Quote Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee View Post
No he didn't. He was shot.

He divided opinion during his first couple of seasons with us, then scored 25 goals in one season, scored spectacular goals from anywhere and was one of the best in the business. Malky tried turning him into a hard working centre midfielder and he probably wasn't the same.

When we won promotion in 2012/13, there were cries from City fans to rest him in the run in as he wasn't being effective. He did get a rest at the end of the season. He was average in the Premier League and didn't live up to his previous brilliance in the Championship after we were relegated.

He was a regular under Slade, yet once Warnock took over, his game time became far more limited, starting only 8 of our last 23 games that season. He divided opinion once more, where some felt his ability with set pieces outweighed his limited ability in centre midfield, where his passing was slow, tackling was feeble and his running and movement almost non-existent. His legs had gone. It was sad to see a legend like Whitts reduced to being a corner taker.

At Blackburn he failed to make much of an early impact and faded into retirement. Warnock got the Whittingham situation spot on. He wasn't missed when he left for Rovers. In fact, we scored more goals from set pieces after Whitts left.

We're best off remembering Whitts during the Dave Jones years, when he was incredible.
My recollection is different to yours. I agree about his early years with the club and his time when Dave Jones was manager, but I can remember thinking that he was a real contender for best player in the Championship during Malky Mackay's first season here when he was converted into a central midfielder - in particular, he was very good in the latter rounds of our run to the League Cup Final.

Whitts was also playing to his usual standard for much of the Championship winning season, but his form fell away in the last couple of months or so of 12/13 and he was never quite the same player after that.

Still, there was an awful lot to admire in his final seasons with us. For example, I can remember a goal against Forest in Russell Slade's first home game in charge and another when we beat Brighton 4-1 which people would have been raving about if they were scored by anyone else, but, because it was Whitts, they were just accepted with the same sort of shrug of the shoulders he'd show after he scored a stunner - a true City great who, even in the most miserable games, would come up with something to get you purring with admiration.