David Wheeler: The former Exeter City player turning sports psychologist

That intervention at Exeter lit a spark that has stayed with Wheeler throughout his career.

After leaving for Queens Park Rangers in 2018, he spent time on loan at Milton Keynes Dons and Portsmouth before six seasons at Wycombe Wanderers, during which Wheeler helped the Chairboys win promotion to the Championship in 2020.

As his career progressed, he became more and more interested in sustainability within sport, giving talks and lectures on the subject and being nominated at last year’s BBC Green Sport Awards.

Wheeler feels that outside interest – a “diversification of identity” – helped him as a player.

It meant he was not just solely focused on football but had other goals that allowed him to step away from the relentless pressure of getting results on the pitch.

He feels strongly that allowing players to have interests outside of football is a key asset to make them more successful on the field – an issue he hopes to promote.

“It’s championing the ability of players to not only pursue an education, but also other interests and hobbies and still be a successful footballer,” Wheeler says.

“I think it’s an archaic and harmful thing to not champion that as a manager, as a football club, because there are so many players that fall out of the game.

“Even the ones that have 15 to 20-year careers, long successful careers, come out of the game and the statistics are alarmingly high for depression, addiction, marriages falling apart, bankruptcies.

“It’s not really a surprise to me because I found it very difficult to come to terms with, and I had all these other things going on.

“I think from five years old most of us identify as a sportsman, as a footballer and that’s our main part of our identity, that is reinforced throughout our whole childhood into adulthood.

“It’s the main thing you’re known for, that you’re celebrated for and by leaving that part of you behind it’s leaving a big chunk of you behind that was a source of validation.”