DARRON GIBSON is no stranger to biding his time. The Manchester United player has found first-team opportunities hard to come by during his four years at Old Trafford and has also been used sparingly by Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni.
The youngster might have hoped for a better return than four caps in the 18 months since his decision to opt for the Republic caused consternation north of the border – Gibson was born and bred in Derry – but he isn’t complaining.
Despite slipping behind Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan in the midfield pecking order, Gibson is mature enough to recognise that chances will continue to present themselves. And, at 21, he is fully aware that time is on his side.
Having initially failed to make the breakthrough in Manchester, Gibson was sent on loan to Royal Antwerp and Wolves. He returned a more rounded player and his energetic and physical presence earned a Premier League debut against Stoke earlier this season.
But it will be this season’s cup competitions that Gibson will look back on with the fondest memories. There aren’t too many players with less than an hour’s top-flight football under their belts who can boast a League Cup winner’s medal.
Gibson played in every round of this year’s competition before the final and was rewarded by Alex Ferguson with a starting role in the penalty shoot-out win over Tottenham.
“It’s been unbelievable for me,” he said of the Wembley experience. ‘It gives you a massive confidence boost to win a medal at such a young age. Some players don’t win a medal through their whole careers. To do it so early is brilliant.”
United’s recent poor run is no cause for concern for Gibson. Indeed, with Paul Scholes due to serve a suspension following his red card at the weekend another door could be about to open.
“Everyone has a bad patch in a season,” he said. “Ours has just come now but we’ll be all right. This season I’ve been involved a lot more than before. I’ve learned more about how Man United play, about what the manager wants.
“The next step is to be more involved in the first team. At the minute I am pushing, hopefully, I can push a bit more in the coming games. The suspensions may help me out a bit more.”
With the Bulgaria match looming, the absence of Dimitar Berbatov was always going to be high on the agenda. There had, apparently, been little pre-match discourse with the enigmatic striker on United’s Carrington training ground but Gibson was quick to point out how badly Bulgaria will miss their captain.
“It’s a massive loss for them as he’s their best player,” he insisted. “It’s a positive for us but we have to approach the game with the same mentality as if he was playing. We had a bit of banter but didn’t speak seriously about the game. He was just saying he was looking forward to playing against me and John O’Shea.”
The Irish Football Association (IFA) remain committed to closing down the avenue that has allowed Gibson and Portsmouth’s Marc Wilson to switch allegiances to the Republic.
Wilson’s decision has yet to bear fruit for the defender but a number of underage players born in the north, including the highly-rated Foyle Harps striker Pat McEleney, have also declared for the Republic.
Earlier this month, officials from the IFA lobbied Fifa president Sepp Blatter to stop allowing those born on the island of Ireland to choose which national teams they would prefer to play. However, Blatter refused to budge on the issue.
