Gareth Whalley - Player Profile

Gareth, a former Republic of Ireland B International, arrived at the JJB Stadium on a free transfer from Cardiff City on 14th September 2004. He had been in dispute with the Bluebirds and had been training with Latics for three weeks prior to signing. He had impressed Paul Jewell, his former manager at Bradford City sufficiently to sign him until the end of the league campaign. The Blues were woefully short of midfield cover at the time as Tony Dinning no longer figured in the manager’s plans and Jason Jarrett was injured. He made his Latics League debut on 28th September 2004 against Watford at Vicarage Road in a game that resulted in a 0-0 draw. In total he made 8+1 League appearances for the Blues without scoring. However, he goes down in Latics folklore as a member of the team that took Latics into the Premiership for the first time in their history in 2005.

In July 2005 he signed for League One outfit Swindon Town. and on 9th May 2007, following Swindon’s promotion, he was released, winding up his playing career at Altrincham in 2008.