Stuart Whitehead
Encyclopedia
Stuart Whitehead is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer who plays for AFC Telford United
A.F.C. Telford United
A.F.C. Telford United are an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire, playing in the Conference National league at the fifth level of the English football pyramid. The club plays its home matches in Wellington, which forms part of the new town of Telford...

. He plays as a right-back or centre-back
Defender (football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

.

Career

Born in Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...

, Whitehead began his career at his hometown club Bromsgrove Rovers
Bromsgrove Rovers F.C.
Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. were a non-League football club from the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. The peak of the club's success was in 1993 when Rovers finished runner-up in the Football Conference...

. After a season with the club, he joined then-Premiership
FA Premier League
The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...

 Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

 in 1995 on a free transfer.

Bolton were relegated in his first season with them, but won promotion back to the Premier League in the following season. After another top-flight season, Bolton and Whitehead parted company, with Whitehead never appearing for the club.

A regular starting role at Carlisle United
Carlisle United F.C.
Carlisle United F.C. is an English football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, where they play at Brunton Park. Formed in 1904, the club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system....

 followed, with Carlisle spending the whole period near the bottom of 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...

. He appeared in the famous Jimmy Glass
Jimmy Glass
James "Jimmy" Glass is a former football goalkeeper. Glass is remembered for scoring the last-minute goal which kept Carlisle United in the Football League in 1999...

 game against Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

, in which the goalkeeper scored in the 94th minute to keep Carlisle United
Carlisle United F.C.
Carlisle United F.C. is an English football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, where they play at Brunton Park. Formed in 1904, the club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system....

 in the Football League. A ten-month spell at Darlington
Darlington F.C.
Darlington Football Club is a professional association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, currently playing in the Conference National. The club was founded in 1883, and originally played its games at Feethams, before moving to the Darlington Arena in 2003...

 followed before Whitehead dropped down to the Football Conference
Football Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...

 in August 2003 for a season with Telford United
Telford United F.C.
Telford United F.C. was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire.The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was founder members of the Alliance Premier League in 1979 and played at this level for 25 years before being wound up in...

. Telford, and their chairman, were to go bankrupt at the end of the season, so Whitehead made the short move to newly-promoted (to 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....

) Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town F.C.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...

.

In his two seasons with the club, Whitehead became Shrewsbury's first-choice right-back, making 70 appearances for the Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

 club. However, on 14 April 2006 he was released by Shrewsbury to allow the emergence of Gavin Cadwallader
Gavin Cadwallader
Gavin James Cadwallader is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Airbus UK Broughton in the Welsh Premier League...

. Whitehead agreed to join Conference club Kidderminster Harriers on a two-year contract in the summer of 2006.

In his first season Whitehead played well and was a vital part of the FA Trophy run to the finals. He led the team out on 12 May hoping to lift the trophy but, unfortunately he will go down in history as the first captain to lose a competitive match at Wembley.

Whitehead left Kidderminster by mutual consent on 31 January 2008 and subsequently made his return to the New Bucks Head
New Bucks Head
New Bucks Head is a stadium in Telford, England and the home of Conference National football club A.F.C. Telford United. It was originally built for Telford United to play at before they went bankrupt. The stadium is on the same site as the original Bucks Head, which had been home to Telford...

, signing an 18-month deal with Conference North
Conference North
The Conference North also known as Blue Square Bet North for sponsorship reasons, is a division of the Football Conference in England, taking its place immediately below the Conference National. Along with Conference South it is at Step 2 of the National League System and the sixth overall tier of...

 side AFC Telford United
A.F.C. Telford United
A.F.C. Telford United are an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire, playing in the Conference National league at the fifth level of the English football pyramid. The club plays its home matches in Wellington, which forms part of the new town of Telford...

.

At the start of the 2008/2009 season, Stuart got named the New AFC Telford Captain. At the end of the 2009/2010 season, following the dismissal of Rob Smith, Stuart was named caretaker manager for Telford's final game of the season, a 3-1 defeat away to Vauxhall Motors.

External links

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