Benjamin Thomas Charles Gladwin (born 8 June 1992) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Gladwin has played for 12 clubs including

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

(three previous spells),

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Career

Swindon Town

Gladwin began at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

's academy, and after being released played youth football with Eldon Celtic and

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

. He began his senior career in

North Berks League The North Berks Football League is a football competition in England. The league was founded in 1908. It has a total of two divisions, with Division One sitting at level 12 of the English football league system. The vast majority of clubs are ba ...

Division One with AFC Wallingford, winning their Player of the Season award in his first campaign aged just 17. He then spent time playing for various

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

teams such as Salisbury City and Hayes & Yeading United, before moving into professional football when

signed the midfielder from Marlow in November 2013. Gladwin made his debut for Swindon on 10 December 2013, in a 1–1 draw at home to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

. His first goal for the club came the following season, in a 3–2 loss against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

in the same competition. On 14 April 2015, Gladwin scored a first-half hat-trick in a 4–2 win away to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. On 11 May 2015, Gladwin scored twice in Swindon's 5–5 draw with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in the

Football League play-offs The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-offs, play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic Promotion and relegation, promotion places in the second, third and four ...

, but Swindon went on to lose in the final 4–0 against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Queens Park Rangers

On 28 May 2015, Gladwin and

teammate

Massimo Luongo Massimo Corey Luongo ( ; born 25 September 1992) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defensive midfielder for the Australia national team. He is currently a free agent. Born in Sydney, Luongo played youth football for AP ...

, joined

, both players signing on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee. On 11 August 2015, Gladwin made his competitive QPR debut in a 3–0 win against Yeovil Town in the first round of the

2015–16 Football League Cup The 2015–16 Football League Cup (known as the Capital One Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 56th season of the Football League Cup. It began on 11 August 2015 and concluded on 28 February 2016. It was a knock-out competition for the top 92 fo ...

. On 10 January 2017, Gladwin moved to

for a second loan spell until the end of the season.

Blackburn Rovers

On 28 June 2017, Gladwin joined League One side

on a two-year deal. In November 2017, Gladwin suffered an injury for which he required surgery that ruled him out of play until February 2018. On 2 January 2020 he was released.

Milton Keynes Dons

Gladwin signed for

on 10 January 2020 on a short-term deal. Despite several positive performances, he was initially one of nine players released by the club after the conclusion of the 2019–20 season. However, on 28 July 2020 the club announced Gladwin had returned and re-signed ahead of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

campaign.

Swindon Town return

Gladwin returned to Swindon Town on 26 July 2021 on a free transfer signing a one-year contract. On 20 January 2022, Gladwin signed a new contract to keep him at the club beyond the end of the season.

Crawley Town

On 27 January 2023, Gladwin signed for

for an undisclosed fee on an eighteen-month contract. After helping Crawley win promotion in the 2023-24 season, Gladwin retired from playing, citing his ongoing knee issues, and joined the club's coaching staff.

Coaching career

On 26 September 2024, Gladwin was appointed Crawley Town caretaker manager, following the departure of Scott Lindsey. On 4 October 2024, Gladwin followed Lindsey to another of his former clubs, joining Milton Keynes Dons as first-team coach. In March 2025, following the sacking of Lindsey, Gladwin was appointed interim manager.

Career statistics

Honours

Reading Town * Hellenic League Supplementary Cup: 2011–12 Marlow * Hellenic League Premier Division:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Blackburn Rovers *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

second-place promotion: 2017–18 Individual * AFC Wallingford Player of the Year: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gladwin, Ben Living people 1992 births Footballers from Reading, Berkshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Wallingford & Crowmarsh F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Windsor & Eton F.C. players Burnham F.C. players Reading Town F.C. players Marlow F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players English Football League players English football managers Crawley Town F.C. managers Milton Keynes Dons F.C. managers English Football League managers English football coaches Crawley Town F.C. non-playing staff Milton Keynes Dons F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen