Adrian Richard Whitbread (born 22 October 1971) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

before retiring from playing due to a persistent knee injury. After his playing career ended, Whitbread became a coach. He had spells as assistant manager at

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He has also coached overseas for

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

and

Carolina Railhawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

where he was head coach and for

Antigua Barracuda FC Antigua Barracuda were an Antiguan professional football team based in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. Founded in 2010, the team played in USL Pro, the third tier of the United States soccer league system from 2011 to 2013. The team played it ...

, Bahrain U23 and Olympic team. Whitbread has frequently worked under the managership of

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and So ...

and was most recently assistant manager at

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Playing career

Whitbread began his professional career as a trainee with

in 1989. He captained the team at the age of 21, and helped Leyton Orient to promotion to the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

in 1992. He made a total of 155 league and cup appearances for Leyton Orient in four seasons, before joining

in July 1993 for £500,000, and made 38 league and cup appearances for Swindon in the 1993–94 season. Following Swindon's relegation from the

, Whitbread joined

in August 1994 in part-exchange for

Joey Beauchamp Joseph Daniel Beauchamp ( , 13 March 1971 – 19 February 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a left midfielder. He played for most of his career at Oxford United but also had spells with West Ham United and Swindon Town ...

. Whitbread's first-team opportunities at West Ham were limited and he made only 14 league and cup appearances. He went to

on loan in November 1995 and eventually joined them on a permanent basis in October 1996 for £250,000. Following knee surgery in the summer of 2000, he was unable to obtain a regular place in the first-team and requested a transfer. He joined

on loan in November 2000, and then went on loan to

for the rest of the season in February 2001, before joining Reading on a permanent basis. He had made a total of 145 league and cup appearances for Portsmouth, in addition to 13 appearances while on loan to Portsmouth in 1995. Whitbread signed a two-year contract with Reading in July 2001. He made 18 league and cup appearances before a knee injury sustained in training in December 2001 ruled him out of the rest of the 2001–02 season. He had a spell on loan at

in early 2003, where he made seven appearances, but a persistent knee injury forced his retirement from playing football in April 2003 without making any further appearances for Reading.

Managerial career

After retiring, Whitbread joined

in June 2003 as first-team coach, assisting

. He later worked as assistant manager at

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, and

, all under Allen. He qualified for the

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

in 2008. Whitbread was named Assistant Coach of the Puerto Rico National Team and

in 2008. He held both positions through 2011. In December 2011, he was named head coach of

, now playing in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. In 2013 Whitbread was appointed head coach of

. In April 2014 Whitbread was appointed as the Bahrain U23 & Olympic Head Coach. Whitbread re-joined Barnet as a first-team coach in the summer of 2015. In August 2015, he was named as the inaugural coach of

Puerto Rico FC Puerto Rico FC was a professional football club based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2015, the team played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team debuted in the 2016 fall ...

. He served alongside Neil Sillett, who was the technical director. On 19 May 2017, he was relieved of coaching duties by Puerto Rico FC. On his return to England, Whitbread assisted Allen at

again, then followed him to

in May 2018. He left Chesterfield in the following December following Allen's sacking.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitbread, Adrian 1971 births Living people People from Epping English footballers Men's association football defenders Leyton Orient F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Reading F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Barnet F.C. non-playing staff Premier League players English football managers British expatriates in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico national football team managers Puerto Rico Islanders managers Brentford F.C. non-playing staff North American Soccer League (2011–2017) coaches Puerto Rico FC managers Association football coaches Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff Milton Keynes Dons F.C. non-playing staff Chesterfield F.C. non-playing staff