Philip James Whelan (born 7 August 1972) is an English 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 ...

who played as a defender. He 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

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

as well as having spells 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 ...

with

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

and

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

. He was capped three times by the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

team.

Playing career

Born in

Reddish Reddish is an area in Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 Census, the population was 28,052. Historically part of Lancashire, Reddish grew rapidly in the Industrial ...

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

, Whelan began his career at

, signing professional terms with the club on 2 July 1990. He made his Ipswich debut in a

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. The ...

first round match against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

on 2 October 1991.Phil Whelan
Pride of Anglia He spent most of the 1991–92 season playing for the reserves in the

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

, not making his league debut until 4 April, when he scored the first goal in a 2–1 win at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. He scored again in his second match for the first team three days later as Ipswich beat

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

2–1 at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internatio ...

, although he never scored for the club again. He went on to play six more games that season, as Ipswich won Division Two, earning promotion to the new

. The following season saw Whelan become a first-team regular, playing in 32 of the club's 42 Premier League matches. He also became an

international, and was a member of the Great Britain team that competed in the World Student games in July 1993, qualifying as he was completing an accountancy degree at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. In 1993–94 Whelan played 28 league matches for Ipswich, but the following season saw him restricted to 12 league appearances. In March 1995 he was sold to Middlesbrough for £300,000, with his final Ipswich game being a 3–0 defeat to Norwich City in the East Anglian Derby. After 28 appearances, he left Middlesbrough in May 1997, signing for Oxford United for £170,000. He spent three seasons at Oxford, making 51 league appearances, and also had a brief loan spell at Rotherham United towards the end of the 1998–99 season. In the summer of 2000, Whelan signed for Southend on a free transfer. He spent three seasons at Roots Hall, playing 100 league matches, before retiring at the end of the 2002–03 season.

Personal life

Whelan later became a teacher and moved to

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

.Premiership Star Whelan comes to Nantwich
The Dabber, 8 October 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Phil Living people 1972 births Footballers from Stockport Schoolteachers from Cheshire Association football defenders English footballers Ipswich Town F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Premier League players England under-21 international footballers Alumni of the University of East Anglia