It has been a fairly tumultuous season for David Wheater so far. The Redcar Rock took Boro's relegation hard, the departure of manager Gareth Southgate seemed to derail his season and a never ending revolving door of partners at the heart of Boro's defence have offered no stability, and, in some cases, very little support for the young defender.
But with the arrival of Stephen McManus, as well as the reinstating of Danny Coyne in goal, the upturn in Wheater's form is there for all to see.
At the recent Fashion Strikes event, an MFC fashion show to raise money for Macmillian Cancer Care, ComeOnBoro.com's Elle Brunton caught up with the Redcar-born defender.
EB: You are always happy to do events and you are working on a hat-trick of Community Player of the Year awards...
DW: Yes! I definitely want that one!
EB: But you've got some competition from Danny Coyne at the moment...
Coyne was sitting next to Wheater, trying to look innocent, together with MFC Community Liasion Officer Diane O'Connell.
DW: Yes but that just means we are the best ones! I'm going to bribe Di ( O'Connell) to get me some more events so I can win! (laughs)
EB: And this is the third time you've taken part in the fashion show, it's fair to say some players are more comfortable on the catwalk than others!
DW: I was alright this time, I was nervous last year! I don't like doing it really, it's the little crowds, I'd rather be out in front of thousands of people but it's for a great cause.
EB: You must be very disappointed to have your goal against Cardiff disallowed, have you looked at the replays?
DW: Yes, you can see Lita's hand is up but he hasn't touched it. He was nowhere near it! It's my third disallowed goal this season, so its not going well at the moment.
EB: And there was a suspicion of offside about their goal?
DW: We all thought it was, but when we looked at it again I think Jeremie is playing him onside.
"You win some, you lose some, but we are losing much more than we are winning at the moment, we have to stop that.
EB: You've been playing well recently though, you seem to have formed a strong partnership with Stephen McManus. Is it good to have a settled, or at least settled ish, defensive line-up?
DW: Yes, settled ish! We'll see what happens at the end of the season.
"He's an experienced player though, he's played in the Champions League.
"I'm only young for a defender so maybe its better for me to play with someone more experienced than myself.
EB: Everyone says the new players gelled very quickly?
DW: They settled in straight away. Sometimes you get players who come in and don't talk to anyone... but it probably helps that they came in together, it's a good thing in our circumstances, they are a great boost to us.
EB: And it's the big derby against Newcastle on Saturday...
DW: Yeh, it's a big game definitely, and one we need to win, not just for the bragging rights, we need start winning games to get into the play-off places.
"Every game, we have got to win."
Wheater once told me that the basis of his confidence is knowing he and his central-defensive partner are capable of keeping clean sheets. When he doesn't feel that, his performances go into rapid decline, and it becomes a vicious cycle. At present the Wheater-McManus partnership looks solid but they will certainly be tested against free-scoring Newcastle United tomorrow.
He may want to score that elusive second goal, but preventing Newcastle from scoring would be more than enough for tomorrow!
First published on www.ComeOnBoro.com on 12/3/2010
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