Colin John Gibson (born 6 April 1960) is an English former footballer. He was an attacking left back who could also play in midfield. In a 17-year career, he scored 34 goals in 448 league and cup appearances and also won caps 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 and the European Cup. He played in the Villa team that beat Barcelona 3–0 at Villa Park to win the 1982 European Super Cup.
He moved on to Manchester United 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 at Port Vale. After four years with the "Foxes" in which he helped the club to win promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 1994, he transferred to Blackpool, before finishing his career by winning promotion out of the Third Division with Walsall in 1995.
Club career
Aston Villa
Born in Bridport, Dorset, Gibson started his career as a YTS apprentice 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, as Villa shared the trophy after a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
Gibson featured in both legs of Villa's 1982 European Super Cup victory over Barcelona, as Villa overturned a 1–0 defeat at the Camp Nou to claim an extra time victory at Villa Park. 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 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 Manchester United 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 at Old Trafford. He also scored goals against Manchester City at home and Liverpool 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 his job. He left Vale Park and returned to Manchester the next month after a further five games for John Rudge's "Valiants". He did well at Filbert Street, helping the "Foxes" to avoid relegation from the Second Division in 1990–91 under caretaker manager 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 (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. He also won one cap for the England B team on 13 November 1984, in a 2–0 win over New Zealand at the City Ground.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="9"|Aston Villa
|1978–79
|First Division
|12||0||0||0||0||0||12||0
|-
|1979–80
|First Division
|31||2||6||0||3||0||40||2
|-
|1980–81
|First Division
|21||0||0||0||3||0||24||0
|-
|1981–82
|First Division
|23||0||2||0||11||0||36||0
|-
|1982–83
|First Division
|23||1||3||1||7||0||33||2
|-
|1983–84
|First Division
|28||1||0||0||11||4||39||5
|-
|1984–85
|First Division
|40||4||1||0||3||2||44||6
|-
|1985–86
|First Division
|7||2||0||0||3||0||10||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!185!!10!!12!!1!!41!!6!!238!!17
|-
|rowspan="6"|Manchester United
|1985–86
|First Division
|18||5||4||0||2||1||24||6
|-
|1986–87
|First Division
|24||1||1||0||1||0||26||1
|-
|1987–88
|First Division
|29||2||2||0||5||0||36||2
|-
|1988–89
|First Division
|2||0||0||0||1||0||3||0
|-
|1989–90
|First Division
|6||1||2||0||0||0||8||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!79!!9!!9!!0!!9!!1!!97!!10
|-
|Port Vale (loan)
|1990–91
|Second Division
|6||2||0||0||0||0||6||2
|-
|rowspan="5"|Leicester City
|1990–91
|Second Division
|18||1||1||0||0||0||19||0
|-
|1991–92
|Second Division
|17||3||0||0||6||0||23||3
|-
|1992–93
|Second Division
|9||0||1||0||2||0||12||0
|-
|1993–94
|Second Division
|15||0||0||0||4||0||19||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!59!!4!!2!!0!!12!!0!!73!!4
|-
|Blackpool
|1994–95
|Second Division
|2||0||0||0||2||0||4||0
|-
|Walsall
|1994–95
|Third Division
|33||0||5||0||2||1||40||1
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!364!!25!!28!!1!!66!!8!!448!!34
|}
Honours
Aston Villa
- FA Youth Cup runner-up: 1978
- Football League First Division: 1980–81
- FA Charity Shield: 1981 (shared)
- European Cup: 1981–82
- European Super Cup: 1982
Leicester City
- Football League First Division play-offs: 1994
Walsall
- Football League Third Division second-place promotion: 1994–95.