Simon Whaley
Encyclopedia
Simon Whaley is an English footballer who now plays for Chorley
after a short spell on non-contract terms with Burton Albion. He plays as a winger. Before joining Chesterfield he more than 200 appearances in the Football League
playing for Bury
, Preston North End
, Barnsley
, Norwich City
, Rochdale
and Bradford City
.
and began his football career as a trainee with Bury
. His trainer Paul Fortune always encouraged that one day he'd become a premier league player, and still believes it to this day. He made his first-team debut in the Football League Trophy
in October 2002 and made his first appearance in the Football League
on 9 November 2002 as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat at home to Torquay United, and went on to make 85 appearances for the club. After scoring seven goals in the first half of the 2005–06 season, bringing his career total to 11, Whaley stepped up two divisions to join Preston North End
of the Championship
in January 2006. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal for a fee of £250,000 possibly rising to £300,000. He made his debut for Preston as a second-half substitute for Brian Stock
in the League match against Millwall
on 14 January, and went on to make a further 17 appearances that season, scoring three times in the last three away matches of the League season, against Leicester City
, Coventry City
and Hull City
, as North End reached the play-offs
.
He scored three goals in his first six games of the 2006–07 season, grabbing all the headlines from his former Bury team mate David Nugent
, and went on to bag a further three before the end of October. He failed to add to his tally until the final game of the season, when he scored the only goal in the 1–0 win over Birmingham City, which was not enough to secure a play-off place.
Whaley joined Barnsley
on loan for a month in November 2008, having fallen out of favour with Preston manager Alan Irvine
, but he returned determined to fight for his place. However, his next start for Preston did not come until March 2009, and in July 2009 Whaley signed a two-year contract with Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, later reported as £250,000.
Whaley started Norwich's first four games, but then lost his place under new manager Paul Lambert
, and in mid-September he joined Rochdale
on a month's loan. He made his debut against Northampton Town
as a 62nd-minute substitute, and on his first start for the club, scored their second goal in a 4–1 victory over Hereford United. After a second month with Rochdale, Whaley moved on to Bradford City, on loan until 2 January 2010, making his debut on 21 November as a second-half substitute, replacing Scott Neilson
in a 1–1 draw with AFC Bournemouth. Bradford City chose not to extend Whaley's loan, and on 1 February his Norwich contract was cancelled by mutual consent, leaving him a free agent.
After a trial with Oldham Athletic, Whaley signed for League Two
club Chesterfield
until the end of the season.
In November 2010, he started training with Doncaster Rovers to regain his fitness, and due to an injury crisis, he was signed by the Championship club on non-contract terms so that he could take his place on the bench for an away game at Portsmouth
, which Doncaster won 3–2. He was an unused substitute in this game having played no competitive football since March, and subsequently left the club on 12 January 2011.
From 9 February 2011, Whaley went on a second trial at promotion chasing Oldham Athletic but was not successful during the trial.
On the 4th of March Whaley signed for Burton Albion
on a short term contract, and made his debut the following day in the 4-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra
. He left the club in late March after 3 appearances for the Brewers
. Whaley joined Evo-Stik Northern Premier League side Chorley
in August 2011.
Chorley F.C.
Chorley Football Club are a football club from Chorley, Lancashire, England. They were founded as a rugby union club in 1875 but switched to football in 1883. They have reached the FA Cup second round twice in 1986–87 and 1990–91. Their best performance in the FA Trophy was in 1995–96 when they...
after a short spell on non-contract terms with Burton Albion. He plays as a winger. Before joining Chesterfield he more than 200 appearances in the Football League
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...
playing for Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
, Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
, Barnsley
Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...
, Norwich City
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
, Rochdale
Rochdale A.F.C.
Rochdale Association Football Club is an English professional football club based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. They play their home matches at Spotland Stadium. Formed in 1907, they were accepted into the Football League in 1921...
and Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
.
Career
Whaley was born in BoltonBolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
and began his football career as a trainee with Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
. His trainer Paul Fortune always encouraged that one day he'd become a premier league player, and still believes it to this day. He made his first-team debut in the Football League Trophy
Football League Trophy
The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...
in October 2002 and made his first appearance in the Football League
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...
on 9 November 2002 as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat at home to Torquay United, and went on to make 85 appearances for the club. After scoring seven goals in the first half of the 2005–06 season, bringing his career total to 11, Whaley stepped up two divisions to join Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
of the Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
in January 2006. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal for a fee of £250,000 possibly rising to £300,000. He made his debut for Preston as a second-half substitute for Brian Stock
Brian Stock
Brian Benjamin Stock is a Wales international footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Doncaster Rovers. He is known for his vision, awareness, and his play-making and passing ability.-Bournemouth:...
in the League match against Millwall
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...
on 14 January, and went on to make a further 17 appearances that season, scoring three times in the last three away matches of the League season, against Leicester City
Leicester City F.C.
Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...
, 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...
and Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
, as North End reached the play-offs
Football League Championship play-offs
The Football League Championship play-offs are a series of playoff matches contested by the teams finishing from 3rd to 6th in the Football League Championship table. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 6th playing 3rd and 5th playing 4th, with the return fixtures following...
.
He scored three goals in his first six games of the 2006–07 season, grabbing all the headlines from his former Bury team mate David Nugent
David Nugent
David James Nugent is an English footballer striker, who currently plays for Leicester City . Before joining Leicester, Nugent made a total of 228 appearances in the Football League playing for Bury, Preston North End and Portsmouth...
, and went on to bag a further three before the end of October. He failed to add to his tally until the final game of the season, when he scored the only goal in the 1–0 win over Birmingham City, which was not enough to secure a play-off place.
Whaley joined Barnsley
Barnsley F.C.
Barnsley Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Nicknamed the Tykes, they were founded in 1887 under the name Barnsley St. Peter's...
on loan for a month in November 2008, having fallen out of favour with Preston manager Alan Irvine
Alan Irvine
James Alan Irvine , more commonly known as Alan Irvine, is a Scottish former football player and manager, currently in charge of the Everton academy. Irvine played for five different clubs in Scotland and England during a 15 year playing career. He then became a coach, assisting Davie Moyes at...
, but he returned determined to fight for his place. However, his next start for Preston did not come until March 2009, and in July 2009 Whaley signed a two-year contract with Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, later reported as £250,000.
Whaley started Norwich's first four games, but then lost his place under new manager Paul Lambert
Paul Lambert
Paul Christopher Lambert is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of Norwich City. He won numerous trophies as a player, winning the Scottish Cup with St...
, and in mid-September he joined Rochdale
Rochdale A.F.C.
Rochdale Association Football Club is an English professional football club based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. They play their home matches at Spotland Stadium. Formed in 1907, they were accepted into the Football League in 1921...
on a month's loan. He made his debut against Northampton Town
Northampton Town F.C.
Northampton Town Football Club are an English professional football club based in Northampton, Northamptonshire. They currently play in Football League Two, the lowest league division, after being relegated from League One on the last day of the 2008–09 season...
as a 62nd-minute substitute, and on his first start for the club, scored their second goal in a 4–1 victory over Hereford United. After a second month with Rochdale, Whaley moved on to Bradford City, on loan until 2 January 2010, making his debut on 21 November as a second-half substitute, replacing Scott Neilson
Scott Neilson
Scott Steven Neilson is a footballer who plays for Crawley Town as a right winger. He comes from a footballing family being the grandson of Cliff Jones and great-grandson of Ivor Jones, both former Welsh internationals....
in a 1–1 draw with AFC Bournemouth. Bradford City chose not to extend Whaley's loan, and on 1 February his Norwich contract was cancelled by mutual consent, leaving him a free agent.
After a trial with Oldham Athletic, Whaley signed for League Two
Football League Two
Football League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
club Chesterfield
Chesterfield F.C.
Chesterfield Football Club is an English football club based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The club currently plays in Football League One, the third tier of English football. Despite being the fourth oldest Football League club in England, they have spent most of their existence in the lower...
until the end of the season.
In November 2010, he started training with Doncaster Rovers to regain his fitness, and due to an injury crisis, he was signed by the Championship club on non-contract terms so that he could take his place on the bench for an away game at Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
, which Doncaster won 3–2. He was an unused substitute in this game having played no competitive football since March, and subsequently left the club on 12 January 2011.
From 9 February 2011, Whaley went on a second trial at promotion chasing Oldham Athletic but was not successful during the trial.
On the 4th of March Whaley signed for Burton Albion
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...
on a short term contract, and made his debut the following day in the 4-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra F.C.
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional football club based in Crewe, Cheshire. Nicknamed The Railwaymen due to the town's links with the rail industry, they currently play in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football, and are based at the Alexandra Stadium.The club...
. He left the club in late March after 3 appearances for the Brewers
Burton Albion F.C.
Burton Albion Football Club are a professional English football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005...
. Whaley joined Evo-Stik Northern Premier League side Chorley
Chorley F.C.
Chorley Football Club are a football club from Chorley, Lancashire, England. They were founded as a rugby union club in 1875 but switched to football in 1883. They have reached the FA Cup second round twice in 1986–87 and 1990–91. Their best performance in the FA Trophy was in 1995–96 when they...
in August 2011.
External links
- Simon Whaley player profile at pnefc.net