Wheeler had a prominent career in schoolboy football and two years as an amateur at Spartan League side Huntley & Palmers.
[2] He moved to hometown club Reading where he played for 16 years, scoring 147 goals in 406 league games.
He was the first full-time manager since the death of Grenville Hair in training in March 1968, with coach Jim McAnearney and captain Tom Hallett taking over first-time duties in the intermediate period.
Wheeler had instant success at Valley Parade and secured promotion from Division Four in 1968–69 which included a record-breaking sequence of 21 games without defeat to come fourth.
Wheeler was fined £35 and censured and instead had a direct telephone line installed between his seat in the stand and the bench.