Tributes paid to Ipswich Town and Diss Town great Trevor Whymark, 74, who died after battle with Alzheimer's disease
Tributes are beginning to pour in for former Ipswich Town and Diss Town star Trevor Whymark following the 74-year-old’s death this morning being confirmed after a battle Alzheimer’s disease.
The one-cap England striker was signed by Sir Bobby Robson from Diss Town FC in 1969 and went on to score 104 goals in 335 games for the Tractor Boys before joining Derby County in 1979.
After retiring from the professional game – having played in Holland (Sparta Rotterdam, loan), north America (Vancouver Whitecaps) as well as taking in spells at Southend United, Peterborough United and Colchester United – he had a year as player-manager back at Diss, before taking on youth coaching roles. One of those was back at Ipswich’s academy.
The family of the Burston-born footballer, revealed to SuffolkNews’ sister title the Diss Express in April last year how he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in late 2019. It came after he began to display signs of memory loss.
On the pitch, Whymark wrote his name into Town folklore by scoring four goals in three separate matches for the Suffolk side: in the 4-0 UEFA Cup thrashing of Lazio at Portman Road in 1973; against West Bromich Albion in a 7-0 victory and, again in the UEFA Cup, against Swedish side Landskrona.
His place in the club’s history was recognised in 2021 when he was inducted into the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame.
Whymark was a member of Sir Bobby Robson’s team which won the Texaco Cup in 1973 but missed out on playing in the 1978 FA Cup final victory against Arsenal at Wembley due to injury. He subsequently did return to play at the national stadium in the Charity Shield defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Another great moment came for Whymark when he won a full England cap while with the Blues, having previously played at U23 level, in a 2-0 victory in Luxembourg in 1977. He got to share the moment in which Paul Mariner scored his first international goal and could end up saying it came in Kevin Beattie’s final game for the Three Lions.
Ipswich Town led the tributes with a statement posted at shortly before 5pm which read: “The club was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Trevor Whymark earlier this week at the age of 74.
“One of the real giants of Bobby Robson’s first great side of the 1970s, he was discovered while playing for Norfolk against Suffolk in a county youth fixture, and quickly made the move to the right side of the border from there.
“He made his debut for Town at just 19, wearing the number nine shirt against Manchester City on 28 February 1970, his first goal for the Blues coming the following month in a 2-0 win over Sunderland.
“After sporadic appearances over the next couple of years, Trevor really established himself in the side in the 1972/73 season, playing 53 games, missing just one, and excelling as Town won the Texaco Cup – he scored five times in eight ties in that competition, including one in the second leg of the final against Norwich.
“From there, he was rarely out of the side, establishing deadly partnerships first with David Johnson and then with Paul Mariner. Whymark was often the foil rather than the out and out goalscorer, but his ability to create opportunities and his dominance in the air were characteristics that his team-mates thrived upon.
“He could always be relied upon to get double figures in goals each season though, and when Trevor did get his eye in, he was as ruthless a finisher as the best of them. Twice he scored four in a game at Portman Road, once in the 7-0 win over West Bromwich Albion and most memorably in the 4-0 thrashing of Lazio that followed the win over Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup.
“Always committed, he had the talent to go with it. A regular at England Under-23 level, he won a solitary senior England cap under Ron Greenwood in 1977 as a second half substitute against Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier. Unfortunately, injury robbed him of the opportunity to play in the FA Cup final the following year, a cruel intervention for a player who so richly deserved that opportunity. Injury played an increasing part in his career thereafter, Whymark leaving for Derby County in 1979.
“With 104 goals from his 335 appearances for the Blues, Trevor Whymark sits sixth on the all-time list of goalscorers and will forever remain one of the great names of this football club.”
Mark Murphy MBE, a long-standing Ipswich Town season-ticket holder who was the pitch announcer over the past few seasons hosts his own YouTube magazine Town show, Life’s A Pitch, wrote on Facebook: “Such tragic news breaking this morning about the passing of former Town striker, Trevor Whymark.
“We were only talking about his goal-scoring exploits on last night’s Life’s a Pitch show. Sleep well Trevor.”
The former BBC Radio Suffolk presenter ended his post with: “Once a blue always a blue.”
Ipswich’s former BDO World Darts Champion Keith Deller MBE said: “Trevor was one of my all-time favourite Ipswich players.
“Fantastic football and such sad news. RIP Ipswich legend.”
Town’s former head of recruitment, Steve McGavin, who is based in Bury St Edmunds but now holds the same role for Premier League rivals Aston Villa, posted on Facebook: “One of my first ever favourite players, brilliant in the air and very under rate player. RIP Trevor.”
TWTD editor and SuffolkNews Town coverage contributor, Phil Ham, posted on his Facebook account: “Very saddened to learn of the passing of Trevor Whymark, one of the players my brother and I would pretend to be in our garden back in the day.
“I was still playing with my shirt untucked - as Trevor always did except in his one appearance for England it seems from the photo below - in tribute until a couple of years ago.
“A privilege to meet him when we had him on Life's a Pitch on the radio a few years back, and also to speak to his son Craig about his Alzheimer's Society fundraising a couple of years ago. RIP.”
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019, his son Craig went public with the news as he began a fund-raising drive for the Alzheimer's Society.