Norman Whiteside

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Norman Whiteside (born May 7, 1965) was a Northern Irish football player who represented his country in two World Cups. He played for Manchester United (273 appearances, 66 goals) and Everton, before his career was ended by injury at the age of 26.

Raised in North Belfast, Whiteside became United's youngest player since Duncan Edwards when he made his debut as a forward in the 1981-82 season. The following year, he appeared in both the League Cup and FA Cup finals and became the youngest player to score in both, winning the FA Cup in the process by beating Brighton & Hove Albion.

Whiteside broke Pelé's record as the youngest player to appear in a World Cup, when he debuted for Northern Ireland aged 17 years and 41 days at España 82. He started all five of his country's matches, including the historic 1-0 win over Spain. The opening game against Yugoslavia in Zaragoza was his international debut; he received a yellow card in the second half.

At the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals he scored in his country's only result in the tournament, a 1-1 draw against Algeria. Whiteside won a total of 38 caps and scored 9 times in eight years playing for Northern Ireland.

Despite having moved back into midfield, he also scored the winning goal in the 1985 FA Cup final, curling a shot in from the right hand side in the 20th minute of extra time, to give ten man United victory over Everton, and Whiteside his second FA Cup winner's medal.

Despite such a promising start, Whiteside began to have serious injury problems which kept him out of the team for long periods. Also, Alex Ferguson made a point of improving team discipline when he took over as manager, and Whiteside's drinking was not tolerated as it had been under the previous manager Ron Atkinson. It was this that led Ferguson to sell him to Everton in 1989, against the wishes of most of United's support.

Whiteside started well at Everton, but he was unable to shake off his knee injury. Having had some 13 operations performed on his knee during his career, Whiteside retired from professional football in 1990 at the young age of 26, after a doctor advised him that he might be unable to walk if he continued to play. He had made only 29 appearances for Everton.

Upon retirement, Whiteside studied to become a podiatrist and now works at the Professional Footballer's Association. He is also an accomplished after-dinner speaker.

[edit] Quotes

• "The only thing I have in common with George Best is that we come from the same place, play for the same club, and were discovered by the same man.".
• "If you go out for a beer, all of a sudden it's multiplied by 12. If you're seen walking down the road with a girl, you're having an affair.".

[edit] External links

• Manchester United Legends: Norman Whiteside
• givemefootball with a 2004 report on an interview with Whiteside about his life since retiring from soccer

	Northern Ireland squad - 1982 World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 J. Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 McCreery | 5 C. Nicholl | 6 J. O'Neill | 7 Brotherston | 8 M. O'Neill | 9 Armstrong | 10 McIlroy | 11 Hamilton | 12 McClelland | 13 Nelson | 14 Cassidy | 15 Finney | 16 Whiteside | 17 Platt | 18 Jameson | 19 Healy | 20 Cleary | 21 Campbell | 22 Dunlop | Coach: Bingham

	Northern Ireland squad - 1986 World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 O'Neill | 5 McDonald | 6 McCreery | 7 Penney | 8 McIlroy | 9 Quinn | 10 Whiteside | 11 Stewart | 12 Platt | 13 Hughes | 14 Armstrong | 15 Worthington | 16 Ramsey | 17 Clarke | 18 McClelland | 19 Hamilton | 20 McNally | 21 Campbell | 22 Caughey | Coach: Bingham