Noel Whelan

By the end of that season, he had managed eight goals from 21 league games for the Sky Blues, who secured Premier League safety by finishing 16th.

He also scored an own goal against his former club Coventry on his 26th birthday.

The match ended up in a 1–1 draw.

Noel David Whelan (born 30 December 1974) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and radio co-commentator.

As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Leeds United, Coventry City, and Middlesbrough.

He also played in the Scottish Premier League with Aberdeen, Livingston, and Dunfermline Athletic, and in the Football League for Crystal Palace, Millwall, Derby County, Boston United, and Darlington.

He also had spell in Non-league football with Harrogate Town and was capped twice by England U21, scoring once.

He now works as a matchday co-commentator for all Leeds United games on BBC Radio Leeds.

He was also a former academy coach for Derby County.

Born in Leeds, Whelan started off with his professional career at home town team Leeds United.

Whelan revealed he had held out for Leeds to sign him (the club he supports) after having trials at Arsenal, Manchester United, and Everton, coming through the Leeds youth team with a number of other talented youngsters who beat a Manchester United team boasting David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Keith Gillespie, Phil Neville and Gary Neville both home and away in the FA Youth Cup Final.

Turning professional in March 1993, he made his debut in the first season of the FA Premier League, in a 1–1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday on 4 May 1993.

The following season, he made 16 league appearances but failed to score.

He had a promising 1994–95 season, finishing among the club's highest scorers where he scored seven goals in 23 league games, but lost his place to new signing Tony Yeboah halfway through the season.

During his time at Leeds, he was capped twice by the England U-21 side in 1994, scoring once.

On 16 December 1995, after making eight goalless appearances in the league 1995–96 season, Whelan was signed by Coventry City manager Ron Atkinson for £2million.

Atkinson's assistant Gordon Strachan, who had joined Coventry from Leeds the previous season, played a big role in securing the signing.

Whelan made his debut in midfield in a 4–1 local derby defeat against Aston Villa at Villa Park.

In his second game, against Everton at Coventry's Highfield Road stadium, Whelan played as a striker alongside Dion Dublin, and scored the winning goal with a cool finish, which would become his trademark for the rest of the season.

Further goals came in the away win at Burnden Park against Bolton Wanderers, and in the New Year's Day home draw with Southampton.

The latter was a "Goal of the Month" contender on the BBC's Match of the Day.

It saw Whelan dribble the ball from just inside the Southampton half, and beat several players before shooting past the keeper.

Whelan played regularly for the Sky Blues throughout the 1996–97 season without providing the spark of the previous season, as the club again struggled to avoid relegation, with Ron Atkinson becoming director of football and Gordon Strachan being promoted to the manager's seat in November.

His reputation as the bright young thing was usurped by his new strike partner Darren Huckerby.

Whelan still managed six goals from 35 league games that season.

The Sky Blues' form improved markedly in the 1997–98 season as they rose to mid-table respectability in the Premiership under manager Gordon Strachan, with Noel Whelan playing a key role in midfield.

With Dublin and Huckerby scoring regularly upfront, Whelan played in a wide left midfield role, scoring the opener in a notable home win over Manchester United, and the home draw with Arsenal.

Whelan started the 1998–99 season in midfield, but moved back upfront following the departure of Dion Dublin to Aston Villa.

Back in an attacking position, Whelan struck up a good partnership with Darren Huckerby, bringing his best goal return (10 in 31 Premier League games) in the process, and prompting some Coventry City fans to demand his inclusion in the England national team squad.

Coventry fans were expecting a great deal of the Whelan-Huckerby partnership in the 1999–2000 season but were to be disappointed as first Whelan sustained a bad injury in pre-season and Huckerby was sold to Leeds United.

Whelan would miss most of the first half of the season as Gordon Strachan built an exciting new team featuring Robbie Keane, and the Moroccan duo Moustapha Hadji and Youssef Chippo.

Whelan did manage to get back into the team near the end of the season but it was clear he was no longer first choice, with Keane and Cedric Roussel establishing themselves as first choice strikers.

Whelan made a total of 124 league appearances for Coventry in nearly five years there, scoring 31 goals.

On 4 August 2000, Whelan was sold to Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough for £2.2million.

His debut was at Highfield Road as a substitute in Boro's 3–1 victory on the opening day of the 2000–01 season.

The three-year spell with Boro would be the last time Whelan would feature prominently for a club for more than one season.

He did, however, enjoy a brilliant run of form, possibly the best of his career, which includes a goal against Manchester United in the FA Cup fourth round in Middlesbrough's 2–0 victory, after which he celebrated by simply giving the "Leeds Salute", because of his love of the West Yorkshire club and their bitter rivalry with his opponents that day.

He had limited chances in the league, though, appearing in just 19 out of Middlesbrough's 38 Premier League matches in the 2001–02 season, scoring four times.

He would appear 15 times for Middlesbrough in the 2002–03 league campaign, scoring once.

Following a short loan spell with Crystal Palace, where he netted three times in eight appearances, Whelan left Middlesbrough to join Millwall, managing four goals in fifteen appearances.