Again, as part of the build up to the Legends night, we reproduce with kind permission, the interview with Steve Whitehall which appeared in the Voice of Spotland earlier this season.

It’s often said in footballing circles that the non-league scene can be a lucrative area in which to pick up players.

Throughout the years you can think of an untold number of players signed from obscure clubs the length and breadth of England who have gone on to become stars in the game. In the summer of 1991, Rochdale manager Dave Sutton decided he’d try his luck in the non-league market and his signing of Southport forward Steve Whitehall would prove to be a shrewd piece of business.

It was an initial investment of £25,000 that enabled Sutton to entice Whitehall away from Haig Avenue. A prolific goalscorer throughout his career in non-league football, Whitehall was desperate for his chance to prove himself at league level. That chance came courtesy of Sutton’s foresight, but it could have all been so different had Harry McNally got his way.

“There were rumours about me leaving Southport for a while, but before I joined Rochdale I actually spoke to Chester City on two separate occasions,” said Whitehall.

“I thought everything was lined up for me to sign for them, but for whatever reason I don’t think Harry McNally could raise the transfer fee. I was really looking forward to the move because it represented such a good opportunity to progress my career, but it all turned out well in the end because whilst Chester dallied, Dave Sutton made a bid for me and I signed for Rochdale shortly afterwards.

“If I’m honest I didn’t have a preference who I signed for; all I wanted was the chance to become a professional footballer and Rochdale gave me this chance, it was as simple as that.”

Whilst most people will associate the wages of professional footballers as being out of reach of the ‘average’ working man, Steve Whitehall actually took a drop in salary to take up the game full-time, as he explains.

“I had a really good job in the Civil Service at the time and playing part-time for Southport supplemented my income. It all added up very well, but my contract at Rochdale fell short of this and meant I actually took a drop in salary to sign for the club. As you’d expect this was a bit of a blow, but such was the chance I was being given I couldn’t refuse it. You never knew what could happen years down the line and I didn’t give it a second thought.

“At the end of the day I knew I had a good education I could fall back on if things didn’t work out. As we all know now this never happened, but it was a chance I had to take and I’m glad I did it.”

Along with a plethora of other signings made by the enigmatic Sutton, Whitehall and the new-look Dale side started the season well. However, perhaps fitting of the diverse ways in which the Rochdale manager went about his business, his new star striker initially took to the field wearing shirt number two!

“This can be summed up in two very easy words … Dave Sutton. Looking back I honestly don’t think he saw me as an automatic pick straight away and in pre-season he preferred to play with five at the back and Andy Flounders up top on his own. Then towards the end of the friendlies our right-back got injured and he changed things around by going 4-4-2. This meant I came into the attack, but in order to keep things simple he gave me the number two shirt. This was the way he worked, but he was the man who was prepared to take a gamble and sign me in the first place so it never bothered me at all what number I wore.”

In Whitehall’s first season at Spotland he scored a credible 11 goals in all competitions. Over half of his 42 appearances throughout the campaign came from the substitutes’ bench, but never again would the popular Scouser be considered as anything other than first-choice.

The 1992/93 season saw Whitehall, who had now donned what would become his famous number 10 shirt, feature in 42 league games. He topped the goalscoring charts with 15 goals and in the process earned himself a new contract at the club.

He celebrated his new deal by once again finishing as leading goalscorer in 1993/94 and this trend would continue until the day he left the club in the summer of 1997.

Despite being the model of consistency in his own right, the same couldn’t be said about the results obtained by his larger than life manager. Never one to shy away from the cameras, it all caught up with Dave Sutton in the autumn of 1995 when Dale fans turned against him. It led to him being relieved of his post at the club, but what did Steve Whitehall, of course a player signed by Sutton, make of it all?

