Mike Whitlow

Mike Whitlow
Personnel
Surname	Michael William Whitlow
birthday	January 13, 1968
place of birth	Northwich ,  England
size	183 cm
position	Full-back (left)
Juniors
Years	station
1985-1986	Bolton Wanderers
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1986-1988	Witton Albion
1988-1992	Leeds United	77 (4)
1992-1997	Leicester City	147 (8)
1997-2003	Bolton Wanderers	132 (2)
2003-2004	Sheffield United	17 (1)
2004-2005	Notts County	24 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Michael William "Mike" Whitlow (born January 13, 1968 in Northwich ) is a former English football player . The left full-back , who could also be used in the center of defense and in midfield, won the English championship with Leeds United in 1992 and the League Cup five years later with Leicester City .

Athletic career

Leeds United (1988-1992)

After Whitlow joined the Bolton Wanderers in 1985 , but was sorted out again the following year, he first hired himself out to the lower class Witton Albion in the Northern Premier League and went on to do a “regular job” in parallel. For Witton he made 120 competitive appearances (9 goals) between 1986 and 1988 and he was noticed as a talented left-back by coach Howard Wilkinson , who was active at Leeds United , who in November 1988 signed right-back Neil Parsley in addition to Whitlow . On November 9, 1988, he made his debut on the left-back position in the Full Members Cup against Shrewsbury Town (3-1) and 17 days later made his league debut in midfield against Stoke City (4-0) follow. In total, he played mainly on the left defensive side, but also occasionally in the middle or in the middle, in the 1988/89 season for the second division club 21 league games and in the following season 1989/90, he contributed 29 league matches for the ultimately successful promotion to the First Division at . He catapulted himself into the wider circle of the English U-21 team , but ultimately remained without an international match.

Despite these promising omens, Whitlow was not able to further consolidate his status in the team. When Leeds United finished a surprisingly good fourth place in the 1990/91 season , Whitlow was relatively little involved with only 18 league appearances. A far bigger problem, however, was the signing of the new left back Tony Dorigo in the summer of 1991, which finally landed him on the "siding". He only made ten first division games in the 1991/92 season before going to second division Leicester City for £ 250,000 in March 1992 - his contribution to the league title for Leeds United earned him an official medal.

Leicester City (1992–1997)

Together with Simon Grayson , who also moved from Leeds to Leicester in the same month, he found himself in time for the battle for promotion places and was defeated there in the play-off finals at the end of May 1992 against Blackburn Rovers (0-1). A year later he was again at Wembley in the final of the playoffs, but lost to Swindon Town (3: 4) one more time. In the third run, however, the longed-for promotion to the Premier League finally succeeded , when Whitlow, who had meanwhile matured into a regular player with 31 league appearances in the 1993/94 season, defeated his men 2-1 in the play-off final Derby County . In the top English division he managed one of his rare goals against champions Manchester United (1-1) on December 28, 1994, missed a few games due to injuries and had to go back to the second division after just one year.

There he contributed his personal highest hit rate of three league goals to the direct promotion in the 1995/96 season, remained completely injury-free and already played his fourth play-off game at London's Wembley Stadium within five years - Crystal Palace was with 2: 1 beaten. In his second first division season for Leicester Whitlow got with his team not only on a comfortable place in the upper midfield, but also won the league cup in April 1997 . Whitlow had paid dearly for a win against Manchester United (2-0) in November 1996 with an inner ligament injury and a month-long break before he made his comeback in March and returned to the final win against Middlesbrough FC (1-0 after the replay) the crew was. For 500,000 pounds Whitlow then moved to first division promoted Bolton Wanderers in mid-September 1997 , the club where he had failed at a young age.

Bolton Wanderers (1997-2003)

Primarily obliged as a replacement for the injured Robbie Elliott , he fitted himself into the team structure with calm and controlled presentations, but was still often "left out" with 13 league appearances in the 1997/98 season. Only in the following year - Bolton was relegated back to the second division - he prevailed permanently against the competition in the form of Elliott and Jimmy Phillips . Only a torn ligament put him out of action for a long time at the end of the season for the remaining games. At the end of April 2000 he scored his first goal for the "Trotters" and qualified again for the play-off games. There he was now defeated in the semifinals, where he was red carded in the 90th minute in the second leg against Ipswich Town (3-5 after extra time). His failure in the FA Cup semifinals against Aston Villa on penalties at the beginning of the same month was just less dramatic . He played just a handful of games due to persistent groin problems in the following 2000/01 season, which at least brought the club the longed-for return to the Premier League. He was allowed to join the "show run" in the successful play-off final against Preston North End (3-0) one minute before the end.

Together with the 35-year-old Icelander Guðni Bergsson , Whitlow formed an experienced center-back pair in the 2001/02 first division season and, despite certain reservations in view of their relatively old age, both kept many first division strikers in check surprisingly well, which was ultimately rewarded with relegation . In his final 2002/03 season for Bolton, Whitlow struggled with groin problems for months and was a total of 14 starting lineups before his contract expired in the summer of 2003. Whitlow, who had made himself popular off the field in Bolton through his numerous charitable activities, then left the club for Sheffield United .

Career finale (2003-2005)

With the second division Whitlow signed a one-year contract. Initially planned only as an addition to the defense, he played nine games in a row in the fall of 2003, before he found himself mostly on the bench in the further course of the season and moved on to the next club after just one year. At the fourth division Notts County he was an experienced player in the team that was newly built by coach Gary Mills and played 24 league games. He was then available to the club from August 2005 to May 2007 as a kotrainer. Next engagements followed later for the youth academy of Derby County and from May 2009 as head of the youth department of Mansfield Town . A year later he took on a similar role at the Burton Albion club .

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1992
• English League Cup (1): 1997

literature

• Marland, Simon: Bolton Wanderers - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85983-972-0 , pp. 216 .

Web links

• Mike Whitlow in the soccerbase.com database
• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
• Profile at ozwhitelufc.net.au

Individual evidence

1. ↑ wittonalbionfc.co.uk: Players 1945-2019 Wagstaffe - Zelem , accessed on April 11, 2020
2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-09-180854-9 , pp. 232 .
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1 , pp. 259 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85291-581-0 , pp. 289 .
5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-85291-588-9 , pp. 324 f .
6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-85291-607-7 , pp. 317 .
7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85291-626-8 , pp. 339 .
8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-946531-34-9 , pp. 325 .
9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85291-648-0 , pp. 436 f .
10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-85291-651-0 , pp. 451 .
11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-85291-660-2 , pp. 432 .
12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1-85291-662-6 , pp. 431 .
13. ↑ "Albion aiming to be the center of attention for kids" ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Burton Mail)