text: shaun whalley shaun james whalley ( born 7 august 1987 ) is an english footballer who plays as a midfielder for shrewsbury town . born in prescot , merseyside , whalley played for norwich city and southport as a youth before making his football league debut with chester city in 2004 . after leaving chester , he spent time in non - league football with runcorn f.c. halton and witton albion . while on the books at witton , he spent five weeks on trial with football league one side crewe alexandra but was not offered a contract , so he signed for league two side accrington stanley in 2006 . whalley spent almost two years with the lancashire club , but following his release in the summer of 2008 , he returned to non - league , initially with wrexham . while at wrexham , he had a short loan spell with southport where he helped the team to the conference north play - offs . he subsequently played at droylsden , where he was part of the team that won the manchester premier cup in 2010 , and hyde before joining southport again on a permanent basis in january 2011 . he was signed by luton town in the summer of 2013 for an undisclosed fee , and joined afc telford united on loan in 2014 . both luton and telford won their respective leagues during the 2013 – 14 season , making whalley a winner of both the conference premier and the conference north in the same season . he left luton in may 2015 , later joining shrewsbury . described as an " express - train down the wings " by former team - mate paul mullin , whalley was called up to the football association xi standby squad for a game against hallam , the game taking place to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the club . he is the son of the former preston north end captain neil whalley , who was also a midfielder . early life whalley was born and raised in prescot , merseyside . as a child , he played football for his local teams until 2001 when he was spotted by norwich city . he went to play for their academy , where he played for three years before leaving in 2004 . he subsequently returned to merseyside and joined southport , where he played several reserve - team matches . in the summer of the same year , whalley turned professional when he signed for football league side chester city . whalley 's father , neil whalley , was also a professional footballer in the early 1990s . he too played in midfield and made more than 50 appearances for preston north end , where he was also captain for a period of time . career early career with chester , whalley played mostly for the youth and reserve teams , but he made his football league debut for the club in a 0 – 0 draw with cambridge united on 18 september 2004 , coming on as a substitute for darryn stamp . his debut came just one day after he signed a professional contract with chester ; manager ian rush had only included him on the substitutes ' bench as a result of injuries to daryl clare and michael branch . the following week , he was part of the side that defeated sheffield wednesday at hillsborough stadium in the second round of the football league trophy . whalley made three further senior appearances for chester , all as a substitute , before leaving the club in the summer of 2005 . in august of that year , whalley moved into non - league football with runcorn as one of several new signings for the northern premier league outfit . he made his first appearance for the club in the 1 – 1 draw with frickley athletic and subsequently established himself as a regular first - team player . whalley scored his first goal for runcorn in the 5 – 1 defeat of his hometown club , prescot cables and he netted again the following week in the loss to matlock town . he went on to play 21 league matches for runcorn before joining witton albion in march 2006 . during his short spell with the club , he scored 6 goals in 18 league appearances . accrington stanley in september 2006 , while at witton , whalley spent five weeks on trial at league one club crewe alexandra , but he was not offered a permanent contract . he subsequently joined league two side accrington stanley on loan two months later . whalley made his debut for the club in the 1 – 2 defeat to hartlepool united at the crown ground . however , two weeks later , he was sent off in the football league trophy match against doncaster rovers following a high tackle on theo streete , although accrington manager john coleman felt that the challenge was not deserving of a red card . the subsequent suspension meant that whalley spent almost a month out of the side before returning in late december in the loss to bristol rovers . he made his transfer to accrington permanent in january 2007 , signing a two - year contract with the club , and the following week he scored a late winner in the 3 – 2 victory over mansfield town , his first goal for the team . whalley remained a first - team regular for the rest of the 2006 – 07 season and retained his place in the starting line - up throughout most of the following season , and scored his first accrington goal away from the crown ground in the 8 – 2 loss at peterborough united on 15 january 2008 . whalley made a total of 51 league appearances for accrington , scoring 5 goals , but in may 2008 , he was one of 10 players released by the club . return to non - league in june 2008 , he moved down a division to join conference premier side wrexham . he scored his first goal for wrexham on his debut in a 5 – 0 win over stevenage . whalley followed it up with another goal in a 1 – 1 draw with rushden & diamonds . he scored his third and fourth goals of the month as wrexham beat salisbury city 4 – 1 , which proved to be his last game for that club . he then joined conference north side southport on loan in february 2009 for the remainder of the 2008 – 09 season . whalley made his southport debut in the 2 – 0 win over hyde united at haig avenue . he went on to play 13 league matches for the team as they reached the conference north play - offs , but they were defeated in the semi - finals by gateshead . during the loan spell , whalley played in the quarter - finals of the fa trophy , but he could not prevent southport losing 3 – 2 on aggregate over two legs against afc telford united . in the summer of 2009 , he was released by wrexham along with eight other out - of - contract players . in august 2009 , following his release from wrexham , whalley returned to the conference north to join droylsden . whalley scored his first two goals for the club as droylsden beat northwich victoria 5 – 1 . he added another goal to his tally , scoring in a 2 – 0 win over league favourites fleetwood town , before adding another two goals to his name as droylsden beat harrogate town 5 – 0 . he scored two goals in a match for the third time in the season as droylsden recorded a 5 – 3 win over solihull moors at the butcher 's arms ground . he won manchester premier cup winners medal in his one season at droylsden before he left at the end of the 2009 – 10 season , having scored a total of 15 goals in 32 league appearances . hyde whalley joined hyde on 21 august 2010 after his release from droylsden . he made his debut just hours after he signed for the tigers in a 5 – 1 home defeat to alfreton town . in just his third appearance for hyde , he was sent off in a 1 – 0 defeat to guiseley . whalley scored his first goal for hyde in a 2 – 1 home win over corby town . in early october , while still on the books at hyde , he was called up to the football association xi squad alongside teammate scott mooney for a game against hallam fc to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sheffield - based club . whalley scored his first cup goal for the club in a 4 – 0 win over oldham boro in the manchester premier cup , but less than a week later , he scored an own goal as part of a 3 – 0 away loss to blyth spartans , and was then sent off again for two bookable offences against vauxhall motors whalley scored his first goal of the new year in a 2 – 1 victory over local rivals stalybridge celtic . he scored again in the quarter final of the manchester premier cup against his old club droylsden , which proved to be his last for the club . southport whalley was released by hyde in order to join southport for the second time in january 2011 . he made his debut the following saturday in a 4 – 0 win over york city , scoring southport 's second and fourth goals . on 1 february , less than a week later , whalley scored again in a 2 – 2 draw with grimsby town to take his record to three goals in two games , before being sent off for violent conduct on and later receiving a four match ban . on 26 february after missing the best - part of that month through his suspension , he returned , to start in a 2 – 1 loss to bath city , but he was unable to score a goal . he followed this game up by scoring in his next two , netting in the 3 – 1 win over histon and then by scoring southport 's only goal , in a 4 – 1 defeat to eastbourne borough . he finished march having scored four goals that month , after adding another two in the latter part , the first in a 4 – 2 defeat to the hands of barrow and the other coming as - part of a 2 – 2 draw with rushden & diamonds . he opened his goalscoring account for the 2011 – 12 season on the opening day as part of a 2 – 2 draw with lincoln city . he scored his second of the season in a 3 – 2 win over telford united . on 15 march 2012 , he signed a new two - year contract with the club . he scored a total of ten goals in all - competitions for southport in the 2011 – 12 season , helping them to their highest league finish in ten years — 7th in the conference premier . whalley had a good start to the 2012 – 13 season , scoring two goals in four games , including in a 3 – 3 draw with alfreton town . he went on to play in all but three of southport 's league games , scoring seven further goals and at the end of the season was named the club 's player of the year . luton town on 1 may 2013 , whalley was signed by fellow conference premier club luton town for an undisclosed fee on a two - year contract . he missed a penalty on his debut in a 1 – 0 defeat , coincidentally against former club southport . after failing to win a regular starting place in the luton line - up , whalley moved on loan on 23 january 2014 to conference north side afc telford united , led by his former southport manager liam watson . he scored five goals in 18 games as telford won the conference north title , scoring in the crucial final game of the season . with luton also winning their league , whalley had the unique distinction of being awarded both conference premier and conference north winners ' medals in the same season . whalley played a more active part in luton 's return to the football league , playing in 18 league games , often in the starting xi , and scoring three goals . on 27 april 2015 , whalley and team - mate ricky miller were both arrested by bedfordshire police in connection with an alleged assault following luton town 's end of season awards night . both were released on bail , but were suspended by the club pending a police inquiry . whalley was not charged due to a lack of evidence . on 18 may 2015 , whalley left luton by mutual consent two months before the end of his contract . shrewsbury town following his departure from luton , whalley joined shrewsbury town , recently promoted to league one , on 6 june 2015 . making only sporadic substitute appearances in the early part of the season , whalley had to wait until 28 december to make his first league start for the club , scoring a late winning goal in a 2 – 1 away victory over crewe alexandra . he scored another late winner away at the then - league - leaders burton albion the following month . style of play whalley is a winger but can also play as a striker . on his arrival at southport , manager liam watson said " shaun will fit right into out style of play and with the players we have here " . whalley 's former team - mate paul mullin described him as " an absolute express - train down the wings " , and said that he possessed good ability on the ball . career statistics as of match played 8 may 2016 . honours club droylsden manchester premier cup ( 1 ) : 2009 – 10 luton town conference premier : 2013 – 14 afc telford united conference north : 2013 – 14