Career
As a player he was a defender from 1987 to 2007. He notably played for Leeds United, and in the Premier League for Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers, and in the Football League for Sheffield United and N ottinghamshire County As a player, Whitlow was primarily used as left-back. He began his professional career at Leeds United, whom he joined from non-league Witton Albion in November 1988.
He spent four seasons at Leeds, and played slightly below 100 games for the team
In March 1992, Whitlow was sold to Leicester City for a £250,000 transfer fee. Despite making enough appearances to earn a medal, he did not receive one at the time as he already left for Leicester by the time Leeds had been confirmed as champions.
However, 10 years on, he received a letter from the Professional Football players" Association informing him that he would belatedly receive the medal he was entitled to In total, he played 180 games for the Foxes, and scored nine goals.
He then moved on to Bolton Wanderers in September 1997 for a £500,000 fee.
The following season, Whitlow missed most of the action because of injury, but he returned to the side just in time for the playoffs, where Bolton this time got promoted to the Premier League. After six seasons at Bolton, with 163 first-team appearances to his name, Whitlow was released at the end of the 2002-2003 season. He spent the 2003-2004 season at Sheffield United, scoring once against Burnley, and then joined N ottinghamshire County the following season as player-coach.
His last competitive match for County came in March 2005, although he remained registered as a player at the club until 2007.
After leaving N ottinghamshire County, Whitlow worked for Derby County"s youth academy, before being appointed head of youth development at Mansfield Town in May 2009, following the departure of David Jervis., he stayed in this job for just over a year before joining Burton Albion in a similar capacity. In 2014 Whitlow was appointed caretaker manager at Burton Albion after manager Gary Rowett and his coaching staff left the club to join Birmingham City.
Whitlow"s first game in charge was 1-1 home draw with Plymouth Argyle on 1 November 2014. Whitlow returned to his original role at the club following the appointment of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as manager.