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| Full name | Ronald Andrew Whelan | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Ronnie Whelan (born 25 September, 1961) is a former Irish footballer who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s.
Whelan was born into a family of footballers from Dublin, Republic of Ireland; his father, Ronnie Whelan Senior, was an Irish international and a key member of the successful St Patrick's Athletic side of the late 1950's and early 1960's.
Ronnie Junior was a skilful and industrious midfield player, signed for Liverpool by Bob Paisley for a bargain £35000 from Dublin club Home Farm F.C. (a regular source for talented Irish footballers used by Liverpool) on the 19th September 1979 and made his debut on the 3rd April 1981, scoring his first goal in the 27th minute of the 3-0 league win over Stoke City at Anfield. This would be Whelan's one and only appearance of the season for the first team, Ronnie, like so many other young Reds, would have to endure an education in the reserves, learning 'the Liverpool way' before he could lay claim to regular starting role.
The following season, after his education, Whelan took residence on the left side of the Liverpool midfield, ending the Anfield career of Ray Kennedy and also taking over his No.5 shirt. It was a stunning season for Whelan, as he settled effortlessly into first team football and helped Liverpool to another League championship. They also retained the League Cup with victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley - Whelan scoring twice in the 3-1 win.
In 1983, Liverpool retained these two trophies and Whelan again scored in the League Cup final, curling a superb long-range shot into the Manchester United net in extra-time to seal a 2-1 win. Whelan then played a major role in Liverpool's excellent treble of League title, League Cup and European Cup of 1984, although he was hampered by injury for a portion of this season.
Liverpool's trophyless season, culminating in the disaster at Heysel, in 1985 was quickly followed by another memorable campaign for Whelan and Liverpool, now under the management of Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool clinched another League title and then added the FA Cup, with Whelan setting up two of the goals in a 3-1 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton, the first time the two had met in the showpiece final, also it was only the third League and FA Cup "double" of the 20th century.
As if to counter this huge success, Liverpool ended the 1987 trophyless, losing the League Cup final to Arsenal. The following year, Whelan switched to a central role following the arrival of England winger John Barnes at Anfield. The season saw Liverpool play some of the best football ever seen as they coasted to the title and FA Cup final, but Whelan missed out. He suffered an injury early in the season and though he recovered, replacement Nigel Spackman played so well in his place that Dalglish kept him in the team on Whelan's return to fitness. Whelan's name and profile was even left out of the official match programme at Wembley for the FA Cup final against Wimbledon, which Liverpool surprisingly lost 1-0.
By now, Whelan was a regular for the Republic of Ireland making his debut on the 29th April 1981, he came off the bench in the 63rd minute of the 3-1 victory over Czechoslovakia at Landsdowne Road.
Ronnie was part of the Irish side which qualified for the 1988 European Championships in West Germany. He was in the team which memorably beat England 1-0, and he then scored a spectacular long-range goal in a draw with the USSR. Defeat in the final group game against eventual champions the Netherlands in the final group game eliminated Ireland from the competition.
An injury to club captain Alan Hansen meant that Whelan spent much of the following season as captain of Liverpool, a role he relished as the club progressed to another challenge for a "double". Then the Hillsborough disaster happened, and Whelan found that his leadership qualities and strength were needed for an entirely different reason.
When Hansen recovered, Whelan was allowed to maintain the captaincy for continuity purposes and it was he who lifted the FA Cup after a 3-2 win over derby rivals Everton. However, he missed the chance to do the same with the League title, with Arsenal taking the championship thanks to a last-minute goal from Michael Thomas.
Liverpool won the League again in 1990 but Whelan's role in the side was diminishing, mainly through a spate of injuries. He stayed at Liverpool until 1994 but an example of his bad luck came in 1992 when he scored the crucial equaliser against Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-final, forcing a replay which Liverpool won on penalties, but missed the final against Sunderland, in which Liverpool triumphed 2-0, because of injury.
On his departure from Anfield, Whelan became manager of Southend United and also worked with clubs in Greece and Cyprus most notably with Olympiakos Nicosia. He now works on the after-dinner circuit and does a spot of punditry.
An interview with Ronnie Whelan, where he discusses his career with Liverpool and Republic of Ireland, is available from EPL Talk at epltalk.libsyn.com
Obviously, a player with Whelan's pedigree is still a firm favourite with Liverpool supporters everywhere. A poll conduted by the official Liverpool Football Club web-site called 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, 110,000 Reds worldwide voted for their top 10 players of all time with Ronnie coming in at, a more than respectable, 30th position.
Career Honours
Honours As Player
Liverpool
Winner
- 1981-82 League Cup
- 1981-82 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1982-83 Charity Shield
- 1982-83 League Cup
- 1982-83 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1983-84 League Cup
- 1983-84 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1983-84 European Cup
- 1985-86 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1985-86 Screen Sports Super Cup
- 1985-86 FA Cup
- 1986-87 Charity Shield (Shared)
- 1987-88 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1988-89 Charity Shield
- 1988-89 FA Cup
- 1989-90 Charity Shield
- 1989-90 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1990-91 Charity Shield (Shared)
Runner Up
- 1984-85 Intercontinental Cup
- 1984-85 Charity Shield
- 1984-85 European Super Cup
- 1984-85 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1984-85 European Cup
- 1986-87 League Cup
- 1986-87 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1988-89 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1990-91 League Championship (Level 1)
- 1992-93 Charity Shield
External links
- Offical Liverpool FC profile
- LFCHistory.net profile
- Ronnie Whelan at Soccerbase
- Ronnie Whelan management career statistics at Soccerbase
- Liverpool seasonal record (Part 1) 1979/80-1983/84 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool seasonal record (Part 2) 1984/85-1988/89 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Liverpool seasonal record (Part 3) 1989/90-1994/95 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Ireland international record 1981-95 at Sporting-heroes.net
- Irish football greats at Fai.ie
| Republic of Ireland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup | ||
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| Republic of Ireland squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup | ||
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- 1961 births
- Republic of Ireland footballers
- Republic of Ireland international footballers
- Liverpool F.C. players
- Republic of Ireland football managers
- Southend United F.C. players
- Southend United F.C. managers
- Olympiakos Nicosia managers
- Living people
- Natives of County Dublin
- UEFA Euro 1988 players
- UEFA European Football Championship goalscorers
- FIFA World Cup 1990 players
- FIFA World Cup 1994 players