Steve Whitworth

Stephen Whitworth (born 20 March 1952) is an English former professional footballer who made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League playing for Leicester City, Sunderland, Bolton Wanderers and Mansfield Town. He was capped seven times for England.[3]

Steve Whitworth
Personal information
Full name Stephen Whitworth[1]
Date of birth (1952-03-20) 20 March 1952
Place of birth Coalville, Leicestershire, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
– Leicester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1970–1979 Leicester City 353 (0)
1979–1981 Sunderland 83 (0)
1981–1983 Bolton Wanderers 67 (0)
1983–1985 Mansfield Town 80 (2)
1985–1989 Barnet
National team
1971–1975 England U23 6 (1)
1975 England 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Whitworth was born in Coalville, Leicestershire. He began his career with his local club, Leicester City, with whom he made his debut as an 18-year-old in a 4–0 win against Bristol City on 2 September 1970. Predominantly a right back, he spent nine seasons as a first-team regular with Leicester[4] before being sold to Sunderland in March 1979 for a fee of £120,000.[5] In his first season for Leicester, Whitworth was a member of the team that won the Football League Second Division, whereafter Leicester remained in the top flight until 1978. Whitworth scored the goal which won the Charity Shield for Leicester in 1971, a year in which the Second Division champions were invited to play the FA Cup runners-up, Liverpool, owing to the European commitments of Arsenal, who had done the Double during the previous season.[6][7]

Whitworth helped Sunderland to promotion from the Second Division in his second season with the club, 1979–80, the team finishing second behind his former club Leicester City. In total Whitworth spent two-and-a-half years with Sunderland before moving to Bolton Wanderers in October 1981.[5] He spent two seasons with Bolton, but left the club in the summer of 1983 following Bolton's relegation to the Third Division.[8] He spent two seasons with Mansfield Town before joining Conference National club Barnet,[3] where he was appointed assistant manager to Barry Fry during his second season with the club.[9]

International career

Whitworth was capped six times, scoring once, for England under-23.[10] Following Don Revie's decision to drop Emlyn Hughes in 1975, Whitworth was given the opportunity to fill the right-back role for the senior England team, which had become something of a problem position. Whitworth made his debut in a 2–0 friendly win against West Germany on 12 March 1975, and went on to start six of England's next eight games. Whitworth's last international appearance came in a 1–1 draw against Portugal in a European Championship qualifying match on 19 November 1975. Revie gave international debuts to three young right backs during 1976, Trevor Cherry, Dave Clement and Phil Neal, and Whitworth was never recalled to the England squad.[11][12]

References
  1. "Stephen Whitworth". Englandstats. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  2. Rollin, Jack, ed. (1990). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1990–91. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 147. ISBN 0-356-17911-7.
  3. "Steve Whitworth". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  4. "Steve Whitworth Leicester City FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  5. "Steve Whitworth Sunderland FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  6. Moore, Brian (9 August 1971). "Leicester's win suggests season of achievement". The Times. p. 8. ...a nicely built move after 15 minutes provided Leicester's young full back, Whitworth, with the only goal and ample reward for his challenging run out of defence. He was at the far post to tap in Fern's short pass with the Liverpool defence stretched beyond bursting point.
  7. "The forgotten story of … Leicester City winning the 1971 Charity Shield". Guardian. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  8. "1980–1999". Bolton Wanderers F.C. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  9. "The Barry Fry Years – Part Four 1985/86 and 1986/87 seasons". History of Barnet FC. Barnet Football Club Supporters Association. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  10. Courtney, Barrie (27 March 2004). "England – U-23 International Results- Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  11. Rudd, Matthew. "Steve Whitworth England". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  12. "Stephen Whitworth". The Football Association. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
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