Former Leeds, Coventry and Middlesbrough player Noel Whelan slammed Aston Villa boss, Dean Smith, for disrespecting Aston Villa players after Smith said two of his players may not be able to play again this season because one of them is asthmatic while the other lives with a vulnerable family member.
Noel Whelan said “Are you telling me that one football club is governed by two players and that makes them weak? No! If you’re saying that, then that’s disrespectful to the rest of the players that you’ve got at your football club. It’s a team game and it takes 22 of the squad to be successful, not one or two. If we said we’re not Leeds United without Kalvin Phillips and Pablo Hernandez, that would be disrespectful to the players sitting on the bench or in the squad fighting for a position. Look, put faith in your players – you’re losing two players, not 11 or 15. You’re losing two. I would be very disgruntled if I was one of the players with him thinking I can’t do that job if I’m somebody to replace one of these two players.”
