Tom Whittaker (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas James Whittaker | ||
| Date of birth | 21 July 1898 | ||
| Place of birth | Aldershot, Hampshire, England | ||
| Date of death | 24 October 1956 (aged 58) | ||
| Place of death | London, England | ||
| Playing position | Wing half | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1919–1925 | Arsenal | 64 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1947–1956 | Arsenal | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Thomas James "Tom" Whittaker MBE (21 July 1898 – 24 October 1956) was an English football player, trainer and manager, chiefly associated with Arsenal Football Club
Whittaker was born at East Cavalry Barracks, Aldershot, Hampshire, but grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne from the age of three weeks. He spent his early football career in the North East of England as a youth player, whilst training as a marine engineer, later working in that role for Hawthorn Leslie & Co of Tyneside. He was called up to the British Army, signing up for the Royal Garrison Artillery, in 1917, moving to Lydd in Kent, before later switching to the Royal Navy. He was demobilised in 1919.
In the meantime, he had continued playing football for his regiment, and after serving his country in World War I, Whittaker forwent his engineering career and joined Leslie Knighton's Arsenal in November 1919. He first played as centre-forward then as wing-half. He signed as a professional in January 1920 and made his debut in a 1–0 defeat away to West Bromwich Albion on 6 April 1920 and became a regular in the side in the 1920s, playing 70 times for the club and scoring two goals.
He toured Australia as part of the Football Association side in 1925, but during the tour, in a match in Wollongong he broke his knee cap and was forced to retire from playing. Resolving to carry on in football, he joined Arsenal's coaching staff and entered study as a physiotherapist. He became Arsenal's first team trainer under Herbert Chapman in 1927 (whilst still younger than many of the players on the pitch). Whittaker had an important role under Chapman in reforming the training and physiotherapy regime at the club, and played an essential part in the club's successes of the 1930s.
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