2025-12-28 14:30:37
Norman Whiteside felt “lost” when his football career abruptly ended.
The sportsman was just 26 when a knee injury ended his promising career and he recalled how “strange” it felt the first day he didn’t have to get up to go to training.
He told Telegraph Sport: “I felt, well, just lost. You normally get out of bed and you’re off to work, you go to training.
“And then I knew that day I wasn’t. I was looking out the window and my house had a decent view – big trees, a garden. So, I was looking out and then I just got back into bed and pulled the quilt over my head because I had nowhere to go. It was very strange.
“And the next time I went to the club. Bloody hell, all my boots had gone! I couldn’t even sell my own boots! Every footballer says the dressing-room banter’s the best. And it was. You are keeping fit, every day. Then everything goes. It’s like a shutdown. Where are you going? Nowhere.”
Norman beat Pele’s 1958 record when he became the youngest player to ever take part in the World Cup when he turned out for Northern Ireland in 1982 aged 17 years and 41 days, and he received a special message from the Brazilian legend.
He said: “People say records are there to be broken. But next year [2026] it will be 44 years that I’ve held that one.
“I liken it [the attention] to when [David] Beckham signed for LA Galaxy.
“In the message he [Pele] said ‘Norman, congratulations on beating my record. I hope you go on and have the same success as me and win three World Cups!’”
Despite the abrupt end to his career, the Manchester United star doesn’t feel bitter and is simply proud of what he managed to achieve.
He said: “I was thinking about my stats before I came here: 33 games for Everton, 38 for Northern Ireland and 280 for United. It’s 350 games. And I was out for a whole year at Goodison. I was out for a year at Old Trafford with an Achilles. So, in six years I played 350 games. It’s a lot crammed in.
“The PFA used to say if you had an eight-year career that’s about average for a professional footballer. So, I did it. But I still felt a million miles short.”
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