213: Noel Whelan, Leeds United, Merlin’s Premier League 95 Sticker Collection

A year ago today I wrote and posted around 500 words about Peter Fear in an attempt to provide some mental stimulation in the first of what proved to be a series of Covid-19 lockdowns. Twelve months and 146 posts later A Sticker’s Worth 500 Words has grown into something much bigger and much more fun than I could ever have expected thanks to three of my best friends, the overwhelmingly positive nature of a lot of football Twitter and Instagram users and the genuinely unbelievable fact that some of the stars we’ve written about have liked, retweeted and followed the nonsense we’ve come out with. A special thanks has to go to my wife who has willingly listened to me read every single post aloud whilst growing and looking after another human. Well, looking after two humans if I qualify.

With all this in mind it was a tough choice for who should feature in this anniversary post but it’s fair to say this man ticks a lot of the Sticker 500 boxes. For starters he is sporting some decent 90s boy band hair in the chosen sticker. Next up he wore some of Coventry City’s greatest kits and, therefore, played alongside Homes Under The Hammer star Dion Dublin. He had an interesting career which included spells in Scotland and turning out for a non-league side as well as an all too brief loan spell at Crystal Palace. What clinched it though was the fact that he has liked a few of our bits and pieces on Twitter and so, ladies and gentlemen, today it’s time to have a look at Noel Whelan.

Whelan came through the ranks at his hometown club Leeds United and played a goalscoring role in their FA Youth Cup victory over holders and rivals Manchester United in 1993 – no mean feat considering this was a Red Devils’ side awash with ‘Class of 92’ talent. He made his professional debut that same year and racked up sixteen appearances in the 1993/94 campaign without troubling the back of the net. Undeterred, he scored seven times in 23 games in the 1994/95 season including winning strikes against Arsenal, Leicester City and Nottingham Forest as Leeds positioned themselves in the chasing pack behind Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. However, the arrival of Ghanaian goal machine Tony Yeboah in January 1995 limited Whelan’s first team opportunities and, following the advice of new assistant coach Gordon Strachan, Ron Atkinson took the young striker to Highfield Road for £2m.

His first appearance for the Sky Blues was a 4-1 defeat to local rivals Aston Villa but, once shifted to a central role alongside Dion Dublin, the goals began to flow for Whelan. His winning strikes against Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool were vital to Coventry’s survival in the Premier League. This being Coventry in the 90s they made a rank start to the 1996/97 campaign with Whelan’s winner against his former club their only victory before mid-December. The arrival of Darren Huckerby pushed Whelan out to the wing but seemed to do the trick as four wins on the bounce got the Sky Blues back on track although they were once again indebted to his goals against Liverpool and Chelsea in the run in to get them over the line. He settled into his new midfield role nicely in the 1997/98 season as Huckerby and Dublin built on their partnership but Whelan was instrumental in a famous win over reigning champions Manchester United and an impressive draw with eventual double winners Arsenal.

Dublin’s departure to Aston Villa saw Whelan shifted back up front and his partnership with Huckerby helped him to a double figure return in the 1998/99 season and promised much for the future. However, the triple whammy of Huckerby’s departure, the arrival of Robbie Keane and Whelan’s pre-season injury made it clear that things were changing at Highfield Road. He headed to Middlesbrough for £2.2m in the summer of 2000 and he gradually established himself on Teesside over the course of three seasons. Although he found game time limited in the Premier League he was prolific in cup competitions continuing his impressive record against Manchester United with an FA Cup fourth round goal in 2002. After a brief loan spell at Crystal Palace, with three goals in eight games, Whelan departed Boro for Millwall in the summer of 2003. From hereon he didn’t stay anywhere too long and had brief spells with Derby County, Boston United, Harrogate Town and Darlington in England as well as three seasons in Scotland with Aberdeen, Livingston and Dunfermline Athletic respectively. After 60 goals in 319 games he hung up his boots in 2010.

It’d be easy to summarise Noel Whelan’s career as the classic journeyman story but deep down he was a one-club man and that club was Leeds United where his footballing story began. He even celebrated his FA Cup goal for Middlesbrough against Manchester United with ‘a Leeds salute’ which I have to confess was something I thought only existed on the questionable alt-right crest the club tried to unleash a few years ago. Whelan gained his coaching qualifications towards the end of his playing career and, having captained Leeds’ Masters Football side, he started in a role at Derby County. However, after a year of commuting from Harrogate to the East Midlands he gave the role up and entered into the world of punditry as part of the BBC Radio Leeds team where he carved out a reputation for his partisan enthusiasm. The dream had always been to go back into coaching though and, in 2019, he joined the Leeds United Academy set up bringing his career full circle. There are some in the game who have suggested that Whelan never fulfilled his early potential but, looking back at his story, there seems plenty to be proud of. After all, things haven’t looked too bad for Leeds since a certain someone joined the coaching staff.