Overly criticised and under appreciated: Glenn Whelan calls time on long and successful career
Glenn Whelan celebrates after scoring his side's goal against Italy at Croke Park. Picture: Sportsfile
We’ve had to wait six years to discover whether Roy Keane’s take on Glenn Whelan would be prophetic.
As the veteran finally wound up his 21-year professional career over the weekend at the age of 39, the words of Keane resonated.
"Glenn might get a bit more credit when his career is over and I mean that in the nicest way," Keane said in August 2017 when he was Martin O’Neill’s sidekick in the Ireland set-up.
"He can look back then and say he played a lot of the games at the highest level.
"Part of being a footballer, the type of player Glenn is, is that you're always going to be open to some sort of criticism.
“People analyse what Glenn doesn't do, yet sometimes you have to focus on what the player does well. That might be the dirty stuff in a game. He's a good team player, always available and shows courage looking for the ball when sometimes a lot of players don't want to get on it.
“Glenn doesn't fall into the media spin nor wear fancy-coloured boots. People pick up on that but you talk about the modern footballer and we turn up here a lot of times with lads who aren't here or lads who are carrying knocks. Glenn Whelan is always here and available for selection."
Not everyone shared that admiration for Whelan, plenty of detractors close to home.
When Ireland’s form dipped, he was the easy hit, an unglamorous midfield anchorman mostly associated with that Stoke City club and their rainy Tuesday nights. Eamon Dunphy’s infamous 2013 “he drives two Ferraris” barb was as ridiculous as it was erroneous.
His competitive streak didn’t always lend itself to dressing-room collegiality at Stoke.
Abdoulaye Faye was alleged to have lashed out when Whelan didn’t kindly to the defender warming up for an end-of-season dead rubber at Chelsea in flip flops. Kenwyne Jones smashed a block through his car window after discovering a pig’s head in his locker – a prank gone wrong and not of Whelan’s making. And there was the sight of the Dubliner squaring up to Joe Allen in the 2017 international between Ireland and Wales.
Whelan took no prisoners, refused to indulge in matters he deemed peripheral to football and family, yet never shirked a challenge for club or country.
You could almost sense his embarrassment at the standing ovation he received when substituted in Sunday’s last game, Bristol City’s League One season-ender against Bolton Wanderers.
Here we select a sprinkling of Whelan’s standout games over a decorated career:
A full house of 7,500 at Turner’s Cross came to watch what was Brian Kerr’s final qualifier before earning the senior job. Whelan was the baby of the side but possessed the traits Kerr craved and his role in protecting a 2-1 lead from the first leg in Rotterdam was crucial against a Dutch side laced with Nigel de Jong, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben. It was the eight major tournament Kerr’s cubs had reached over his five-year reign and Whelan was one of only three players among the 13 used that night, alongside Stephen Kelly and Stephen Elliott, to win full caps.
Whelan’s sole outing for the club he joined at 15 was a low-key affair, the 5-0 first leg demolition affording scope for experimentation. Richard Dunne was in the City side but resting fashionable creators like Joey Barton enabled Whelan to snatch an appearance against the Welsh outfit off the bench.
“Me and Whelo played in the same youth team together and he was a much better player than I was,” said Barton, who made 268 more outings for the club than his peer. At least he showed displayed better judgement as a manager, recruiting Whelan to his last two clubs, Fleetwood Town and Bristol Rovers.
Giovanni Trapattoni was hooked on Whelan from the outset, propelling the 24-year-old from squad outsider to ever-present in his first campaign as Ireland boss. On his competitive debut, Whelan’s goal on the neutral territory of Mainz proved to be the winner and so launched a qualification tilt that went so close. It wasn’t a goal of beauty, a shot that Georgia ‘keeper shovelled into his net rather than saved, but Whelan was never wedded to cosmetics.
Whelan’s Croker Cracker was the opposite of his German scud, a 25-yarder from a rehearsed free-kick giving Ireland the lead and Gigi Buffon no chance.
GAA headquarters and most of its 70,000 attendees came alive through that seventh-minute lead goal, Liam Lawrence fooling the awaiting Italian defence by rolling his free-kick into the path of the unmarked Whelan to arc the ball into the top corner. It would have been a better night had Alberto Gilardino not denied Ireland the win they required to avoid the playoff hurdle against France on their way to the World Cup in South Africa.
Another vital goal in the same month two weeks later came for his club at White Hart Lane.
Whelan abandoned his usual sitting role in midfield to latch onto a pass, break into the box and bury his shot inside the near post. Pointing to his name on the back of his shirt in celebration spoke of its rarity. Whelan grabbed only five league goals for the Potters over nine years but that one rivalled another against his former club Manchester City for importance.
Whelan was tasked with testing the theory of Zlatan Ibrahimović being Sweden’s one-man team on a baking hot day in Paris.
He defied the conditions to shadow the self-confessed messiah throughout the opening group game, snapping at his heels wherever the man-mountain roamed between the lines and restricting his impact on a game that was integral to Ireland’s chances of progressing to the knockout stages.
The successful mission was illustrated by the captain trudging, instead of swaggering, through the mixed zone afterwards.
Surprisingly sold by Stoke in 2017, Whelan did his best to guide his new club to the top division he’d left behind.
Back-to-back Championship finals at Wembley were earned, his influence more pronounced in the first season under Steve Bruce, but he still played his part in the campaign they went one better by sealing promotion. Against midlands rivals West Brom in the semi--final, his experience and nous were essential but little did he know it would be his last outing, for Dean Smith subsequently released him – not before he was informed by a journalist.
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