Johnny Wheeler
Encyclopedia
- For other people named John Wheeler, see John WheelerJohn WheelerJohn Wheeler may refer to:* John Wheeler , American Emmy Award-winning audio/video engineer* John Wheeler , Union officer in the Civil War; killed at Gettysburg* John Wheeler John Wheeler may refer to:* John Wheeler (audio/video technologist) (born 1957), American Emmy Award-winning audio/video...
Johnny Wheeler (born 26 July 1928) is an ex-professional footballer.
Life and playing career
Born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Wheeler played for Carlton, as an amateur, and Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are an English team based in Birkenhead, Wirral. The club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system...
before he made the move to Burnden Park
Burnden Park
Burnden Park was the home of English FA Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games here between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting an FA Cup Final replay it was the scene of one of the greatest disasters in English football and the subject of an L. S...
in 1950.
He made his debut for Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
on the 17 February 1951 in a home league match against Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
, it was a good day for Wanderers and Wheeler as they took the points in a 2-1 victory and after a descent debut he remained a virtual ever present for next year and a half. He got his first Wanderers goal exactly a month later on the 17 March in a league fixture againstHuddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
at Burden Park.
Wheeler tasted both joy and disappointment during the 1952/53: the joy came in the shape of Bolton reaching the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
final at Wembley
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
on 2 May '53. They then went 3-1 up after 55 minutes, but with just 22 minutes remaining along came the disappointment, which was, obviously, much more hard to bear as Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...
, led by Stan Mortensen
Stan Mortensen
Stanley Harding "Stan" Mortensen was an English professional footballer, most famous for his part in the 1953 FA Cup Final , in which he became the only player ever to score a hat-trick in a Wembley FA Cup Final...
(who scored a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
) and Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers'...
(who had an absolute blinder) broke all Wanderers hearts by making the fight back to end all fight backs, winning, as they did, 4-3. The last 2 goals came in the 89th and 92nd minutes, with South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n Bill Perry hitting the injury time winner after some fine work by the 'Wing Wizard,' Matthews; in fact, Matthews' performance was so good the final has being renamed 'The Matthews Final.'
Wheeler spent the best part of the 1953/54 on the injury list as Bolton finished a creditable 4th. He did gain his one and only England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
cap in 1954, however, when Walter Winterbottom selected him to play in a British Home Championship
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...
match against Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
at Windsor Park
Windsor Park
Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the home ground of Linfield F.C. and the Northern Ireland national football team. It is also where the Irish Cup and Irish League Cup finals are played.-History:...
, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, goals from Johnny Haynes
Johnny Haynes
John Norman "Johnny" Haynes was an English footballer, best known for his 18 years at Fulham. He played a club-record 658 games and scored 158 goals for the club between 1952 and 1970...
and Don Revie
Don Revie
Donald George 'Don' Revie, OBE, , was an English footballer who played for Leicester City, Hull City, Sunderland, Manchester City and Leeds United as a deep-lying centre forward. After managing Leeds United he managed England from 1974 until 1977...
where enough the gain England a 2-0 win.
Wheeler won back his spot in the Bolton side where he remained for the next couple of seasons. He even received the honour of representing the Football League against the League of Ireland XI
League of Ireland XI
The League of Ireland XI, known as of 2010 as the Airtricity League XI for sponsorship reasons, is the representative select team for the League of Ireland which operates in the Republic of Ireland.The select first played the Scottish League XI in 1938....
in Dublin during the 1954/55 season. In 1956 The side he made his Bolton debut against, Liverpool now in the 2nd Division, showed an interest in Johnny and Bolton agreed to sell him on the 8 September with newly installed manager Phil Taylor paying £9,000 for experienced right-sided players signature.
Johnny joined his cousin, Ronnie Moran
Ronnie Moran
Ronnie Moran is a former Liverpool captain and coach, who has twice served as caretaker manager...
, and made his debut for his hometown club on the 15 September 1956 in a league match at Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
, Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
where the visitors and went back to the Victoria Ground
Victoria Ground
Victoria Ground may refer to:*Victoria Ground, the former name of Hartlepool United’s ground Victoria Park.*Victoria Ground, Stoke City’s ground from 1878 to 1997.*Victoria Ground, current home of Bromsgrove Rovers...
with both the points after a 2-0 win, Wheeler's first goal came a month later on the 13 October, it was another league fixture but this time it was at Ashton Gate
Ashton Gate
Ashton Gate Stadium is a stadium in Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, and is the home of Bristol City F.C. Located in the south-west of the city, just south of the River Avon, it has an all-seated capacity of 21,497, with an effective capacity for football matches of around 19,500, with an average...
, Wheeler's 7th minute strike wasn't enough to prevent Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
winning 2-1.
Wheeler, noted for his ability to attack and defend settled straight into the Reds line-up using his vast experience to help steady a wobbling Liverpool ship. He impressed Taylor who made him skipper during the 1958/59 season. He joined the Reds as wing-half but his most memorable performance, a performance that put him in the record books, came as an inside-forward on the November 3 1956, Port Vale
Port Vale F.C.
Port Vale Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League Two. They are based in Burslem, Staffordshire — one of six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The club's traditional rivals in the city are Stoke City, and games between the two clubs are known as...
were the visitors for a league match and after keeping the Anfield club down to a single goal, from Billy Liddell
Billy Liddell
William Beveridge "Billy" Liddell was a Scottish footballer, who played his entire professional career with Liverpool. He signed with the club as a teenager in 1938 and retired in 1961, having scored 228 goals in 534 appearances...
, for 80 minutes, but then up popped Wheeler in the 81st with a goal, he then doubled his tally a minute later and rounded off one of the fastest ever hat-trick 3 minutes later in the 85th minute, a stunning achievement for a player not renowned for his goalscoring exploits, the game ended up as a 4-1 Liverpool win.
Johnny became a linchpin of the side over the next few campaigns appearing 43 times in 57/58, 42 in 59/60 and 31 in both 60/61 and 61/62, but he fell out of favour in the promotion winning season after Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly
William "Bill" Shankly, OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, most noted for managing Liverpool between 1959 and 1974. One of Britain's most successful and respected football managers, Shankly was also a fine player whose career was interrupted by the Second World War...
had brought in both Ron Yeats
Ron Yeats
Ronald 'Ron' Yeats is a Scottish former footballer. He was the captain of the first great Liverpool team of the 1960s.-Life and playing career:...
and Ian St John, in fact, Wheeler was only called upon once all season.
Johnny remained at Anfield during their first season back in the top flight but was never considered, the 33-year-old with 454 league appearances under his belt left Liverpool in the May of 1963 when he joined New Brighton as an amateur, after his spell at New Brighton he finally hung up his boots.
Johnny married Freda and has three children: Gillian, Michael and Susan; six grand children Paul, Liam, Matthew, Hayley, Victoria and Jenny; he has three great grand children Reece, Hayden and Sophia. His wife, Freda, died on October 3, 2007.