Exeter City FC say that Wheeldon, who is a highly experienced and well-respected UEFA A licence coach, played professionally for Everton for three years in the late 1970s and then joined Torquay United, later coaching for City, as well as Swindon Town.
Wheeldon, said: “This is a fantastic project to get involved with and we want to spark off girls and women’s football in the area. We watched the Women’s World Cup out in Canada last year and thought that the English team were fantastic, so we have come back into the area and want to get involved.”
“This is a great project for all girls to become involved, not just because of what we can achieve in the short term but also in the long term because we have great contacts in the USA and Canada.”
He added: “We want energetic girls who really want to play at the highest possible level and we are happy to help them to achieve this. We know that it is going to take two to three years, but we want to make a start and create a culture of girls’ football locally, where as well as being successful on the field they enjoy themselves socially and feel part of the club.”
Wheeldon will be joined by manager Adam Grove and Chris Heayns, who has masterminded the successful development of girls’ football at King’s College, and Maxine Coupe who has enjoyed a long playing career as a goalkeeper with Exeter.
Exeter City chairman Julian Tagg, said: “This is an exciting new development and the Exeter City board are totally supportive of the new management team that has been put in place and will do all they can to help to ensure that Exeter City Ladies are successful both this season and into the future.”
In order to support the continued development, Tagg is also the chairman of a newly formed group which looks to address all aspects of female football, across all age groups and abilities in the greater Exeter area.
“The board is delighted to be able offer the ladies the use of the facilities at the Clifford Hill Training Ground for their training sessions and pre-season home matches, and providing the dates fit, we would like to invite the team to use St James Park for their cup games.”
The new chairman of the Exeter City Ladies is Terry Schofield. He said: “I am really delighted to be appointed as the new chairman of Exeter City Ladies Football Club.
“I think that the club has huge potential and will offer a lot of opportunities to girls playing football right across the south west and with the new team that we have in charge, I think that the future is really bright.”
Source / photo – exetercityfc.co.uk
