Chris Whyte
Encyclopedia
Christopher Anderson "Chris" Whyte (born 2 September 1961) is an English former footballer. He made nearly 350 appearances in the Football League
for a variety of clubs, and was cap
ped by England at under-21 level
.
Whyte is particularly well regarded in the city of Leeds, where he was a pivotal part of the league title winning Leeds United side of 1992.
, London, Whyte started his career as a youth player at Arsenal
, turning professional in September 1978. A defender
who played at centre half (but also less often at full back), he made his Arsenal first-team debut against Manchester City
on 17 October 1981. He went on to start all but one of Arsenal's league matches that season, forming a strong central defensive partnership with David O'Leary
. Whyte stood out with his coolness and confidence, as well as his timing and good judgement of the game. Whyte continued to play the following season, and won four caps for the England under-21 side
.
However, after Arsenal's shock League Cup
lost to Walsall
in November 1983 (and the subsequent dismissal of Terry Neill
), Whyte was dropped from the side in favour of new signing Tommy Caton
; the emergence of Tony Adams
forced Whyte further down the pecking order at Highbury. He didn't play a single game during 1984-85
(instead being loaned out to Crystal Palace
) and although he had a brief run as an emergency striker
in 1985-86
, he was given a free transfer at the end of that season. In all he played 113 matches for Arsenal, scoring eight goals.
No domestic club offered Whyte a contract, and disenchanted, he left for the United States and played for two years in the Major Indoor Soccer League
for New York Express
and Los Angeles Lazers
. In the summer of 1988, Whyte was offered a return to England by Second Division
West Bromwich Albion
. Whyte made his Albion debut in a League Cup
tie against Peterborough United
in September 1988, and ended the 1988–89 season
as the club's Player of the Year.
Whyte returned to the top flight in 1990, when he was signed for £400,000 by Howard Wilkinson
's Leeds United. He was a near-ever present for the next three seasons, putting in 146 appearances as Leeds won the 1991-92
First Division title. In 1993 he moved to Birmingham City
, winning the 1994-95
Second Division title with the Blues. After a brief spell at Coventry City
(on loan), Whyte left Birmingham in 1996, and subsequently played for Charlton Athletic
, Leyton Orient
, Oxford United
and Rushden & Diamonds
.
He then returned to the United States for a spell with the Raleigh Express
in the A-League
before returning to England to play under former Arsenal teammate Ian Allinson
, manager of Harlow Town
of Rymans League Division One. In 2000 he played for Finnish third-division club HyPS.
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
for a variety of clubs, and was cap
Cap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
ped by England at under-21 level
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
.
Whyte is particularly well regarded in the city of Leeds, where he was a pivotal part of the league title winning Leeds United side of 1992.
Playing career
Born in IslingtonIslington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, London, Whyte started his career as a youth player at Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
, turning professional in September 1978. A defender
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
who played at centre half (but also less often at full back), he made his Arsenal first-team debut against Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
on 17 October 1981. He went on to start all but one of Arsenal's league matches that season, forming a strong central defensive partnership with David O'Leary
David O'Leary
David Anthony O'Leary is an Irish football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United and later he managed Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai...
. Whyte stood out with his coolness and confidence, as well as his timing and good judgement of the game. Whyte continued to play the following season, and won four caps for the England under-21 side
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....
.
However, after Arsenal's shock League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
lost to Walsall
Walsall F.C.
Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...
in November 1983 (and the subsequent dismissal of Terry Neill
Terry Neill
William John Terence "Terry" Neill is a Northern Ireland former football player and manager.-Playing career:Born in Belfast, Neill played as a youth for Bangor, before moving in December 1959 to Arsenal. He spent a year in Arsenal's youth side, before making his debut against Sheffield Wednesday...
), Whyte was dropped from the side in favour of new signing Tommy Caton
Tommy Caton
Thomas Stephen "Tommy" Caton was an English football player.Born in Kirkby, Liverpool, Caton was a centre half who played for England schoolboys, before signing for Manchester City as an apprentice in 1978...
