Born on this day is former Sunderland, Stoke and Boro player Dean Whitehead, who captained the Lads for three years.
Dean was signed from Oxford United in 2004, after he was named United's Player of the Year in 2003/04. During his time as an Oxford player, he had been managed by former Sunderland manager Denis Smith and ex SAFC player Ian Atkins. Although we signed him on a free transfer, a tribunal decided that a fee of £150,000 must be payed as well as Oxford to receive 25% of any future sale from Sunderland.
The industrious midfielder quickly solidified himself as a first-team regular, and was often singled out for praise by Mick McCarthy. The utility man, who would also play at right back and right midfield, was an important part of the side that charged to promotion in 2004.05. He scored five goals that season, and they all ended in Sunderland wins. Whitehead played an impressive 43 times that season, and was named Players' Player of the Year.
The following season (the record-breaking 15 point season) Whitehead missed just one game. Despite a distinct lack of quality in the squad, Deano was one of several players who set a good example with a never-say-die attitude. He was given the club's Player of the Year award at the end of the season, although it of course was no consolation following a very poor campaign for the squad.
He would be named captain ahead of the 2006/07 season, where we won promotion under the new management of Roy Keane. He managed exactly 200 appearances for SAFC in his five-year stay on Wearside, never playing less than 28 games in a season - 98 of those appearances being in the Premier League.
Upon leaving Sunderland in 2009 Whitehead did what many players did at the time and joined Stoke City, where he spent a further five years in the Premier League. There were five goals in over 150 games for the Potters, including ten in the Europa League and coming off the bench in their 2011 FA Cup final defeat to Man City.
2013 brought a return to the North East, signing for Boro where he was a teammate of Grant Leadbitter. One goal in 60 appearances, over two seasons at the club, before his final game for Middlesbrough came at Wembley when he was subbed off at half time in a play-off final defeat to Alex Neil's Norwich.
After spending three years winding down his career with Huddersfield between 2015 and 2018 (calling time on a 19-year playing career), Dean moved into a coaching role. He became involved with the youth squads before joining Shrewsbury Town, where after eight months as a coach he became Sam Ricketts' assistant manager. July 2021 brought a coaching appointment at Port Vale, who went on to win the League Two play-off final in 2022, although he would then make the strange path from Port Vale to Besiktas to coach under manager Valerien Ismael. He left the Turkish side when Ismael was sacked three months later. His next destination was Cardiff City, where he eventually became caretaker manager in January 2023 for a spell of two games where his side sufferred two defeats on the bounce. Whitehead currently finds himself in the role of assistant manager at Watford.
