Pic: St Albans City FC
HARRY WHEELER knows he needs to prove age is no barrier after being handed the St Albans City manager’s job until the end of the season.
The 27-year-old is well used to overcoming them – he used to sneak into closed-door games to swot up on coaching!
Having started his badges when he was 17 and passed his UEFA A Licence by the time he was 23, the former Saints, Hampton & Richmond and Hendon player has more experience than his birth certificate suggests.
Head of Youth Development at League Two Dagenham & Redbridge, Wheeler says learning on the job has been the key.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do since I did my Level 2 at 17,” Wheeler, who was assistant to the Saints’ new director of football Adam Lee at Potters Bar when he was 20, said.
“I’ve been very embracive, I ask a lot of questions – I must have watched behind closed doors games every week since I was 18. I’d somehow sneak in at Arsenal and the ones that were hard to get into. But I used to do it, go through fences – anything I could to learn and adapt.
“I was a nobody in football so they were not going to just let me into these places. But you’re doing what you’re doing. I had to grow up quickly.
“Now I watch John Still every single day at Dagenham and Wayne Burnett before him. When Gary Smith was at Stevenage he was very good and let me go pitchside at training for three months. In terms of education I never stop and it seems to pay off gradually.”
Wheeler, who has been in caretaker charge of relegation-threatened St Albans since December when James Gray and Graham Golds stepped down, accepts there will be scepticism around his appointment.
Limelight
“You will get different opinions,” he said. “From doing everything so young and my A Licence I was always praised. Suddenly you’re in the limelight and people will criticise you for how old you are. It’s something I’ve adapted to quickly and it doesn’t bother me.
“If we’re winning games and we’re out of it, people won’t care how old I am. You can change people’s opinions very quickly.
“And the players wanted it. That’s the most important thing. The players are happy and pushed for it to the owners.”
The Saints are locked in a relegation battle and although just two points from safety ahead of the weekend, have played more games than the teams above them.
“The thing now is the club I’ve watched since I was four years old, we keep them up,” Wheeler said. “My dad’s gone for years and still goes every week so it’s a big thing for us. I genuinely care about the club because I’ve watched them since I was a child.
“But this isn’t a sentimental job. I’ve made it clear, it’s not a boyhood dream where I’m in a whirlwind and I’m going to enjoy it whatever happens.
“I’m here for my career and I need it on my CV that we stay up and do well. The club needs it and there’s no one who will push harder for it.”
