Shaun James Whalley (born 7 August 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL League Two club Accrington Stanley.

He subsequently played at Droylsden, where he was part of the team that won the Manchester Premier Cup in 2010, and Hyde before joining Southport again on a permanent basis in January 2011.

[7] With Chester, Whalley played mostly for the youth and reserve teams, but he made his Football League debut for the club in a 0–0 draw with Cambridge United on 18 September 2004, coming on as a substitute for Darryn Stamp.

His debut came just one day after he signed a professional contract with Chester; manager Ian Rush had only included him on the substitutes' bench as a result of injuries to Daryl Clare and Michael Branch.

[12] Whalley scored his first goal for Runcorn in the 5–1 defeat of his hometown club, Prescot Cables and he netted again the following week in the loss to Matlock Town.

[13] In September 2006, while at Witton, Whalley spent five weeks on trial at League One club Crewe Alexandra,[14][15] but he was not offered a permanent contract.

However, two weeks later, he was sent off in the Football League Trophy match against Doncaster Rovers following a high tackle on Theo Streete, although Accrington manager John Coleman felt that the challenge was not deserving of a red card.

[18] The subsequent suspension meant that Whalley spent almost a month out of the side before returning in late December in the loss to Bristol Rovers.

[19] He made his transfer to Accrington permanent in January 2007, signing a two-year contract with the club,[20] and the following week he scored a late winner in the 3–2 victory over Mansfield Town, his first goal for the team.

[30] During the loan spell, Whalley played in the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy, but he could not prevent Southport losing 3–2 on aggregate over two legs against AFC Telford United.

[41] In early October, while still on the books at Hyde, he was called up to the Football Association XI squad alongside teammate Scott Mooney for a game against Hallam FC to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Sheffield-based club.

[50][51] On 1 February, less than a week later, Whalley scored again in a 2–2 draw with Grimsby Town to take his record to three goals in two games,[52] before being sent off for violent conduct on and later receiving a four match ban.

[53] On 26 February after missing the best-part of that month through his suspension, he returned, to start in a 2–1 loss to Bath City, but he was unable to score a goal.

[56] He finished March having scored four goals that month, after adding another two in the latter part, the first in a 4–2 defeat to the hands of Barrow[57] and the other coming as-part of a 2–2 draw with Rushden & Diamonds.

[67] After failing to win a regular starting place in the Luton line-up, Whalley moved on loan on 23 January 2014 to Conference North side AFC Telford United, led by his former Southport manager Liam Watson.

On 27 April 2015, Whalley and teammate Ricky Miller were both arrested by Bedfordshire Police in connection with an alleged assault following Luton Town's end of season awards night.

[75] He scored another late winner away at the league-leaders Burton Albion the following month,[76] eventually ending the season with seven goals in all competitions as Shrewsbury avoided relegation with a game to spare.

Whalley scored his first goal of the season against Oxford United, deep in injury time, to seal a 2–0 victory for new manager Paul Hurst in his first home league match in charge.

[82] On 4 February 2020, Whalley scored in front of the travelling Shrewsbury fans at Anfield in an FA Cup fourth round replay against his beloved Liverpool, only for the goal to be controversially overturned by VAR for offside against Scott Golbourne.

[83] Whalley reached 200 appearances for the club in November 2020, marking the occasion with the opening goal in a 2–2 draw against Milton Keynes Dons.