Gary Liddle was a member of Middlesbrough`s successful academy side that won the FA Youth Cup in 2004. After having a long spell out with a back injury, Liddle was getting close to the first team picture and signed a new one year contract in June 2006. But when Danny Wilson expressed an interest a couple of months later, Liddle decided to leave the Riverside to sign a two year contract at Pools.
Liddle`s first full season in league football proved to be an overwhelming success. He played most of the 2006/07 campaign in the centre of midfield where he showed the kind of classy authority you would expect from a much older player. His versatility was also a key factor in Pools` promotion success. When asked to do a job at centre-half or full-back, Liddle did so with the same quality as he displayed in his regular midfield role. His performances were rewarded at the end of that debut season when he shared the player`s Player of the Season award with Michael Nelson.
Since then, Liddle remained a key first team player for several seasons. Whether in defence or, more usually, at the heart of midfield, he was a regular in the side for every Pools manager he worked with. A good season in 2010/11 resulted in speculation that he might be leaving the club, and indeed the player did not sign a new contract that summer, with the club instead taking up an option in his existing deal to keep him for another year. That year saw Liddle`s form take a downturn, though he remained a regular in the side under both Mick Wadsworth and Neale Cooper. When the retained list was announced in May 2012, Liddle was in a short list of players with whom negotiations were continuing. Whatever those negotiations were, they ended with Liddle`s release.