On this day in 1987, Sunderland youth product Ben Alnwick was born. The Goalkeeper was born in the small Northumberland town of Prudhoe. He spent his boyhood years playing for the Prudhoe Youth Side.
He started his professional career at Sunderland, progressing through the youth ranks and came into prominence at the climax of their 2004-05 Championship winning season, replacing the injured Thomas Myhre for Sunderland’s last 3 games.
His performances against Leicester City and West Ham United, the games that won Sunderland promotion to the Premier League and Championship respectively, were impressive.
In November 2005, he spent a stint as the number one goalkeeper at Sunderland, replacing Kelvin Davis. Despite impressing, particularly in Sunderland’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur where he made a penalty save from Robbie Keane, Alnwick was dropped in favour of Davis.
After the departure of Davis to Southampton, Alnwick was given the number 1 shirt for the 2006-07 season. However, after a disappointing start to the season, he was relegated to the substitutes bench in favour of Darren Ward by new boss Roy Keane.
Just two days after the January 2007 transfer window had opened, Alnwick joined Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £900,000 in a deal that could rise to £1.3 million and saw Márton Fülöp going the other way for £500,000.
In September 2007 he was loaned to League One side Luton Town on a three-month loan deal. the keeper was then recalled from Luton in October, due to an injury to Paul Robinson. However, on the 7th of January 2008, Alnwick joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season.
Alnwick made his league debut in an M69 Derby on the 12th of January, keeping a clean sheet as Leicester won 2–0 at the Walkers Stadium. He kept four clean sheets in eight league games, conceding six goals before suffering a thigh injury as Leicester were relegated from the Championship.
On the 16th of October 2008, Alnwick joined League One side Carlisle United on an initial one-month loan deal and was recalled by Tottenham after the one-month loan ended.
Upon return to Tottenham Hotspur, Alnwick made his debut for the Lilywhites in a League Cup semi-final second leg against Burnley, which ended in a 3–2 loss, although Tottenham did go on to win 6–4 on aggregate.
In July 2009, he signed on loan at Norwich City for 3 months. Alnwick made his debut in a 4-0 win over Yeovil Town and kept a lean sheet.
He returned to Tottenham on the 5th of September, after picking up a hip injury that was expected to keep him out for 6 weeks. His first Premier League game for Spurs was at Burnley on the final day of the 2009-10 season, conceding four goals in a 4-2 defeat.
Prior to signing a 2-year contract at Barnsley, the Prudhoe-born keeper, was subject to even more loan moves, including a 28-day spell at Leeds where he was named on the bench for matches both against Middlesbrough and Leicester City.
Alnwick then moved to Doncaster Rovers on the 4th of March 2011 and stayed until the 9th of April, after their goalkeeper Neil Sullivan became injured. He was an unused sub in games against both Leeds United and Coventry City. Later in the year, he made 8 appearances on loan for Leyton Orient.
On the 4th of July 2012, Alnwick moved to Barnsley. The keeper made his debut on the 11th of August in a League Cup tie against Rochdale, before playing his first Championship match of the season in a 1–0 victory over Bristol City on the 1st of September 2012.
However, after the signings of Mike Pollitt and Christian Dibble, Alnwick's contract was terminated by mutual consent on the 2nd of September 2013.
On the 4th of September, Alnwick signed a one-year contract for Charlton Athletic. He went on to make his debut in a game against his former club Doncaster as a result of their first keeper becoming injured in the warmup. However, he managed to keep a clean sheet in a game that Charlton won 2-0.
Just when you thought he couldn’t have played for anybody else, the then 27-year-old made a move to Leyton Orient. Sadly, just a week later, it was announced that Alnwick was suffering from unspecified medical problems and was unable to train or play. He left Orient by mutual consent, with the club cancelling his contract.
On the 25th of July 2014, Alnwick signed a three-year deal at Peterborough United. In August 2016 the 29-year-old informed manager Grant McCann that he wished to go on the list for personal reasons. Two days later, club chairman Darragh MacAnthony announced that the club had accepted Alnwick's request for his contract to be cancelled.
On the same day he left Peterborough, it was confirmed that Alnwick had moved to fellow League One side Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer to offer competition for Mark Howard. At the end of the 2017–18 season it was announced that Alnwick had been named the Bolton Wanderers Player of the Year by the club's supporters.
Having played no games for Bolton for the first half of the 2019–20 season, Alnwick decided in December to mutually agree with the club to terminate his contract with immediate effect.
