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Pat McGibbon

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Name: Patrick Colm McGibbon
Born: 6 September 1973, Lurgan
Height: 6.02 ft
Weight: 12.11 st
Position: Centre-Back

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 7 Full Caps (1995-2000), 5 B Caps (1994-1999), 1 Under-21 Cap (1994), Under-18 School.
Club Honours: (with Wigan) Football League Division Three Champion 1996/97; Football League Trophy Winner 1998/99; (with Glentoran) Irish League Champion 2004/05.

Club Career:
Clubs
Seasons
Signed
Fee
League
FA.Cup
FL.Cup
Europe
Others
Portadown
91/92
-
Youth
0 (1)/ 0
-
-
-
-
Manchester U.
92/93-96/97
Aug-92
£100,000
0 (0)/ 0
-
1(0)/0
-
-
Swansea City
96/97
Sep-96
Loan
1 (0)/ 0
-
-
-
-
Wigan Athletic
96/97
Mar-97
Loan
10 (0)/ 1
-
-
-
-
Wigan Athletic
07/98-01/02
Aug-97
£250,000
153(10)/11
9(1)/0
11(1)/0
-
18(0)/0
Scunthorpe.Utd
01/02
Feb-02
Loan
6 (0)/ 0
-
-
-
-
Tranmere Rvrs
02/03
Aug-02
Free
4 (0)/ 0
-
-
-
-
Portadown
02/03-03/04
Aug-02
Free
?? (?)/ 4
-
-
2(0)/0
-
Glentoran
04/05-05/06
Jul-04
Free
21 (3)/ 1
-
-
4(0)/0
-
Lurgan Celtic
06/07-08/09
Aug-07
Free
-
-
-
-
-
TOTALS
£350,000
195(14)/17
9(1)/0
12(1)/0
6(0)/0
18(0)/0

Biography:
With a total of five appearances, Pat McGibbon is Northern Ireland's most capped player at 'B' International level. That statement perhaps neatly sums up McGibbons playing career - the Nearly Man!

McGibbon began his career at Portadown, where he made a single substitute appearance during the closing weeks of the 1991/92 season (in a 1-0 defeat by Glentoran) and also picked up Schoolboy caps. Something clearly impressed the Manchester United scouts as in August 1992 they forked out £100,000 for the eighteen year-old McGibbon. He joined the rest of "Fergie's Fledgelings", such as David Beckham and Paul Scholes, coming through the ranks at Old Trafford, and picked up Pontins Central League titles with United's Reserves in 1994 and 1996.

Described as a "promising young central defender who looks cool and assured on the ball and commanding in the air" by the PFA Footballers Factfile, he was even tipped as the "next Gary Pallister". McGibbon made just one first-team appearance for Manchester United, and it was a complete disaster! In September 1995 United met Second Division York City in the League Cup and found themselves on the end of a 3-0 hammering. What made it worse was that McGibbon had given away a penalty and been red-carded in the process.

First called into the Northern Ireland squad by Billy Bingham in September 1993, McGibbon made his international début under Bryan Hamilton in May 1995 during the Canada Cup. By the time of his United début he had already been awarded three caps (adding a fourth a month later) together with two 'B' caps and one at Under-21 level, and could consider himself an established member of Bryan Hamilton's squad. However, he quickly began to drop out of the international reckoning as his long-term prospects at Old Trafford diminished.

In the 1996/97 season McGibbon spent loan spells at Swansea City but then suffered a serious knee injury in training. After five months out he joined Wigan Athletic on loan. It was the time he spent at Springfield Park that seemed to be the turning point of his career, as he played ten games and scored a header which guaranteed promotion in a 1-0 win over Colchester, and eventually helped seal the Third Division title. So impressive were his performances that McGibbon was signed permanently for £250,000 (a fee which eventually rose to £380,000) in the summer of 1997.

In his first few months with Wigan, McGibbon added a further two caps to his total, but they were to be his last for over two years as he was ignored throughout Lawrie McMenemy's reign, for all but a single 'B' match with Wales. In February 2000 McGibbon was recalled to the international fold as Sammy McIlroy cut a swathe through the jaded Northern Ireland squad, but ultimately McGibbon's contribution to this new era was to be limited to a single last-minute substitute appearance. In all, Pat McGibbon won seven Full caps in a stop-start five year international career.

By September 2001, having been a regular in the Wigan starting eleven since his arrival, McGibbon suprisingly had a transfer-request granted by the club, and the following February he joined Scunthorpe on loan with a view to a permanent deal. After six appearances, during which Scunthorpe never lost a game, McGibbon returned to Wigan having been unable to agree personal terms, but was released that summer.

Signed by former Latics manager Ray Mathias on a short-term contract for Tranmere, McGibbon failed to impress and drifted back across the Irish Sea to re-sign for Portadown in August 2002. After two seasons at Shamrock Park, McGibbon signed for Glentoran, where he picked up an Irish League title in 2005. He left the Oval in somewhat odd circumstances in March 2006. A club statement announced that he was retiring from the game, but while he had suffered a number of injuries that season, the man himself went on record with criticisms of the Glens’ board noting deeper reasons for his departure!

On his return to part-time football, Pat McGibbon worked as physiotherapist with a practice in Portadown having qualified during his playing days. A holder of UEFA Pro coaching license, he was player-manager at Lurgan Celtic from his "retirement" in 2006 until January 2009 when appointed assistant-manager at Monaghan United. In February 2011 he took over as manager at struggling Newry City, but stepped down from the role in July 2012. That November he was appointed first-team coach at Dungannon Swifts, but left at the end of the season. He has since coached youth teams and worked with mental health initiatives in his native Lurgan.

McGibbon became linked with a number of managerial posts in the autumn of 2015 with Glentoran and Derry City both seeking new managers. In November he was appointed as physio at Portadown, before taking over as interim-manager following Ronnie McFall's resignation in March 2016. That summer he was given the job permanently on a two-year contract, but as the club lurched from administrative crisis to crisis he resigned in October.

Northern Ireland Cap Details:
22-05-1995 Canada....... A L 0-2 FR. sub
25-05-1995 Chile........ N L 1-2 FR
07-06-1995 Latvia....... H L 1-2 ECQ
11-10-1995 Liechtenstein A W 4-0 ECQ sub
21-05-1997 Thailand..... A D 0-0 FR
10-09-1997 Albania...... A L 0-1 WCQ
23-02-2000 Luxemburg.... A W 3-1 FR

 Summary: 4(3)/0. Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 4.

Northern Ireland B Cap Details:
10-05-1994 England...... A L 2-4
21-02-1995 Scotland..... A L 0-3
26-03-1996 Norway....... H W 3-0
28-03-1997 Portugal..... H W 2-0
09-02-1999 Wales........ A L 0-1

 Summary: 5/0. Won 2, Drew 0, Lost 3.

Northern Ireland Under-21 Cap Details:
22-03-1994 Romania...... H D 0-0 FR

 Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 1, Lost 0.
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