Dean Whitehead

Dean Whitehead (born 12 January 1982) is an English former professional footballer. He was first-team coach at Shrewsbury Town from 16 November 2019 until 25 August 2020 and assistant manager from 25 August 2020 to 25 November 2020.

Playing career
Whitehead was born in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He played primarily as a central midfielder, but could also play as a right-back. As a youth player, he spent time at the youth setup of local side Abingdon Town before joining the academy at Oxford United. In 1999, he made his senior debut for The U's and would stay at the club until 2004 where he joined Sunderland on a free-transfer. Whitehead spent five years at the Stadium of Light and made 185 league appearances, scoring 13 league goals. In 2009, Whitehead joined Stoke City for an original fee of £3 million, however this rose to £5 million after add-ons. He would go on to make 132 league appearances for The Potters, netting 3 league goals. In 2013, he returned to the North East, this time signing for Championship side Middlesbrough, managed by Tony Mowbray, on a two-year deal. He would spend just under two full years at the Riverside Stadium before signing for Huddersfield Town in June 2015. At the end of the 2017–18 season, Whitehead announced his retirement from football. His last appearance of his football career was as a late substitute against Arsenal on the last game of the season. Huddersfield lost 0–1.

Pre-STFC coaching career
After retiring, Whitehead took up a coaching role at Huddersfield under manager David Wagner after earning his UEFA A coaching license. By October 2019, he took charge of Huddersfield Town's under-17 academy team.

STFC career
Whitehead only spent a relatively short amount of time at New Meadow. He first joined Sam Ricketts' backroom staff as first-team coach on 16 November 2019, replacing Joe Parkinson. On 25 August 2020, Whitehead was promoted to assistant manager after the departure of Graham Barrow and Jon Pitts. His role as assistant manager lasted exactly 3 months as on 25 November 2020, Whitehead and Ricketts were relieved of their duties as Town sat second-bottom of the League One table with only 1 win in 13 league games.