Final whistle for Mr Sport

RETIRING . . . Neil Wheelton with his signed shirt

A PE teacher who has also scouted many of Manchester United’s top players has hung up his whistle.

Neil Wheelton has retired after chalking up 36 years at Crompton House School, Shaw, the last 30 of them as head of sport.

The 57-year-old who is originally from Chadderton, was a talented footballer and played for the British Students team while studying at Loughborough University. He was also in the Mossley team that won the Northern Premier league in 1978-79.

During his time at Crompton House, Mr Wheelton has organised thousands of fixtures, 28 ski trips to the USA and Canada and several football trips around Europe. He was also chairman of Oldham Schools Football for 30 years.

Former pupils have gone on to teach PE themselves and others such as Chris Sutherland, Paul Black, David Mellor, Ben Pearson and Ryan Kemple became professional footballers.

Mr Wheelton said: “I have enjoyed seeing the children develop and doing very well in sport.

“The school has transformed from quite humble beginnings — and sport has played a big part in that.”

Mr Wheelton lives in Waterhead and is married to Kay.

They have two sons, Andrew, a surgeon, and Matthew who is the retiring students’ union president at Huddersfield University. He has also been a senior team scout for Manchester United for 20 years, a job which he will continue