Whitmore becomes a Jolley signing
Central defender Alex Whitmore left Burnley in January and moved to Chesterfield on a two and a half year deal, but today he’s been on the move again and, following Chesterfield’s relegation, has returned to the Football League with Grimsby Town.
It proved to be a difficult end to the season for Whitmore and Chesterfield. The club suffered a second successive relegation and departed the Football League with Barnet but the writing was on the wall for Alex when the somewhat eccentric Martin Allen, the Barnet boss, moved to take charge of the Spirites and immediately made him available.
But things have worked out well for him. He’s signed for Grimsby whose manager is Michael Jolley, his former under-23 coach at Burnley. He brings with him plenty of League Two experience. Besides the 15 league games he played for Chesterfield, he had previously played a full season with Morecambe in 2016/17 for whom he appeared 35 times in the Football League.
He’s Jolley’s first summer signing and he said of Whitmore: “Alex is someone I know and trust from our previous time working together. He is a very committed player who will give 100% every time he plays. He is still very young and I believe he will develop further and grow with us during his time at Grimsby Town.
“Last season, Alex was with a club who were relegated and I know he is determined to prove he can do well in this league. Knowing Alex as I do, I certainly believe that he can be an important player for us moving forward”.
In his first interview with his new club, Whitmore said of Jolley: “He’s a fantastic manager. He’s a fantastic gentleman, he’s one of the good ones and one of the most knowledgeable football men I have ever met in my life and he deserves what he got at the end of last season.
“His knowledge of every position is unbelievable, he knows what is required from each player, he knew what I needed to do to become a better centre-half and taught me tactical things that I don’t think I’d have learned from other people and I’m forever grateful for that”.
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