly for Manchester United Reserves, helping them win a treble. He made 19 appearances, scoring twice. In May 2006, he won the prestigious Jimmy Murphy Award as United's youth player of the year and then played regularly for the United senior team during their pre-season summer matches, together with Dong Fangzhuo, Jonny Evans, Fraizer Campbell and Danny Simpson. Gibson was one of several United players who spent the 2006–07 season on loan at Royal Antwerp. In October 2007, he was loaned out again, this time to Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he spent the majority of the 2007–08 season. At Wolves he scored once, against Burnley on 8 December 2007. Gibson made his Premier League debut on 15 November 2008, appearing as a second-half substitute against Stoke City, before making his UEFA Champions League debut ten days later, coming on as a substitute for Darren Fletcher against Villarreal on 25 November 2008. In December 2008, he travelled with the United squad to the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, where, despite not making any appearances, he picked up a winners' medal.…

Gibson was at the centre of a dispute between the Irish Football Association (IFA) and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) over the eligibility of players born within Northern Ireland to represent the Republic of Ireland. The general principle or article 5 of FIFA's Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes states that "any person holding a permanent nationality that is not dependent on residence in a certain country is eligible to play for the representative teams of the Association of that country". Due to the constitutional position of Northern Ireland following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, citizenship of the Republic of Ireland is the undisputed birthright of every person born on the island of Ireland if they so wish, so long as at least one parent is an Irish or British citizen or, failing that, a permanent resident. As a result, Gibson was approached to represent both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at international level.

Northern Ireland

Gibson initially represented Northern Ireland at Under-16 level and was included in Victory Shield squads. However, he was dropped from the team after attending trials with Manchester United and subsequently switched allegiance to the Republic of Ireland. Before Gibson made his senior international debut for the Republic of Ireland, Nigel Worthington, the Northern Ireland manager, made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade him to switch his allegiance back.

Republic of Ireland…

Club

As of match played 19 December 2020

International

As of match played 31 May 2016

International goals

As of match played 31 May 2016. Republic of Ireland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gibson goal.

In August 2015, Gibson was charged with driving without due care and attention, driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop after a road traffic collision in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. In September 2015 he admitted to drink driving, careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident and was sentenced to a 12-month community order and banned from driving for 20 months. In March 2018, Sunderland suspended Gibson after he was arrested on suspicion of driving over the legal alcohol limit, he was given a two-year community order and was banned from driving for 40 months, two months later after pleading guilty in court and admitting he had turned to alcohol to help with dealing with the constant pain from trying to manage injuries and being away from family. The sentence was later reduced to a 27 month ban on appeal.