EX-WANDERER David Wheater is planning to launch a playing comeback in the New Year after having back surgery.

The defender has been without a club since leaving Oldham Athletic in the summer and has now relocated from Bolton back towards his native Teesside.

Wheater told The Buff Podcast that he has spoken with Darlington manager Alun Armstrong about a potential deal but is first dealing with a disc problem in his back which has been present since 2014, in his playing days at Wanderers.

“I have always been offered the operation but said I didn’t want to have the time off,” he said. “It is only three or four months so if I can get it done now I’ll be right for January.

“Darlington would be perfect. It isn’t for money anymore, it’s just so that I can play some football.

“I know the manager, I was at Doncaster on loan with him when I was younger and it is 20 minutes down the road, so it would be great.”

Wheater has sympathy with fans of his former club Oldham, who have protested against the club’s owner, Abdallah Lemsagam in recent weeks.

Having had his own run-ins with the Boundary Park chief, he believes the fans have had no choice but to make their case known nationally.

“I’d be on the pitch with them if I was there,” he said.

“Just from what happened to me over the course of one season – they are fans who love the club and have longer there than me.

“I was on that Simon Jordan show on TalkSport and said ‘what more do you want them to do?’ They are getting exposure and it has worked.

“It was the same for us when we went on strike at Bolton. Before that, nobody cared except for you local guys, but when we went on strike it got national exposure.”

 

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