Tottenham spent weeks deliberating on the exit of Ange Postecoglou after he led them to Europa League glory last month.
Eventually chairman Daniel Levy and the board took the decision to part ways, to the ire of many Spurs fans.
But while all eyes were on the Australian, long-serving goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman’s departure was announced without any fanfare.
The 26-year-old joined Spurs a decade ago before being promoted to the senior team in 2017.
Two brief loan stints at Swedish side Degerfors followed but there were zero first team appearances, with the exception of eight minutes in the Europa League in 2020 under Jose Mourinho, for the former England youth international.
It was that competition which Whiteman was handed a winners medal for, as part of the Spurs squad who ended the club’s 17-year trophy drought in Bilbao, despite not playing a single minute.
‘The games are what people see, but the day-to-day you feel part of it,’ he told The Times.
‘It might not be in my appearances column on Wikipedia, but I don’t think you get to a final if you’re not one big team working to achieve something.
Whiteman was handed a Europa League medal after Spurs won their first trophy in 17 years
The 26-year-old is leaving his boyhood club a decade. He joined Spurs’ academy in 2015
The goalkeeper has a keen interest in photography and has even published a self-portrait book
‘I feel extremely lucky, but there is always that conflict because the dream is to be out there.’
Whiteman started for England at the Under-17 World Cup in 2015 alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold, and despite his position as Spurs’ fifth choice keeper, the desire to start has never died down.
While his playing stats are unremarkable, the Englishman’s off the pitch personality has seen him grow a cult status.
Growing up just 20 minutes away from Tottenham’s stadium, near the Broadwater farm estate, football was always his passion.
But away from the sport he splits his time as a DJ, portrait photographer, film club host, and even an actor.
After returning from the Europa League success in Bilbao, he watched Lilya 4-ever, a 2002 Swedish tragedy film about human trafficking and sexual slavery.
He then wrote about it Letterboxd, a film review website where he has left 188 ratings.
His latest was a one and a half star review for the 2001 war film Pearl Harbour, which he described as ‘mostly rubbish apart from the action sequences of the actual attack on pearly harbour.’
He made zero first team appearances apart from eight minutes in the Europa League in 2020
Whiteman has also played live sets at events by clothing brands New Balance and Arc’teryx
In his review for Mission Impossible – Fallout, which he gave four out of five stars, he revealed that he shared an ankle surgeon with both Tom Cruise and Daniel Craig.
Before his reviews became public the 26-year-old had already started a film club at a cinema in Bethnal Green.
He has even published a self-portrait book and a series of his snaps will soon feature in an an exhibition.
‘I’ve always kept my private life and football separate,’ he told The Athletic.
‘I feel the stigma of, ‘You’re a footballer, that’s it, and anything else is a distraction’, which I think is a complete fallacy. You need a broad range of things in life that stimulate you to be a rounded person.’
Whiteman’s father was a jazz guitarist and the goalkeeper performs for NTS Radio, a local Hackney radio platform.
He has also played live sets at events by clothing brands New Balance and Arc’teryx, while last summer he was cast in a play at London’s Bomb factory.
Tottenham’s fifth choice goalkeeper did not make a single league appearance in 10 years
He grew up just 20 minutes away from Tottenham’s stadium and spent a decade on the books
Postecoglou was sacked just 16 days after leading Tottenham to Europa League glory
Spurs wanted to keep hold of a homegrown player – Premier League rules dictate there must be at least eight in a squad, and Whiteman came cheap, earning around just £5,000 a week.
He lasted five managers from Mauricio Pochettino, Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Nuno Espírito Santo to Postecoglou but he won’t stay on as Spurs look set to confirm Thomas Frank.
Despite his off the pitch interests, Whiteman is desperate for more first team action.
But while he is yet to find another club, he certainly won’t be short of hobbies to keep himself occupied in the mean time.
