Zak Whitbread
Zak Benjamin Whitbread (born March 4, 1984) is an American-English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Shrewsbury Town in League One.
Early life
Although born in Houston, Texas, United States, Whitbread has spent most of his life in England and Singapore. He has lived in Runcorn for the majority of his life, except for the five years he spent in Singapore when his father, Barry Whitbread, was the coach of the Singapore national football team during the late 1990s. While in Singapore, Whitbread attended St Stephen's School and then United World College of South East Asia.
Club career
Liverpool
While growing up in Runcorn, Whitbread was a fan of Manchester United, but because Liverpool was his father's team of choice, he joined the club's Centre of Excellence at the age of eight, and eventually worked his way through the Academy from under-15s through under-19s before joining the reserve team in 2003.
His first match in a Liverpool jersey took place in 2003 in an exhibition match against Thailand during the club's Far East Tour. He came on to the pitch after the start of the second half, replacing Neil Mellor. Whitbread made his first team debut in the 2004–05 season, and played a number of games alongside Sami Hyypiä in Liverpool's 2005–06 UEFA Champions League qualification campaign. He spent much of the season on loan at Millwall.
