Norman Whiteside

Manchester United

A few days before Whiteside was old enough to sign schoolboy terms with Manchester United, he was offered a trial at Liverpool, causing United's chief scout Joe Brown to fly over to Belfast to immediately offer him the schoolboy contract to sign. Whiteside remained in Belfast, and flew over to Manchester every weekend for training. From the age of 14 he was constantly compared to George Best (by that time in the twilight of his career), and Whiteside did little to discourage such comparisons when he told a journalist that "the only thing I have in common with George Best is that we come from the same place, play for the same club and were discovered by the same man". His injury problems started as early as 1980, when he was 15 years old and saw Glentoran's physio Bobby McGregor to resolve a groin strain; Whiteside said that the highly physical massage to which he was subjected damaged his pelvis and robbed him of his natural pace. His lack of pace was later seen as the one weakness in his game. Six weeks into his apprenticeship, in July 1981, and an innocuous looking challenge by a Preston North End player in an 'A' team game saw Whiteside requiring an operation on his right knee. Had the injury occurred a couple of years later he would have been able to have pioneering keyhole surgery, which could potentially have saved his career. After a seven-month lay-off and a further operation to remove cartilage, he returned to fitness in January 1982. He…

Whiteside broke Pelé's record as the youngest player to appear in a World Cup, when he debuted for Northern Ireland aged 17 years and 41 days at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. When selected for the World Cup squad by manager Billy Bingham, he had played just two competitive games at club level. The opening game against Yugoslavia at the La Romareda in Zaragoza on 17 June was his international debut; he received a yellow card in the second half for a challenge on Nenad Stojković, and the game finished goalless. Five days later he helped his side to a 1–1 draw with Honduras, which was a disappointment, and many believed had doomed Northern Ireland's chances of advancing in the competition. They needed a win against hosts Spain in the third and final group game at the Mestalla Stadium in Valencia. They faced a partisan atmosphere with a mostly Spanish crowd and a Spanish speaking referee in Héctor Ortiz who was unwilling to punish dirty play from the Spanish players. However a mistake from goalkeeper Luis Arconada gifted Gerry Armstrong the only goal of the game, and despite having Mal Donaghy sent off on 60 minutes, Northern Ireland went on to record a 1–0 win. Whiteside played at left-midfielder for the 2–2 draw with Austria at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. A win against France would take them into the semi-finals, however a French team inspired by Michel Platini won 4–1 and therefore eliminated Northern Ireland from the competition. He featured in qualifying for UEFA Euro…

Club

International

Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Whiteside goal.

He married English-born wife Julie on 4 October 1987; the two had met when Whiteside was 16 and she was 20. The couple had three children: Della, Blaine and Clodagh. The marriage ended in 2001 and Whiteside subsequently remarried, to Denise. He became a grandfather in 2023 when Blaine had a daughter. Upon retirement, Whiteside studied to become a podiatrist, graduating with a degree from the University of Salford, and served Northwich Victoria as their assistant manager and physiotherapist from October 1991 until March 1992. He quit the role as he did not enjoy the amount of time spent travelling between games. During his playing career, he had attended courses at Lilleshall to qualify for his coaching badges, but he did not wish to go into coaching. He instead became an after-dinner speaker. He also worked for the Professional Footballers' Association, while taking a postgraduate course at Manchester Metropolitan University. He later took up private practice as a podiatrist in Manchester. Since 1994, he has also worked at the corporate hospitality department at Old Trafford. In 2003, he released a book entitled My Memories of Manchester United. With the help of writer Rob Bagchi, he released his autobiography entitled Determined in August 2007, published by Headline, and with a foreword by actor James Nesbitt. When Saturday Comes magazine reviewer Joyce Woolridge wrote that "Determined is an entertaining, well written account of one of the less ordinary 1980s footballers,…