RONNIE WHELAN, the player-manager of Southend United, announced yesterday that he will not play again following his slow rate of recovery from a knee operation earlier this year. He will now concentrate on managing the club, a decision which gradually became inevitable as he struggled to regain full fitness in the wake of surgery.

"It's always hard to stop playing, but I can at least console myself that I've known some great times on the pitch," he said. "Management is different, but it will be just as exciting if I get success for Southend."

Whelan followed his father, Ronnie Snr, who won two caps in the 1963/64 season, into the national team in 1981 when replacing Gerry Daly in the 2-1 win over Czechoslovakia at Lansdowne Road.

His international career peaked in 1988 when he scored a memorable goal against the Soviet Union in the European Championship finals in Germany. The first of what proved a long sequence of injury problems restricted his role in the World Cup finals in Italy two years later.

At club level, he enjoyed spectacular success with Liverpool. In the course of 362 appearances for the club, he shared in six Championship wins, three FA Cup successes, three League Cup victories and a celebrated win over Roma in the 1984 European Cup final.

He joined Southend two years ago, first as a player, later becoming manager. It was as a member of that club that he won the last of his 53 caps, captaining the national team in the European Championship game against Austria at Lansdowne Road in June of last year.

The announcement of his retirement came just 24 hours after his former Liverpool clubmate, John Aldridge, said that his international career was over. Aldridge will continue to play for Tranmere Rovers, the club he manages.