; the emergence of Tony Adams
Tony Adams (footballer)
Tony Alexander Adams, MBE is an English football manager and former player.Adams spent his entire playing career of 22 years as a defender at Arsenal. He is considered one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time by the club's own fans and was included in the Football League 100 Legends...
forced Whyte further down the pecking order at Highbury. He didn't play a single game during 1984-85
1984-85 in English football
The 1984–85 season was the 105th season of competitive football in England.-Bradford City disaster:56 spectators died and more than 200 were injured when a fire ripped through the Main Stand at Valley Parade during Bradford City's Third Division fixture with Lincoln City on 11 May...
(instead being loaned out to Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
) and although he had a brief run as an emergency striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
in 1985-86
1985-86 in English football
The 1985–86 season was the 106th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :The championship crown went to Liverpool for the 16th time in their history at the end of their first season under the management of Kenny Dalglish, but they had to fight off some very stiff competition to...
, he was given a free transfer at the end of that season. In all he played 113 matches for Arsenal, scoring eight goals.
No domestic club offered Whyte a contract, and disenchanted, he left for the United States and played for two years in the Major Indoor Soccer League
Major Soccer League
The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the USA from 1978 to 1992. After the folding of the North American Soccer League in 1984, the MISL was the Division I soccer league for the United States...
for New York Express
New York Express
This article is about the former indoor soccer team.The New York Express were a soccer team based out of Uniondale, New York that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played only one season, the 1986-1987 season. Their home arena was Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum...
and Los Angeles Lazers
Los Angeles Lazers
Los Angeles Lazers were a soccer team based out of Los Angeles that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League from 1982 to 1989.-History:Major Indoor Soccer League awarded a Los Angeles franchise to Jerry Buss on June 24, 1982. Buss had purchased the Philadelphia Fever and wanted to move it to...
. In the summer of 1988, Whyte was offered a return to England by Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
. Whyte made his Albion debut in a League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
tie against Peterborough United
Peterborough United F.C.
Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...
in September 1988, and ended the 1988–89 season
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
as the club's Player of the Year.
Whyte returned to the top flight in 1990, when he was signed for £400,000 by Howard Wilkinson
Howard Wilkinson
Howard Wilkinson is a former English football player and manager, and has recently stepped down as a Non-Executive Director at Sheffield Wednesday after formerly relinquishing the chairman role to Milan Mandaric...
's Leeds United. He was a near-ever present for the next three seasons, putting in 146 appearances as Leeds won the 1991-92
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
First Division title. In 1993 he moved to Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, winning the 1994-95
1994-95 in English football
-Premiership:Blackburn Rovers ended their 81-year wait for the league title thanks to the strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton which scored a total of more than 50 league goals. Manchester United would have made it three league titles in a row if they had been able to turn a 1-1 draw...
Second Division title with the Blues. After a brief spell at Coventry City
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...
(on loan), Whyte left Birmingham in 1996, and subsequently played for Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
, Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient F.C.
Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...
, Oxford United
Oxford United F.C.
Oxford United Football Club is an English association football club based in Oxford, Oxfordshire. The club play in League Two, following promotion from the Conference National in May 2010. The club had been a non-League side since their relegation from the Football League in the 2005–06 season. The...
and Rushden & Diamonds
Rushden & Diamonds F.C.
Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Formed by a merger of Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds in 1992, the club played in the Conference National following a short spell in the Football League at the start of...
.
He then returned to the United States for a spell with the Raleigh Express
Raleigh Express
The Raleigh Express was a soccer club that competed in the United Soccer Leagues from 1993 to 2000. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, the club started as the Raleigh Flyers in the USISL before moving to the A-League in 1997. In 1999, the club was renamed the Express, and in 2000, became the Raleigh...
in the A-League
USL First Division
The United Soccer Leagues First Division was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico....
before returning to England to play under former Arsenal teammate Ian Allinson
Ian Allinson
Ian James Robert Allinson is an English former football player and manager.-Career:Allinson was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and joined Colchester United as a schoolboy in 1974. He spent nine years with them, playing usually as a striker...
, manager of Harlow Town
Harlow Town F.C.
Harlow Town F.C. are an English football club based in Harlow, Essex. The club currently play in the Division One North of the Isthmian League, after relegation from the Isthmian League Premier Division in 2009....
of Rymans League Division One. In 2000 he played for Finnish third-division club HyPS.
External links
- League career statistics at Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
- MISL stats