Theodore Whitmore

Name: Theodore Whitmore

DOB: 05/08/72

POB: Montego Bay,
Jamaica

Position: Centre Midfield

Clubs: Cape Town Spurs,
Violet Kickers, Seba United, Hull
City, Livingston, Tranmere
Rovers.

International Caps: 105

A “Where Are They Now?” almost as controversial as Craig
Faulconbridge. While he might not have suffered the Dunfermline
loanee attacker’s anonymity in the world football conscious, he did represent a
difficult one for our guessing panelists due to his connection, or lack
thereof, with Scottish Football.

Three games: the start of, and ending to, the Jamaican
international’s career in the SPL. Those arrived at the beginning of the
2003/04 season when Livingston were often
signing players past their peak who wouldn’t last very long at Almondvale. We
can only speculate what wages were given to these players to heighten the
allure of West Lothian, but it’s safe to say that rash spending during this
period eventually led to the serious financial problems that saw them demoted
to the lowest tier in league football.

Anyway, when looking back over his career in Scotland there was little we could say because
there is barely a Livingston fan who can
remember Whitmore playing for the club, never mind how he actually performed or
what his style was. For that kind of information we need to look back at his
former stop in British football, Hull
(the lad was all about the glamour), to get an accurate description.

Terrific touch, combative, creative in the final third,
capable of dictating play; all the attributes you would want in a centre
midfielder. Whitmore displayed these at Hull.
Then again, so he should have: the club were in the Third Division (League Two
for another reading this under the age of 12). Jamaica are not exactly an
international powerhouse, but they still qualified for the 1998 World Cup, with
Whitmore in the side, so it’s conceivable to presume that this man’s talents
would have been appreciated at a higher level. And he was certainly
appreciated.

For the three years he was at old Boothferry Park he was a
true fans favourite and the 28 caps he won for Jamaica while employed in
Yorkshire was a club record at the time. His talents did deserve a higher
plateau but off-fields problems and a conflicting schedule with his national
team obligations meant he could not always been counted on to feature in the
starting eleven. Even still he provided some memorable moments for fans during
a time when the club was almost going out of the football league and out of
business entirely. The exotic novelty of having a Jamaican in the side never
wore thin with the home fans often heard to chant: “Is it weed, is it hash, is
it grass that makes you class? Theodore! Theodore.”

In between his time with Hull
and brief stop-over in Scotland
he played for Seba United in his homeland. It would be a club he would play for
four separate times, jumping between Britain
and the Caribbean island as his career petered
out. Tranmere would be his last stay in the British game where he left after
having his contract mutually terminated in what was another disappointing
spell. Fittingly, he retired a Seba United player.

Where is he now? Whitmore stepped immediately into
management after hanging up his boots to manage Seba. He stayed in the position
for two years before taking over the Jamaican national team, initially on an
interim basis and then becoming assistant, before being handed the role
full-time following John Barnes’ departure.

Show: Chewing Your Hoodie