Ben Gibson to fittingly reach career milestone at Middlesbrough stirring up nostalgic memories
Ben Gibson will reach a career milestone when he plays against Boro for Stoke City today
The next time Ben Gibson plays it will mark the career milestone of 400 club games. Almost certain to play for Stoke City against Middlesbrough this afternoon, it feels rather fitting he’ll achieve that feat at the Riverside.
Coming through the Boro academy, Gibson was a huge part of the last Boro squad to achieve promotion to the Premier League, later earning an ill-fated move to Burnley. He would eventually find himself at Norwich City where another promotion was added to his CV before he joined Stoke City this summer as his Canaries deal came to an end.
Of his 399 club games to date, more than half (203) came for boyhood club Boro. As he gets set for his latest Teesside return, and one which carries even more personal significance than usual for him given the appearance milestone, it stirred some nostalgic memories for the 31-year-old.
Asked if he ever imagined he’d make it 400, Gibson told our sister site Stoke Live: “You don’t ever think about it. I remember being at Middlesbrough as a kid and I would have snapped your hand off to play one game for them. That was my dream.
“Some people say they knew they were going to be a top league player but until you’ve done it you don’t know. I was comparing myself to players who had gone through the academy before, like Jonathan Woodgate or Stewart Downing and you could never really get a true reflection of where you were and what it really took to be a professional footballer.
“To go back there, where I’ve got amazing memories, as captain of this football club is the biggest honour for me and to reach 400 games is fantastic.”
