Guy Whittingham has revealed that Yeovil Town did try to buy him out of the Army before he made a move to Portsmouth off the back of a prolific spell in Somerset.

The striker scored 19 times in 23 matches during a six-month spell at Huish in the 1988-89 season whilst a physical instructor in the Army.

Guy Whittingham in action for Yeovil Town against Enfield in April 1989. Picture courtesy of Tim Lancaster.

Speaking to us in the latest episode of the GloversPast, he told us how he paid £450 to buy himself out of his forces’ contract to move to Fratton Park, with Yeovil not receiving a penny for his services.

Whittingham said: “To be fair, (the then-Yeovil manager) Brian Hall was trying to keep me, he wanted to buy me out of the Army and be full-time at Yeovil.

They were talking about some houses down here being built and they could get me one, so they were trying.

But, I had to buy myself out although Portsmouth did give me the money back. They were in the old Second Division, wanting to test myself at the highest level.

The move turned out to be a fantastic piece of business for Pompey with Whittingham going on to become the club’s all-time record goal-scorer.

In the 1992-93 season he hit an extraordinary 42 league goals in 46 games at what is today the Championship and 47 goals in all competitions, breaking a record which had stood for 66 years.

But today, Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is on course of surpass him having scored 34 league goals already this season.

To hear Guy talk about his memories of playing for Yeovil, a prolific career which saw him go on to play for Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Wolves, and his thoughts on the Glovers’ meteoric rise and fall, don’t miss our latest GloversPast.


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