Whelan playing for Stoke City |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Glenn David Whelan | ||
| Date of birth | 13 January 1984 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) [2] | ||
| Playing position | Centre midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Stoke City | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2001 | Cherry Orchard | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2004 | Manchester City | 0 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | → Bury (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2004–2008 | Sheffield Wednesday | 142 | (13) |
| 2008– | Stoke City | 117 | (5) |
| National team‡ | |||
| Republic of Ireland U21 | 14 | (2) | |
| 2007 | Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) |
| 2008– | Republic of Ireland | 32 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:17, 2 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Glenn David Whelan (born 13 January 1984)[1] is an Irish footballer who plays as a centre midfielder from Premier League club Stoke City and the Republic of Ireland national team.
Whelan started his career at Manchester City but only made one appearance which came in the UEFA Cup and after a loan spell at Bury he moved on to play for Sheffield Wednesday, with whom he won promotion to the Championship in May 2005. In January 2008 Whelan joined Stoke City for a fee of £500,000 with whom he helped gain promotion to the Premier League.
Contents |
Whelan started his career with Manchester City joining from Irish feeder club Cherry Orchard in 2001.[3] He made one solitary appearance in the UEFA Cup coming on as a substitute for Paul Bosvelt against Total Network Solutions in August 2003,[4] before joining Bury on a one-month loan the following month.[5] After appearing in the Republic of Ireland's World Youth Cup campaign in November and December, he returned to Bury on another one-month loan on 24 December 2003.[6]
Whelan joined Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer in the summer of 2004.[7] He was vital in securing a play-off place for the club, starting a total of 41 games and scoring four goals. Whelan was voted "man of the match" in the League One play-off final against Hartlepool United at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff after scoring the game-winning third goal for Wednesday.[8]
After Wednesday won promotion to the Championship Whelan was trialled as captain by Paul Sturrock after club captain Lee Bullen was injured. Wednesday went on to successfully consolidate themselves in the Championship during the 2005–06 season.[9]
In July 2006, Whelan was placed on the transfer list by Sturrock following increased competition for places in the Wednesday midfield after the arrival of Wade Small, Kenny Lunt and Yoann Folly.[10] He was subsequently removed from the transfer list by the following manager Brian Laws.[11] Whelan repaid the faith shown in him with seven goals, most notably "screamers" against Leicester, Southampton & Luton. He then went on to win a number of 'Player of the year' awards for the club's 2006–07 season.[12][13] Sheffield Wednesday rejected bids for Whelan from both Burnley and Plymouth Arygle in January 2008.[14] However a £500,000 bid from Stoke City was accepted on transfer deadline day.[15]
Whelan joined Stoke City on 30 January 2008 for £500,000, signing a three and a half year contract.[16] He made his first Stoke City appearance in a Championship match against Cardiff on the 2nd February 2008 when he came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute for Mamady Sidibe. Whelan made his first Stoke City League start the following game in a 4–2 against Wolverhampton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Stoke in the 2–1 home defeat to Crystal Palace on 7 April 2008.[17] Whelan played 14 times for Stoke City in the 2007–08 season as Stoke finished 2nd and were promoted to the Premier League.
Whelan started the club's first game in the Premier League against Bolton Wanderers. Whelan didn't have a good game and as a result he didn't feature much in the first team, only playing in League Cup fixtures and even Reserve games.[18] Despite this setback, Whelan was still a regular in the Irish national team. In December 2008 Whelan was being linked with a move away from the Britannia Stadium but Whelan revealed that he wanted to stay.[19] Whelan did manage to force his way back into the first team and he became an important player in Stoke's successful fight for survival. Whelan scored a last minute equaliser away against Aston Villa on the 1 March.[20]
Whelan signed a new four-year contract with Stoke on 15 September 2009.[21] He scored his first goal of the season against Tottenham Hotspur which earned the win for Stoke.[22] He also went on to score against Manchester City in a 1–1 draw with Whelan beating fellow Irish international Shay Given. Arsenal player Aaron Ramsey praised Whelan for his support after Ramsey's suffered a leg break in a game between Stoke and Arsenal.[23]
He made his 100th appearance for Stoke in a 2–0 win over Everton on the 1 January 2011.[24] After drifting in and out the starting eleven for most of the 2010–11 season Whelan made a return in March and has played a key role in Stoke's run to their first FA Cup Final.[25][26] Whelan reached a century of League appearances for the club on 8 May 2011 against Arsenal.[27]
He represented the Republic of Ireland Under-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship and has been capped 14 times by the Irish Under 21s, captaining the side on many of these occasions.
"I’ve come in later on in my career, but I never stopped believing that I could do it if I got a chance."
His first cap for the Republic of Ireland B national football team came on 20 November 2007 against Scotland.[29] Whelan made his debut for the senior team against Serbia in May 2008[30] and scored his first international goal against Georgia in Mainz, Germany on 6 September 2008.[31] Since the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni, Whelan became a key member of the squad and made 11 straight appearances despite previously being considered an "also-ran".[28] He scored his second goal for Ireland against Italy with a spectacular strike from almost 25 yards on 10 October 2009 in a 2–2 draw.[32]
As of 4 March 2010
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
6 September 2008 | Stadion am Bruchweg, Mainz, Germany | Georgia |
|
|
|
|
|
10 October 2009 | Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland | Italy |
|
|
|
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other[A] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester City | 2003–04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bury (loan) | 2003–04 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| Total | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 2004–05 | 36 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 | 1 | 42 | 5 | |
| 2005–06 | 43 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 46 | 1 | ||
| 2006–07 | 38 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | 41 | 8 | ||
| 2007–08 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | 30 | 3 | ||
| Total | 142 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 159 | 17 | |
| Stoke City | 2007–08 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 1 | ||
| 2008–09 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 3 | |||
| 2009–10 | 33 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 2 | |||
| 2010–11 | 29 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | – | 24 | 2 | ||
| Total | 117 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 8 | |
| Career total | 272 | 18 | 19 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 321 | 25 | |
As of June 2011[33]
| Republic of Ireland national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2008 | 7 | 1 |
| 2009 | 10 | 1 |
| 2010 | 8 | 0 |
| 2011 | 7 | 0 |
| Total | 32 | 2 |
|
|||||