Alan White (born 22 March 1976) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who made more than 400 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

Career

Born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, County Durham, White began his career as a trainee at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in 1995, but his only first-team appearance came in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

. He joined

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in September 1997 for a fee of £40,000, and made over 80 league appearances in three seasons. He had a one-month loan spell with

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

in late 1999, and joined that club on a free transfer in July 2000. White made 166 appearances for Colchester in four seasons, scoring four goals, and was voted the club's player of the year in the 2003–04 season. He rejected their offer of a new contract and instead joined

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

in June 2004 on a two-year deal. However, he was allowed to leave nine months later and joined

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

in March 2005 on a one-year contract; Boston manager Steve Evans said he was "delighted to get Alan on board. He was outstanding for Colchester United last season and is a great competitor." At the end of his Boston contract in June 2006, White joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on a free transfer, where he was made club captain. Nine months later, he joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2006–07 season, and was one of six players released by Notts County at the end of the season. White joined his hometown club

on 15 May 2007. He went on to make 85 league and cup appearances. Darlington entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in February 2009, and White was told he would be free to leave at the end of the season. He subsequently rejoined Luton Town on a two-year contract on 8 June 2009. He played 24 games for the club before being placed on the transfer list on 12 January 2010. Three days later he rejoined Darlington on loan for the rest of the season. He made 24 appearances as Darlington were relegated from the

, picking up just 30 points from 46 games. On 27 August 2010, White was released by Luton. He was picked up by

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

club

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

and made his debut against

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

on 2 October 2010. White made 8 league and cup appearances for Stalybridge before signing for

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

on a monthly contract on 18 November. He made his debut on 20 November in a 1–1 draw with

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

, and scored his first goal for them on 14 December against

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

. On 8 February 2011, Gateshead announced that they had released White. He signed for

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is an association football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secre ...

on 11 February and made his debut four days later against

, scoring an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

in a 2–1 defeat. He made 15 appearances by the end of the season, and then rejoined Boston United, then playing in the Conference North, on a non-contract basis. In mid-December, he left the club, citing the distance he had to travel from his home in Darlington, and signed for another Conference North club, Harrogate Town. He helped them gain promotion to the Conference National in 2013, but left the club in October 2013 to rejoin Darlingtonby then playing in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Division One North under the name of

Darlington 1883 Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2024-25 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth level of English football. The club was founded in 188 ...

in search of regular football. He was named in the 2013–14 Northern Premier League Division One North Team of the Season, and contributed to two consecutive promotions in the next two seasons, as well as taking on some coaching duties. In June 2016, White joined Spennymoor Town as player-coach. He remained with the club until October 2017, when he returned to Darlington as assistant to newly appointed manager Tommy Wright. When Wright left the club at the end of the 2018–19 season, White stayed on as temporary academy manager until a permanent appointment was made in mid-July.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Alan 1976 births Living people Footballers from Darlington English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Middlesbrough F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Spennymoor Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players