Glenn Whelan

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Seasons

Age*

Division

Appearances

Starts

Substitute

Unused

Goals

From

Played Under

Steve Bruce |
Dean Smith |

First Squad Appearance

Debut Appearance

First Goal

Saturday, 24 February 2018

Final Appearance

Saturday, 11 May 2019

West Bromwich Albion (a), Play Offs

Final Squad Appearance

Monday, 27 May 2019

Glenn Whelan

Player #912 for Aston Villa, Glenn David Whelan, played as a midfielder for the club during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 Football League Championship campaigns.

Whelan was born in Clondalkin, Ireland on 13 January 1984.

Steve Bruce had signed Whelan from Stoke City on 20 July 2017 for a fee of £1,530,000.

Whelan made his competitive debut for Villa in the 1-1 home draw with Hull City on Saturday, 5 August 2017 at the age of 33 and he became a first team regular through to December 2017 having made 23 starts in 24 Championship games.

The second half of the season however was much more challenging for Whelan and he lost his place in the side at the turn of the year and would only make another 7 starts for the club through to the end of his debut season.

Ironically however Whelan scored his debut goal for the club in a rare start in the 4-1 away victory over his former Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, 24 February 2018.

Whelan didn’t appear for Villa in the play off final defeat to Fulham on Saturday, 26 May 2018 but had played as a substitute on both legs of the semi final against Middlesbrough.

Despite his lack of match action in the second half of 2017-18, Whelan was named in the starting line up of the opening game of his second season and made 6 starts through to the start of December 2018 as his appearances in 2018-19 proved the mirror opposite of 2017-18.

With the departure of Steve Bruce - Whelan missed a 97th minute penalty in his final game - and the arrival of Dean Smith, Whelan was given a new lease of life and took to Smith’s new system admirably.

Whelan went on to make 38 appearances in his second season and scored his second goal for the club in the comprehensive 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside on Saturday, 1 December 2018.

Once again Whelan wouldn’t appear in the play off final for the second successive season having made his final appearance for the club on Saturday, 11 May 2019 in the Play Off Semi Final win over West Bromwich Albion. In doing so he had paved the way for Villa’s final victory over Derby County and return to the Premier League.

Despite not having influence on the pitch in those crucial games, Whelan had proven an instrumental character on and off the pitch during his two seasons with the club and his renaissance under Dean Smith meant it was with a heavy heart that the inevitable was announced and Whelan would not be staying with Villa in the Premier League.

Whelan was released on 1 July 2019 aged 35 and subsequently went on to join Hearts having made 73 appearances for Villa, scoring twice.