Whelan has showed a patience alien to most of his peers to keep Martinez in his post in recent years, and has been rewarded with successive successful battles against relegation.
“Big changes take a long time and the chairman understood that and he supported me through thick and thin. Now we have the rewards, two years later we have an average group that has played a lot of games in the Premier League but with a very young age, and that gives you real good assets in the football club,” he told FIFA.com
