Alan Whittle

Football player infobox| playername = Alan Whittle


fullname = Alan Whittle
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1950|3|10
cityofbirth = Liverpool
countryofbirth = England
height =
currentclub = Retired
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1965-1967
youthclubs = Everton
years = 1967-1972
1972-1976
1976-1977
1977-1978
1980-1981
clubs = Everton
Crystal Palace
Leyton Orient
Persepolis
Bournemouth
Career
caps(goals) = 074 (21)
103 (19)
050 0(6)
034 (16)
009 0(0)
270 (62)
nationalyears = 1972
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 01 April 2007
ntupdate =

Alan Whittle (born March 10, 1950 in Liverpool, England) is a retired English football player. He played for Everton F.C., Crystal Palace F.C., Leyton Orient F.C., Persepolis F.C. and A.F.C. Bournemouth. He is usually played in the midfielder position.

Club career

Whittle was a product of the Everton F.C. youth academy and debuted for the first-team in 1967 at the tender age of 17. In 5 years at Everton Whittle only made 74 appearances scoring an impressive 21 goals however found it difficult to establish himself in such a star-studded team. In December 1972 Whittle was sold to Crystal Palace F.C. for a then large fee of £100,000. [cite web|url=http://ds.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/thirty31.htm|title=Thirty Years Ago December 1972|publisher=http://ds.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning|accessdate=2007-06-28] Whittle spent 4 years of his career at Crystal Palace F.C., however his stay was dogged by injury and bad form, leading him to fall out of favour with then coach Malcolm Allison, Whittle did make a century of appearances for The Eagles and was a fan favourite. Whittle spent one season at Leyton Orient scoring 6 goals in 50 appearances for the club and coming 2nd in the Anglo-Scottish Cup. Whittle then surprised many by spending one season at Iranian giants Persepolis F.C. in the 1977-78 season where he competed in the Takht Jamshid Cup, however because of the Iranian Revolution and collapse of the national league Whittle had no choice but to leave Iran. Ultimately, Whittle ended his career at A.F.C. Bournemouth at the age of 30 making just 9 appearances for the club. Towards the end of Whittle's career he made a move to Australia where he played for a year before going to non-league side Gravesend & Northfleet in 1982 ending a career for Whittle who as a youngster had much promise but injury and poor form were to block the extent of his success.

International career

In 1972, at the age of 22 he was called up by Sir Alf Ramsey Manager of English national football team.

Honours

*English championship: 1
**1969/70, Everton

*Charity Shield: 1
**1970, Everton

*Anglo-Scottish Cup, "Runners-Up"
**1976/77, Leyton Orient

*Takht Jamshid Cup, "Runners-Up"
**1977/78, Persepolis

Trivia

* Whittle was the first English footballer ever to play in the Iranian football league system.
* Palace fans would chant "We want Whittle" and "The Roker roar is no more, Whittle showed them how to score".
* Whittle campaigned in Everton's football in the community scheme.
* Now retired, Whittle lives on the The Wirral.
* Whittle's nickname was "The Hustler" at Everton.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.footballpoets.org/p.asp?Id=20144 "WE WANT WHITTLE" by John J O'Connor]
* [http://www.tebyan.net/Sports/SpecialReports/SpecialReports/2003/10/12/3870.html Tebyan]