Spencer Whelan

Infobox Football biography
playername = Spencer Whelan


fullname = Spencer Randall Whelan
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|9|17|df=y
cityofbirth = Liverpool
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height = height|ft=6|in=2
position = Defender
youthyears = 1988–1990
youthclubs = Liverpool
years = 1990–1998
1998–2000
clubs = Chester City
Shrewsbury Town
caps(goals) = 215 0(8)
25 0 (0)

Spencer Whelan (born 17 September, 1971, Liverpool) was a professional footballer who played as a defender for Chester City and Shrewsbury Town during the 1990s.

Playing career

Predominantly a tall central defender, Whelan began his career with Liverpool as an apprentice. However, when he was 18 he was not offered a full contract and joined Chester City on a free transfer in April 1990. He had to wait until November 1990 for his first Football League appearance, when he came on as a substitute during Chester’s 2–0 home loss to Bolton Wanderers. His full debut came two months later, during a 3-2 defeat by AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup third round.

In his early years at Chester, Whelan predominantly played in the right back slot, having spells in and out of the side. It was not until regular central defenders Colin Greenall and Mark Came left in the summer of 1994 that Whelan became a regular in the centre of defence as well as captain [cite book | author=Chas Sumner | title=On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885-1997 | year=1997| pages= p.119|id=ISBN 1-874427-52-6] . But he was to be ruled out between September 1994 and February 1995 with a broken leg [cite book | author=Chas Sumner | title=On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City 1885-1997 | year=1997| pages= p.119|id=ISBN 1-874427-52-6] . The season also saw Whelan finally score his first goal for the club in a Coca Cola Cup tie with Lincoln City, with his first league goal arriving at Wycombe Wanderers in April 1995.

Whelan largely remained a regular for his next three years at the club, memorably scoring from the halfway line against Colchester United in April 1998. [Cite news
title= Chester City 3 Colchester United 1 | url= http://www.chester-city.co.uk/april98matches.asp | publisher= chester-city.co.uk (see 18 April) | date= 1998-04-18 | accessdate= 2008-01-12] . But he missed the start of the 1998–99 season through a knee injury [Cite news
title= Whelan setback | url= http://www.chester-city.co.uk/september98news.asp | publisher= chester-city.co.uk (see 23-24 September) | date= 1998-09-24 | accessdate= 2008-01-12] . He still had not played when he joined Shrewsbury Town at the start of November 1998, for a reported £35,000 [Cite news
title= Defender goes | url= http://www.chester-city.co.uk/november98news.asp | publisher= chester-city.co.uk (see 5-6 November) | date= 1998-11-06 | accessdate= 2008-01-12] . Unfortunately injuries limited Whelan’s appearances for Shrewsbury and he made just 25 league appearances over the next two seasons. His final appearance was ironically on his return to Chester in March 2000, being substituted at half time in a goalless draw. Although Whelan remained with the club during the following season [Cite news
title= Shrewsbury v Darlington preview | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/low/football/eng_div_1/916075.stm | publisher= BBC Sport | date= 2000-09-08 | accessdate= 2008-01-12] , he failed to recover from his injury problems and retired from football at the relatively early age of 29.

Honours

Chester City

• Football League Division Three runners-up: 1993–1994 (22 apps).

External links

*soccerbase|id=8438

References