Steven Whittaker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steven Whittaker
Personal information
Full name Steven Gordon Whittaker
Date of birth June 16, 1984 (1984-06-16) (age 23)
Place of birth    Edinburgh, Scotland
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Full back / Winger
Club information
Current club Rangers
Number 28
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2001–2007
2007–		 Hibernian
Rangers		 141 (4)
030 (4)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of May 25, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Steven Gordon Whittaker (born June 16, 1984 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish professional footballer who currently plays for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. He has played in a number of positions during his career but is currently being deployed as a right sided midfielder, having signed for Rangers as a right-back.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Hibernian

In 2001, Whittaker joined the likes of Kenny Miller and Derek Riordan in signing for Hibernian from Hutchison Vale Boys Club. He made his debut against St Johnstone in a 1-0 win on the May 12, 2002. The following season he went on to make another six top team appearances before finally become a regular starter the season after. Though with him lacking a defined position his form suffered as he was deployed at right-back or on either side of midfield under Bobby Williamson. However, he did score his first career goal during this poor spell, against Partick Thistle in a 3-2 win on January 3, 2004.[1] He was an unused subsitutite when Hibernian lost the Scottish League Cup final in 2004.

The arrival of Tony Mowbray later that year saw Whittaker confirmed in the team's right-back role, and with this new certainty, he flourished, becoming a regular in the Scotland Under 21 team and helping Hibs to a third place league finish. He made 173 appearances for Hibs and scored five times.

[edit] Rangers

Whittaker completed a £2m move to Rangers on August 1, 2007, signing a five-year contract.[2] On August 18, 2007, he started his first game for Rangers against Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League and marked his debut with the second goal in a 7-2 win for Rangers.[3]

With the departure of Alan Hutton to Tottenham Hotspur, Whittaker is now seen as the first-choice right back at the club, having played in a number of positions since the summer. He played as a right winger, and has also filled in at left-back when Sasa Papac is unavailable.

Whittaker scored the second goal of Rangers 2-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup quarter final second leg.[4] He picked the ball up on the half way line and weaved through several players before capping it off with a cool finish. He stated after the match that it was the best goal he had scored in his career.[5]

[edit] Scotland career

In October 2006 Whittaker was brought into the Scotland squad for the European Football Championship qualifying match against Ukraine after the suspension of Christian Dailly following a yellow card in 1-0 win over France. Although he did not feature in the match.[6]

Whittaker was called into the Scotland B side to face Republic of Ireland's B team on 20 November 2007.[7] He played the first sixty-eight minutes but was replaced by Ross McCormack.[8] He also played in the 0-0 draw in November 2006.[9]

[edit] Honours

With Hibernian

With Rangers

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Hibernian 3-2 Partick Thistle", BBC Sport website, 3 January 2004. 
  2. ^ "Whittaker in £2m Rangers switch", BBC Sport website, 1 August 2007. 
  3. ^ "Rangers 7-2 Falkirk", BBC Sport website, 18 August 2007. 
  4. ^ "Sporting 0-2 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 10 April 2008. 
  5. ^ "That's My Best Ever", Rangers Official website, 10 April 2008. 
  6. ^ "Whittaker called into Scots squad", BBC Sport website, 9 October 2006. 
  7. ^ "Forgotten man Iwelumo called into 'B' squad", Scotsman website, 10 November 2007. 
  8. ^ "Scotland B 1-1 Rep of Ireland B", BBC Sport website, 20 November 2007. 
  9. ^ "Rep of Ireland B 0-0 Scotland B", BBC Sport website, 14 November 2006. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Rangers F.C. – current squad

1 McGregor • 3 Weir • 4 Buffel • 5 Papac • 6 Ferguson • 7 Hemdani • 8 Thomson • 9 Boyd • 10 Novo • 11 Adam • 15 Gow • 16 G. Smith • 17 Burke • 18 Naismith • 19 Darcheville • 20 Beasley • 21 Broadfoot • 23 Dailly • 24 Cuéllar • 25 Alexander • 26 S. Smith • 27 McCulloch • 28 Whittaker • 29 Cousin • Manager: W. Smith
This biographical article related to a Scottish football defender is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.