I could not see Tony Yeboah being dropped for me.”So it was off to Coventry, the club that nearly broke Whelan’s heart when, as a 12-year-old at Hillsborough, he watched them defeat Leeds in the 1987 FA Cup semi-final.”Had it been a First Division club I do not think I would have gone. But it is obviously disappointing when you see they are after another striker You think: ‘That’s me down another peg’ It is not very encouraging. I knew when they signed Tomas I would have to get my career on the road with another club. It is not a case of having to show what I can do in training all the time to try and get in.”Big clubs like Leeds are always going to buy players.

I was leaving mum and dad, friends and family, and the club I had supported as a kid. It took a hard couple of days to get over it but I am settled in now and am enjoying myself. I feel part of the squad for once and I know I will be in the side. Much of that is due to the 21-year-old’s six goals in nine Premiership games.
Those goals have not gone unnoticed in Leeds, especially as Tomas Brolin, whose arrival precipitated Whelan’s departure, has hardly been a roaring success. The Swede cannot even gain a place in a team which has managed four goals in six games.Leaving Leeds hurt Whelan at the time – he was on the brink of tears as he cleared out his locker – but, bolstered by his subsequent success, he can now look back with equanimity.”It was a wrench to leave.

Instead of playing at Elland Road tomorrow for Leeds, his first and home town club, he will be playing today, at Highfield Road, for a Coventry City side eager to maintain Middlesbrough’s slide. While Boro have tumbled, Coventry have clawed their way out of the bottom three since Whelan arrived in December. Nearby someone will think: ‘What’s he doing here?’ Then he might think, especially if the shot has gone wide: ‘Why isn’t he out there?’ And Whelan just might think the same. We will have to see how he is in the morning – he was sound when we walked him away – before deciding whether to go to Cheltenham There isn’t time for an other race now.”. At some stage during tomorrow’s Coca-Cola Cup semi-final, probably as a Leeds United forward shoots for goal, Noel Whelan will leap out of his seat ready to celebrate.

“That was the worst thing that could have happened,” trainer Malcolm Jefferson said after his five-year-old’s fall.
“He pinged the hurdle but just knuckled and was gone. Mysilv consolidated his claims for the Champion Hurdle on 12 March with an easy 10-length win from Soloman’s Dancer at Haydock yesterday. Charlie Egerton, her trainer, said the mare wanted soft ground at Cheltenham. But Festival ambitions for Dato Star, the second-favourite in yesterday’s race, looked in tatters. Second Favourites -pounds 5.50Percentage of winners placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in last race: 63%Shortest-priced winner: Twin Oaks 7-4 (1991)Longest-priced winner: Party Politics 16-1 (1993)Top trainer: G Richards (2) – Rinus (1990), Twin Oaks (1991)Top jockey: No jockey has won this race more than once in the last 10 yearsKey: A = Abandoned; 1&2 = jt-favourites finished 1st and 2nd; jt1 = joint favourite.