Glenn Whelan wrapped up an incredible career as a professional footballer last weekend with a cameo appearance for Bristol Rovers. The tributes from Ireland, Stoke City and Aston Villa supporters proved how highly-rated Whelan was, even if he performed a role that was never sexy or flashy. Whelan was often a lightning rod for criticism for the role he played in unambitious Ireland teams. In this piece from November 2022, Whelan discussed an element of criticism from Dunphy that really stung.
Quite a few people in football have been on the end of criticism from Eamon Dunphy over the years. The pundit was never one to shy away from a controversial opinion during his time on RTÉ, with countless players and managers being the subjects of ridicule over the years.
Glenn Whelan was chief amongst them.
Dunphy was never the biggest fans of the Dubliner, who was a mainstay in the Irish midfield for over a decade. He regularly criticised his performances in green, most notably after a 2-1 loss to Sweden back in 2013.
He’s a terrible player. He can’t run, he can’t pass, he can’t tackle, he doesn’t see anything.
He drives two Ferraris, you get paid a lot of money these days. I'm entitled to say what I think, I never thought he was a very good player.
I think he’s a very lucky lad to have 50 caps for Ireland.
Pretty harsh.
As it turns out, the player involved felt that those comments overstepped the line.
Glenn Whelan on Eamon Dunphy criticism
Speaking at the PFAI awards over the weekend, he was asked about the criticism he received from Eamon Dunphy down through the years. He said that while he accepts that criticism is part of the game, but he felt that the pundit went too far on that particular occasion and revealed why responded to it at the time (h/t Irish Independent):
You have to take criticism as a footballer.
But what I won’t have, and what I will stand up for, is that it got personal. He brought up where I was from and for me that was out of bounds, beyond the limits and I had to stand up for myself.
I had young kids at the time, my parents and family. If it was anything to do with football that’s fine but he got personal. I held a grudge because he got personal.
He mentioned a Ferrari. My wife was giving out to me, she thought I was hiding the Ferrari, behind her back. It’s all about the family, I played football for my family and for my kids.
Glenn Whelan would continue playing with Ireland until 2019, with Mick McCarthy recalling him into the squad after he had been dropped by Martin O'Neill towards the end of his tenure.
Eamon Dunphy would actually warm to him a player towards the end of his international career, admitting that he had been too hard on him in the past during an episode of his podcast a few years ago.
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