David Wheater: How ex-Oldham Athletic captain left following season of acrimony

David Wheater made 35 appearances during his time with Oldham Athletic

When the inaugural Premier League season began in 1992, Oldham Athletic competed alongside the giants of the English game as one of the 22 founder members.

Almost three decades later and the club are in English football's fourth tier having finished 18th in League Two last term.

In the midst of the pandemic, and with fan unrest at the club's ownership growing, former captain David Wheater came in the crossfire of a dispute behind the scenes which saw him released in March.

But how did it reach that point? In an interview with BBC Radio Manchester, the 34-year-old free agent explains his side of the story.

'I was warned not to go to Oldham'

Redcar-born Wheater began his career with Middlesbrough, coming through their youth setup and eventually making his first-team debut in a Uefa Cup fixture against Sporting Lisbon in 2005.

He spent seven years with his hometown club, and received two England call-ups albeit without making an appearance, before he moved to Bolton Wanderers in 2011.

Whilst there, he played across the Premier League, Championship and League One, with the tail end of his spell with the club overshadowed by their financial troubles, which led to his exit in the summer of 2019 before he joined Oldham.

It was not long, however, before he went through a similar experience to his time at Wanderers.

"I got warned not to go [to Oldham] but in my head I was a Premier League and Championship player all my life so I thought 'it won't happen to me' but it did," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"When I got there it seemed alright. The day before the first pay day, I asked a few lads if they were getting paid on time and they all said different things.

"We were due to get paid on the Friday, there was a game on the Saturday and it still wasn't there in the morning so I texted and said 'look, I'm thinking about quitting already' and then it finally went in just before I set off for the game."

'Who would take a 70% pay cut?'

Wheater went on to make 35 appearances in his first season with the club, meaning a further year's option in his contract was taken up.

Relations between the board and the playing squad were strained when, in March 2020, the season was suspended as cases and deaths during the coronavirus pandemic began to rise sharply.

"We had a Zoom meeting and the club said they're not paying a penny on top [of furlough]. For me it was around a 70.1% pay cut, for some of the lads it was a 65% pay cut," he added.

"We were not going to do that. Who would take a 70% pay cut? We got told that was until fans come back or we go back to football. At the end of the Zoom meeting I asked if it was a deferral and they just said no."

Playing with the youth squad

Eventually the club and the players reached an agreement over pay, with the 2019-20 season curtailed and decided on a points-per-game basis, leading to a 19th-placed finish in League Two.

With the delayed start to the 2020-21 campaign approaching, Wheater alleges he was frozen out at the club, with former boss Harry Kewell unable to play him.

Wheater was told to train with the youth team and left out of the senior squad just after the start of last season.

"I played the first couple of behind-closed-doors friendlies [in pre-season] then I think it was Nottingham Forest away. The manager pulled me aside and he said he's not allowed to pick me, it's come from the top. I told him I guessed that would probably happen," Wheater continued.

"I was annoyed as I'd been training every day. You'll find no one who loves kicking footballs more than me. I'm the first one out at training and last one in.

"I was fit. People said I wasn't but I was. I was there on the first day of pre-season running about.

"The second time he told me I wasn't allowed to play again, he said they're making it impossible for him to pick me and it's their choice to put me in the youth team.

"When I was training there I couldn't care less as I was playing football and the lads were decent. But I was nearly a foot taller than them all, they're 15 years old and it was just embarrassing."

Leaving after an unforgettable season

In November 2020, with Wheater still yet to play a competitive senior match in 2020-21, the club issued a lengthy statement outlining their position, stating the player's recent health and injury record.

One of the reasons given in the statement for why he was not playing was due to a back injury from "lifting his dog".

"I wasn't lifting my dog as in doing daft things, I just pulled it out of the car and hurt my back. I've had back problems before so I didn't cause it doing that. I was out for two months," he responded.

"I have got horrendous sciatica and couldn't do anything other than going on the bike at the training ground."

Kewell was sacked by the club on 7 March - a year to the day after Wheater's most recent senior game for Oldham - after just over seven months in charge with the club 16th in the table.

Wheater was released five days later and he says his experience with the club affected his mental health.

"I had to go and get tablets off the doctor. I wasn't sleeping. I was just thinking about stuff. The club were putting out statements but I kept quiet," he said.

"My wife used to work in the NHS and she was brilliant. My dad said it was affecting him and my mum. I didn't think it would but they said they were thinking of me all the time and were worried."

When asked what was worse, his time with Bolton Wanderers as the club went through administration or his time with Oldham, Wheater said: "We didn't get paid at Bolton for about eight months but it was nowhere near as bad as what was going on here [at Oldham]."

BBC Sport contacted Oldham Athletic for comment, however, the club has not offered a response.