Peter Whittingham

Peter Michael Whittingham (8 September 1984 – 18 March 2020) was an English professional footballer.

His primary position was as a central midfielder, although he also sometimes operated as a wide midfielder on both the left and right.

He was part of the Aston Villa team that won the 2001–02 FA Youth Cup, and a year later he made his Premier League debut.

Whittingham played with Coventry until the age of 16 but was released in 2001 after the club opted against offering him a contract with officials believing he was too small to play professionally.

Coventry scout Ray Gooding, who had argued against his release, instead rang officials at Aston Villa to recommend Whittingham.

After a successful trial, he signed for the Midlands club.

Whittingham signed with Aston Villa in April 2001 and was part of the club's FA Youth Cup-winning team of 2002.

He was handed his first team debut on 21 April 2003 by manager Graham Taylor against Newcastle United, as a half-time substitution for Gareth Barry in a 1–1 away draw.

He made two further substitute appearances before making his first start in the final day of the season in a 3–1 defeat against Leeds United.

Taylor was replaced by David O'Leary ahead of the 2003–04 season, with the Irishman being quick to praise Whittingham's potential.

After featuring regularly during the early stages of the campaign, he scored his first senior goal against Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup third round on 23 September 2003, during a 5–0 win at Adams Park.

After the match, O'Leary commented "I’ve had a good feeling about Peter".

The following season, Whittingham began the campaign as a regular substitute and scored his only league goal for Villa on 6 November 2004, opening a 3–0 win over Portsmouth at Villa Park.

Whittingham had loans at Championship clubs Burnley and Derby County in 2005.

However, he gradually fell out of favour as the side struggled and, on 14 February 2005, Whittingham signed for Championship club Burnley on a one-month loan having not featured for Villa for nearly two months.

Having featured predominantly as a left-sided player during the early stages of his career, Burnley manager Steve Cotterill hoped Whittingham would make an impact as a central midfielder at the club, and hoped that he would do as well as Gary Cahill, another young player they had taken on loan from Villa.

Whittingham made his debut for Burnley in a 1–1 draw with Crewe Alexandra the following day.

Whittingham started all nine matches of his loan spell, seven in the league and two in the FA Cup, before returning to Villa in late-March, despite Cotterill's hopes of extending the deal.

Whittingham started three of Villa's opening four matches of the 2005–06 season, but returned to the Championship on 15 September, joining Derby County on a three-month loan.

He made his debut for Derby three days later in a 2–2 draw with Southampton, making a total of 11 appearances without scoring before returning to Villa in November 2005.

In January 2007, he signed for Cardiff City for a fee of £350,000.

In eleven seasons at Cardiff, Whittingham played 457 competitive matches and scored 96 goals, putting him seventh on the all-time appearances list and ninth among their goalscorers.

In November that year, having been nearly ever-present during the opening stages of the campaign, he signed a contract that would have lasted until 2007.

He finished the season having made 39 appearances in all competitions as a left-sided midfielder, including playing six times in the club's League Cup run where they reached the semi-final before losing to Bolton Wanderers, a match in which Whittingham was later branded a "scapegoat" for his side's defeat.

Nevertheless, he was named Villa's young player of the season for the campaign.

On 11 January 2007, after making just five appearances for Villa since the end of his loan spell with Derby more than a year previously, Whittingham was transferred to Cardiff City for a reported fee of £350,000.

He quickly established himself in the team and was a first-team member until the end of the year, despite competition from Joe Ledley on the left-hand side.

Whittingham began the 2007–08 season on the bench.

By mid-November Cardiff found themselves just above the relegation zone; this prompted a minor reshuffle from boss Dave Jones that involved Chris Gunter and Whittingham returning to the starting line-up.

Whittingham's recall saw him moved to an unfamiliar role on the right side of midfield, but he soon settled into the role and started the majority of the remaining matches of the season, as well as being the team's top scorer (with three goals) during their FA Cup run.

He was named three times in the Championship's PFA Team of the Year, and his 20-goal haul in the 2009–10 season made him the division's top scorer.

During his time at that club they won the Championship in 2013, and reached the 2008 FA Cup final and 2012 League Cup final.

He signed for Blackburn Rovers in June 2017, and made 24 appearances for the club before his contract was terminated by mutual consent in August 2018.

He died in March 2020, as a result of an accidental fall at a pub.

Whittingham was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry.

His father Harry was a well-known fishmonger in the area and was known as "Harry the Fish".

His mother worked as a teacher.

He has an older brother named James who works as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs.

Whittingham began playing football as a youth player with his local side Coventry City, joining the club at the age of seven.

His brother had been playing in the club's youth sides and Whittingham had been noticed playing on the side of pitch by one of the club's scouts.