Theodore Eccleston Whitmore, OD (born 5 August 1972) is a Jamaican 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 ...

. He is the former head coach of

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF ...

Club career

Whitmore attended St. James High School in

Montego Bay, Jamaica Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...

. During his late teens, he worked as a Baked Goods delivery assistant with National Continental Foods, now National Baking Company, in Montego Bay before moving on to play football in the Jamaica National Premiere League. By default, he left his job at National Continental foods after the salesperson he worked for was terminated for stabbing a defenseless office employee in early 1992. As a very skillful and creative for a player despite his tall frame, he started his club career at Montego Bay Boys Club, and has since played for Violet Kickers and

Seba United Montego Bay United Football Club is a Jamaican football club based in Montego Bay. History Founded as ''Beacon'' in 1972, the club were renamed ''Seba United'' after a few years and has won the Jamaica National Premier League in 1987 and 1997, ...

in his native Jamaica. He was signed on a free by English league side

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

following a one-week trial with the club, where he played together with compatriot

Ian Goodison Ian De Souza Goodison (born 21 November 1972) is a Jamaican former professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent most of his career at English side Tranmere Rovers. Club career Born in Montego Bay, Saint James, Goodison began h ...

, until an accident in Jamaica cut short his Hull career. Whitmore made his debut in an F.A. Cup tie against Macclesfield. On his league debut, away at Rochdale, Whitmore scored a league debut goal. During his 77 games for Hull, he became something of a fan favourite during a relatively unhappy time for the club; who were lurking in the basement of the English Football League, struggling with financial insecurities. Scottish team

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

acquired his services in 2003, and in June 2004 he signed for

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

. He had his contract terminated in January 2006 by mutual consent. He returned to Jamaica to become player/coach for his former team

International career

Whitmore made his debut for Jamaica in a November 1993 friendly match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, coming on as a late substitute for

Hector Wright Hector Wright (born 8 May 1969) is a Jamaican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Wright played for Seba United in his native country, but his career was cut short by injuries. He also has an older brother, Ch ...

. Whitmore earned 105 official international caps and scored 24 goals for the Jamaica national team. He was a key member of the Reggae Boyz' squad during the second half of the 1990s, playing as a major catalyst for the Jamaicans as they advanced to their first and only World Cup in 1998. Although Jamaica was eliminated in the first round, Whitmore scored two goals in Jamaica's only win of the competition, a 2–1 victory against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In that same year he was named Caribbean Footballer of the Year. His last international match was also against the United States, a 1–1 away draw on 17 November 2004 during

2006 World Cup qualification 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

in which he was substituted for

Jason Euell Jason Joseph Euell (born 6 February 1977) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as either a Forward (association football), forward or a midfielder. He spent much of his career playing in the Premier League, with ...

in the 72nd minute.

Managerial career

Seba United

When Whitmore returned to Seba United in 2006, he returned as both a player and a coach.

Jamaica

In November 2007, he was brought on as interim manager of the Jamaica national team after the firing of former manager

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record a ...

. Jamaica won both games, friendlies against

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, under his watch. He was then retained as an assistant under new coach Renê Simões. Simões lasted nine months as manager due to poor play in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, and upon his release on 11 September 2008, he was again appointed interim manager until newly appointed manager

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...

would be available in November. As interim manager in October 2008, Whitmore guided the Reggae Boyz to back-to-back 1–0 wins against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

that gained him tremendous support as a manager and put the Jamaicans into range for advancement with one game remaining in semifinal round group play. He again took the

rein Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding. They are long straps that can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband. Use for ...

s of the national team when

left the position in June 2009, to take up a management job at Whitmore's former club Tranmere Rovers in the English League. Whitmore's team struggled during the

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United States ...

and were eliminated in the first round. As a part of the national team rebuilding efforts which started in August 2009, he led the squad to three draws and one win to end 2009. In December 2010, he led Jamaica to the 2010 Digicel Cup title. After qualifying Jamaica for the CONCACAF Hexagonal final round in 2012, Whitmore resigned as head coach in June 2013. From December 2014 through February 2015, he served as Jamaica national u20 coach. In September 2016, Whitmore was named interim head coach of Jamaica In May 2018, Whitmore signed a four-year contract with the JFF. On 9 December 2021, Whitmore was dismissed as senior national team head coach. by the JFF.

Personal life

Whitmore was injured in a car accident that led to the death of Reggae Boyz' teammate

Stephen Malcolm Stephen Malcolm (2 May 1970 – 28 January 2001) was a Jamaican international football player. His position was defender. Club career During his club career he played for Seba United. International career Nicknamed ''Shorty'', he represented hi ...

. After the accident he was charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

, of which he was later acquitted. In November 2013, Whitmore's 14-year-old son, Jouvhaine, died after being struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle. Whitmore's second son Gianni is said to be his twin because they look exactly alike and he is as skilful and talented as his father in his prime.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first.Theodore Whitmore - Century of International Appearances
.''

Managerial Statistics

Honours

Player

Jamaica *

Caribbean Cup The Caribbean Cup was the championship tournament for national association football teams that are members of the Caribbean Football Union. The first competition, established by Shell and run by former England Cricket fast bowler Fred Rumsey, wa ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Manager

Jamaica *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

(as assistant),

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

(as manager) *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

runners-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual *

Best XI (Reserves):

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Caribbean Footballer of the Year: 1998

References

External links

* *
Profile at ReggaeBoyzsc

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitmore, Theodore 1972 births People from Montego Bay Living people Association football midfielders Jamaican footballers Jamaican football managers Jamaica international footballers Jamaican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Montego Bay United F.C. players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players National Premier League players FIFA Century Club Jamaica national football team managers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers