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Aberdeen
have always been a club ready to welcome imports from anywhere and
everywhere all across the globe, just so long as they’re men
willing to wear the red shirt with pride and ready to make a telling
contribution to the future fortunes of the Dons. Even so, any Englishman
willing to take the challenge always has a little extra to prove…
Faced with that challenge, Noel Whelan is fortunate in that he’s
always had that touch of class about his football, wherever he’s
plied his trade. A graceful front runner with that little edge to
his temperament, that touch of footballing arrogance that marks
certain footballers out beyond the norm, even after more than a
decade in the game, Whelan is still a player that can surprise and
delight the crowds with his ability to produce the unexpected, something
that is out of the ordinary.
On top of that, Noel knows all about the importance of representing
your local community on the football field, for that was how he
started in the game a dozen years or so ago, wearing the all white
kit of Leeds United.
“Playing for Leeds was a massive honour for me, a dream come
true. They were the team I followed as a boy, my home town club,
so to go and become a player there was like something out of a book.
A lot of the boys in the squad here can appreciate that because
they’re going through the same thing with Aberdeen and it does
make it that little bit more special whenever you play. It’s
a very proud thing to be able to put on that particular shirt and
represent your club, something you never take for granted.”
Whelan burst onto the English Premiership while still a teenager,
playing for a Leeds side that won the last ever Football League
Championship title, before the Premier League took over. It was
the opening chapter in a sometimes nomadic career, one that’s
taken him to plenty of clubs and one which has brought him into
contact with some of the biggest personalities in football.
“I’ve been through a lot of different managers in my career
and you couldn’t have had more opposite kinds of characters
than the first two I had, Howard Wilkinson and Ron Atkinson. Completely
different sorts of people, great football people and there were
things to learn from both of them because they know football inside
out. All through my career I’ve been lucky that way though
because Gordon Strachan was next up at Coventry, he replace d Ron,
then I worked with the likes of Bryan Robson and Terry Venables
at Middlesbrough, Trevor Francis briefly at Crystal Palace, now
Jimmy Calderwood here, all people who can add things to your game.
As a player it’s good to have different people who can all
give you new ideas, new ways of looking at things and you have to
work out what you want to take away from working with them.
“One of the benefits of playing at a few clubs is I’ve
also had the chance to play with some great players as well as managers,
thinking back to Eric Cantona at Leeds, Dion Dublin and Darren Huckerby
at Coventry, the likes of Alen Boksic and Paul Ince at Middlesbrough,
some terrific footballers and again, you’d be daft if you didn’t
try to learn things from all of them.”
Noel’s career has seen him play for Leeds, Coventry, Middlesbrough,
Derby, Millwall and Crystal Palace, more than 300 games south of
the border, the vast bulk played at the very top end of the game.
“I’ve played in a lot of big games over my career, right
from the start. I was lucky enough to have a decade in the Premiership
which is a real experience, breaking into the Leeds United side
as a kid really and then staying at that level with some good clubs.
It’s a fantastic way of making a living and I’ve enjoyed
every minute of it, playing on the biggest stages, playing in Europe
with Leeds as well, so there’s a lot of good memories there.
“I think looking back, my best, most consistent football was
played at Coventry and at Leeds, those were the times when I was
a regular in the side, I was luckier with injuries than later on
in my career, and I played some good stuff for both of those clubs
over a long period of time, and I felt I had a bit of stability
there. Later on at some of the other clubs I played at, I ended
up playing all over the place and that makes it harder to get your
consistency going, but I’ve had good spells everywhere I think,
but if I had to pick anywhere, I’d say Coventry saw the best
of me. So far anyway!”
As he suggests, at 30, there’s still a lot of football left
in the tank for Noel and the best could be yet to come. There’s
no doubt that he’s been reinvigorated by the move away from
England up to the Granite City.
“Coming up to Aberdeen did surprise a few people I think but
it was a great opportunity for me, I was pleased it came along,
to get the chance to do something fresh. I had offers in England
but I’ve played a lot of football down there and I thought
it was time to try something else. It was a big change to come here,
a big challenge for me but I’ve enjoyed the change of scenery,
it’s done me good. As a player, it’s a short career and
I wanted to see what it was like to play for a club as big as this
one is in Scotland and to play at places like Parkhead and Ibrox
and see what that’s all about. It’s nice to be able to
look back on that when you’ve finished.
“But I’m not here for the ride, the manager said that
he wanted to move this club back up to where it belongs and that
was a challenge that appealed to me. It’s been a good season
and now we’re in a position where we could do the job even
better than anybody expected by getting into Europe which would
be a massive bonus for the club. The way results have gone, with
Hibs winning at Celtic and us losing to Rangers makes it difficult,
but we just need to try to win the last three games and see where
that takes us.
“The move came about pretty quickly and I ended up thrown in
the deep end a little bit because I made my debut against Rangers
right at the start of the season. But that was a nice welcome to
Scottish football, that was the kind of thing I came up here to
do, to play in the big fixtures, to play against the Old Firm and
to experience that. Looking back, it was probably a good way to
start the season as it turned out, for me, for the fans and for
the club itself because right from day one, you’re in the thick
of it, starting with a big game. The result went well for us and
that’s the kind of thing that can kick start your season and
we’ve gone from strength to strength from there. We’ve
had a few little ups and downs, but to be where we are at this stage
of the season is more than anybody could have hoped for when we
kicked off in August.
“Personally, I got off to a good start here, I felt good in
the first few games, scored the winner against Dunfermline, but
then I picked up a few niggling injuries that set me back a bit,
had an Achilles injury then I tore my calf and that’s frustrating.
We haven’t got a huge squad here, we were pushing hard and
I suppose I tried to come back too soon to help the cause but sometimes
that aggravates the problem and you get these niggles.
“But since Christmas, touch wood, I’ve been pretty steady
and stayed fit and I feel like I’m starting to come to my best
form and making a real contribution. That makes it even more frustrating
that I missed out early on because if I’d been fit all season,
I’d like to think the team would have done even better than
we have. Injuries are an occupational hazard really but I’m
back on track now and looking to finish the season off strongly
with a few goals.”
With a season of football in Scotland behind him, Whelan is in a
good position to weigh up the relative merits of the respective
Premier Leagues.
“It is a different set up in Scotland to England, because obviously
there’s more money down south, you’re always going to
get more of the big names there rather than here, but with Chelsea,
Manchester United and Arsenal you’re starting to get the same
dominance as you have here with Celtic and Rangers. But the standard
of football has surprised me, there’s been some good s tuff
played this season and although the crowds are smaller at some of
the grounds, you get just as much passion for the game up here as
in England without a shadow of a doubt – you couldn’t
get a much more passionate atmosphere than you get here when Rangers
are playing us!
“It’s a tough league to be in and I’m glad I’ve
experienced it. The split in the table gets a lot of criticism too
but - and maybe I’ve been lucky the way it’s happened
this year - I think it’s worked out great. There’s hardly
any teams left with nothing to play for, every game is a crunch
match, the teams fighting relegation play each other, the teams
going for Europe do the same, so it’s set up for a really exciting
end to the season, every game becomes a cup final and that’s
great for everybody at this stage. It’s going to be interesting!”
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