Whitts ticking all the boxes

Pars midfielder Steven Whittaker preparing to use his vast experience in the game to benefit players of the future

It is over 20 years now since Steven Whittaker left Hutchison Vale Boys Club to join Hibs. He would go on to make 243 appearances for the Easter Road club and 209 for Rangers. Success came his way at Ibrox winning three SPL titles, three League Cups and two Scottish Cups. He also played for Rangers in the final of the 2008 UEFA Cup in Manchester, after helping them beat Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina en route.

He played in the Premier League with Norwich City making over 100 appearances for the Canaries. Along the way Steven won 15 Scotland Under 21 caps, followed up by 31 caps at full international level between 2009 and 2016.

There can be few 36 year old professional footballers in the country more suitably qualified to enter the world of coaching. On signing for Dunfermline in June last year, Steven was contracted as a player / coach with the Pars offering him the opportunity to become involved in the coaching side while also continuing to play at a good level.

Steven has made 13 appearances for Dunfermline this season and he has successfully combined that with coaching. He told the website:-

“It has been good. The manager, Jason Dair and Greg Shields have been great with me planning sessions, talking through areas that we need to improve on in the sessions that we can put on. So I’m constantly learning and doing lots on the laptop too.

“It has been good from that point of view, it is all relatively new for me. I have done little bits here and there. Now in the latter stages of playing and I know that my playing career is going to come to an end sometime.

“It is just preparing and getting a little bit more experience of that so when it comes along I am in a better place for it.”

Steven revealed that next stage had become clear to him after he returned to Scotland in the summer of 2017:-

“I made the decision when I came back from Norwich, I had three years to enjoy my spell at Hibs which I did trying to play as much as I could. That took me up to my 36th birthday and then I had a decision, do I keep playing with a coaching role? That is why Dunfermline was a good fit for me, I could continue to play and enjoy putting on the strip alongside the rest that came with it, the coaching side.

“Now it is just a matter of taking it season by season, seeing how the body holds up. Have you got the drive and motivation to keep going for another season? I will face that towards the end of each season whether I decide to play on or not.

“It is one that I am comfortable with, if I think it is time to get involved in the coaching side and see improvement in these young guys who are in the team and doing well at the minute. That will be the choice that I will make nearer the time.”

In preparation for extending his career in football, the Pars player / coach started work on his coaching badges some time ago, he explained:-

“I did the ‘B’ course when I was at Norwich and the ‘A’ course is all be complete apart from my assessment when covid stopped me doing that in the summer. I just have to wait until I can do my assessment and that will be me with ‘A’ and ‘B’.

“After that there is only the Pro Licence but I will wait and see if that is the route that I am going to go down before I go to doing that level. I am ticking all the boxes as I go along and got most of them done. It is good to have that in the bag.”

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