Jimmy Wheeler (footballer)

Jimmy Wheeler

Personal information
Date of birth	21 December 1933 (1933-12-21) (age 78)
Place of birth	Reading, England
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1946–1948	Huntley & Palmers
1948–1964	Reading	406	(147)
Teams managed
	Reading (assistant manager)
1968–1971	Bradford City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

James 'Jimmy' Wheeler (born December 21, 1933 in Reading, Berkshire, England) is a former footballer. He played as striker for Reading where he played 406 league games, scoring 147 goals. He later became a coach at Reading and then manager of Bradford City.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managerial career 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Playing career

Wheeler had a prominent career in schoolboy football and two years as an amateur at Spartan League side Huntley & Palmers.^[1] He moved to hometown club Reading where he played for 16 years, scoring 147 goals in 406 league games. He was the club's top scorer for three successive seasons from 1958–59 to 1960–61. He broke his leg at Barnsley in September 1964, which effectively ended his league career.^[1] He continued to play and coach Reading reserves and became assistant manager of the club to Roy Bentley.

Managerial career

Wheeler joined Bradford City as manager in June 1968. He was the first full-time manager since the death of Grenville Hair in training in March 1968, with coach Jim McAnearney and captain Tom Hallett taking over first-time duties in the intermediate period. Wheeler had instant success at Valley Parade and secured promotion from Division Four in 1968–69 which included a record-breaking sequence of 21 games without defeat to come fourth.^[1]

The following season started well but results tailed off and the team came 10th in Division Three. Wheeler had been booked just once during his 16-year playing career, but on December 6, 1969 in an FA Cup tie at home to Lincoln City he fell foul of the FA during a touchline outburst. Wheeler was fined £35 and censured and instead had a direct telephone line installed between his seat in the stand and the bench.^[1]

In the 1970–71 season, City escaped relegation by just a point with Wheeler's former team Reading occupying the final relegation spot. By the start of the following season, results failed to improve and Wheeler resigned after the fans turned against him.^[1]

See also

• List of one-club men

References

External links

• Jimmy Wheeler management career stats at Soccerbase

Reading F.C. Player of the Season 1963–64: Meldrum 1964–65: Meldrum 1965–66: Wheeler 1966–67: Harris 1967–68: Dixon 1968–69: Silvester 1969–70: Death 1970–71: Bell 1971–72: Cumming 1972–73: Death 1973–74: Death 1974–75: Friday 1975–76: Friday 1976–77: Death 1977–78: Bowman 1978–79: Bowman 1979–80: White 1980–81: Hetzke 1981–82: Williams 1982–83: Richardson 1983–84: Richardson 1984–85: Wood 1985–86: Wood 1986–87: Bremner 1987–88: Francis 1988–89: Senior 1989–90: Hicks 1990–91: McPherson 1991–92: Gooding 1992–93: Gooding 1993–94: Kerr 1994–95: Hislop 1995–96: Gooding 1996–97: Morley 1997–98: Parkinson 1998–99: Parkinson 1999–2000: Caskey 2000–01: Butler 2001–02: Murty 2002–03: Harper 2003–04: Murty 2004–05: Kitson 2005–06: Doyle 2006–07: Ingimarsson 2007–08: Hunt 2008–09: Armstrong 2009–10: Sigurðsson 2010–11: Long

Bradford City A.F.C. – managers Campbell (1903–05) O'Rourke (1905–21) Menzies (1921–26) Veitch (1926–28) Foster (1928) O'Rourke (1928–30) Peart (1930–35) Ray (1935–37) Westgarth (1938–43) Sharp (1943–46) Barker (1946–47) Milburn (1947–48) Steele (1948–52) A. Harris (1952) Powell (1952–55) P. Jackson (1955–61) Brocklebank (1961–64) B. Harris (1965–66) Watson (1966–67) Hair (1967–68) McAnearney & Hallett (1968) Wheeler (1968–71) Wilson (1971) Edwards (1971–75) Kennedy (1975–78) Napier (1978) Mulhall (1978–81) McFarland (1981–82) Cherry (1982–87) Dolan (1987–89) Yorath (1989–90) Docherty (1990–91) Stapleton (1991–94) Lawrence (1994–95) Kamara (1995–98) Jewell (1998–2000) Hutchings (2000) McCall (2000) Jefferies (2000–01) Smith (2001) Law (2002–03) Atherton, Jacobs, Wetherall and Windass (joint caretakers) (2003) Robson (2003–04) Todd (2004–07) Wetherall (2007) McCall (2007–10) Jacobs (2010) Taylor (2010–11) P. A. Jackson (2011) Cooper (2011) Parkinson (2011–)

Persondata
Name	Wheeler, Jimmy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 21, 1933
Place of birth	Reading, England
Date of death
Place of death