Out of all the players from the 1993 squad, it hurt the Leeds fans most to lose Whelan; and it hurt Whelan the most to leave. For Noel Whelan was Leeds born, and a Leeds fan to the core. “I got a call from Howard Wilkinson on a Sunday morning to say can you come in,” Noel told TSB, when we asked about the move to Coventry. “Straight away I was sitting in my bed crying because I knew it was happening. I went into his office and he said they’d accepted an offer and I walked out, Billy Bremner hugged me and… you know, it still gets me now.” As Whelan rose to success at Coventry, and then struggled to find a home among a series of clubs after leaving Middlesbrough, there remained a sense that Noel really should still have been playing for us. “You never forget where your heart is,” said Noel. “I only ever scored once against Leeds and I didn’t celebrate, but the Leeds fans did, which says it all really.” When Snowy left the Leeds fans had an uneasy sense that yet again the heart of the club was being sold out; like the clear-out of Gray’s team in the mid-eighties, like David Batty in 1993, and like Alan Smith to come in 2004, the board always seemed ready to sell our own. … Continue Reading