Adrian Whitbread (born 22 October 1971 in Epping, Essex) is a former professional footballer. He played for Leyton Orient, Swindon Town, West Ham United, Portsmouth and Reading before retiring from playing due to a persistent knee injury. He moved into coaching and worked at Barnet, Brentford, MK Dons and Leicester City.

[edit] Playing career

Whitbread began his professional career as a trainee with Leyton Orient in 1989.^[1] He captained the team at the age of 21,^[2] and helped Leyton Orient to promotion to the Football League Second Division in 1992. He made a total of 155 league and cup appearances for Leyton Orient in four seasons, before joining Swindon Town in July 1993 for £500,000,^[1] and made 38 league and cup appearances for Swindon in the 1993-94 season.^[1] Following Swindon's relegation from the Premier League, Whitbread joined West Ham United in August 1994 in part-exchange for Joey Beauchamp.^[2]

Whitbread's first-team opportunities at West Ham were limited and he made only 14 league and cup appearances.^[2][1] He went to Portsmouth on loan in November 1995 and eventually joined them on a permanent basis in October 1996 for £250,000.^[2] Following knee surgery in the summer of 2000, he was unable to obtain a regular place in the first-team and requested a transfer.^[3] He joined Luton Town on loan in November 2000,^[4] and then went on loan to Reading for the rest of the season in February 2001, before joining Reading on a permanent basis.^[5] He had made a total of 145 league and cup appearances for Portsmouth, in addition to 13 appearances while on loan to Portsmouth in 1995.^[1]

Whitbread signed a two-year contract with Reading in July 2001.^[6] He made 18 league and cup appearances before a knee injury sustained in training in December 2001 ruled him out of the rest of the 2001-02 season.^[1][7] He had a spell on loan at Exeter City in early 2003, where he made seven appearances, but a persistent knee injury forced his retirement from playing football in April 2003 without making any further appearances for Reading.^[8]

[edit] Managerial career

After retiring, Whitbread joined Barnet in June 2003 as first-team coach, assisting Martin Allen.^[9] He later worked as assistant manager at Brentford,^[10] MK Dons, and Leicester City,^[11] all under Allen.^[12] In 2007 Allen and Whitbread lost their jobs at Leicester. ^[12] Whitbread is currently the Assistant Coach of the Puerto Rico National Team.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Adrian Whitbread career stats at Soccerbase