“I was very sorry to see him leave. I thought he was a great bloke and most of the players will share this view. I can clearly remember the circumstances surrounding him leaving because in actual fact it was the first time in my career my manager had left a club. Never before had I experienced a manager leaving and naturally it felt quite strange. I suppose in many ways I had to just get on with it, but I felt for Sutty and was certainly sorry to see him go.

“Whilst we were genuinely saddened about the news it also gave Mick Docherty the chance to step forward. Doc was a great coach and a good man and I thought he’d be very good for the club. He had his own tactics and systems, like all new managers, and we embarked on a good cup run. Our league form wasn’t great, but we reached the area final of the Auto Windscreens Shield before losing to Carlisle over two legs.”

Dale fans will not need reminding about that fateful night in Cumbria when Docherty’s side trailed 3-0 at half-time. Whilst hindsight is a wonderful thing, the decision to kick into the gale force wind by captain Andy Thackeray will not go down as one of the smartest pieces of judgement by a Dale skipper.

“You can have arguments for and against that decision,” said Whitehall. “Before we went out the plan was to keep things solid until the break, but I don’t think I’ve ever played in such a strong wind before; if anything it only got stronger as the half wore on.

“We were just penned in or around our own box for the entire 45 minutes and of course the rest is history. None of the players blames that single decision as the reason for us losing, we were simply the victims of circumstance and as a team we paid for it.”

The 1995/96 season would prove to Whitehall’s best in terms of goal return. The attacking philosophy of Mick Docherty saw the team scoring goals more frequently and a brace in a 2-1 win at Chester City in April were his 23rd and 24th goals of the campaign. By topping the 20 league goals mark in a season he became only the second player since Reg Jenkins in 1965 to achieve this feat.

“It was a good season personally, but a shame from the club’s point of view that in the end we ran out of players. Injuries hit us hard after a promising start to the season and I think if Doc had his time again, and circumstances had been slightly different in terms of the money available to him, he would have done very well.”

Docherty paid the penalty for a disappointing end to the campaign. As attendances dropped, Messrs Kilpatrick and Morris were left with no option but to sack their likeable manager and in his place came Graham Barrow.

“The outlook changed completely. As a striker I want us to attack and try to score goals, but now the team had a more defensive feel to it and I didn’t enjoy it. I still managed to get my fair share of goals along the way, but towards the end of the season I had an operation on my ankle. Despite not playing for the last two months I still reached double figures to take my career tally for the club to 92 (making him the third leading goalscorer in the club’s history), but it was obvious my face didn’t fit.

“Before the season had finished Graham informed me he was prepared to let me go and that he felt I needed a new challenge. I didn’t want to leave, but when a manager tells you something like this it isn’t really in the best interests of your career to hand around for too long.

“It was a real shame that it ended like this and I deeply regret not coming off the substitutes’ bench at Lincoln on the final day of the season to at least be able to acknowledge the fans for the support they had given me. I knew I would never play for the club again and not be able to reach 100 goals in a Rochdale shirt and it hurt me not to get on and say thank you.”

Whitehall signed for Division Three rivals Mansfield Town that summer, a club managed by Steve Parkin. In 48 games as a Stag he scored 26 goals, including the obligatory goal in a 3-0 win over Barrow’s new-look Rochdale side.

“I found Steve Parkin hard, honest and fair. He was like Mick Docherty in many ways, but you always knew where you stood with him. I remember once being fined £20 for being late for training, but when I paid my debts before the game that weekend he told me I could have it back if I scored and we won. I actually scored twice that day in a 2-2 draw, but when I asked for my £20 back he refused because we hadn’t won! So everything was always black or white, never grey; it’s just a shame we didn’t win that afternoon!”

After an injury-plagued spell at Oldham Athletic, Whitehall returned to his roots once again to play for Southport. All the time, however, he’d been mindful of his career after his playing days were over and had by now become a fully qualified physiotherapist. As his playing career started to wind down, he focused more and more on his ability to treat players and to this day he remains a full-time member of staff at the Conference North club.

Photo: Action Images

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