Jordan Wheatley is one of the best defenders to come through our Academy. His unflustered style made him stand out right from his first team debut. He fitted in straight away, got better and grew in confidence every game. He never seemed to have a bad game and quickly became an automatic choice. It was no surprise when scouts from dozens of big clubs started watching him. The first Club to make Ilkeston an acceptable offer was Championship side Brighton. 
Maybe things had happened too quickly for Jordan. Brighton made him and Ilkeston a terrific offer but for some reason he spurned the chance. This was something he was to bitterly regret later. He tried to resurrect the deal but the Brighton chairman felt slighted that a non league youngster had originally turned them down and he refused to give him a second chance. So that was Jordan's first mistake and it appears to be followed by many more in my opinion. After turning down Brighton, Ilkeston received a much lower offer for him from Doncaster Rovers.  Ilkeston legitimately believed the offer was too low and rejected it. This caused some resentment towards Ilkeston by the Wheatley family for standing in his way. He picked up an injury in the game at Halesowen which made him miss several games and this was soon followed by Ilkeston taking the decision to release eight first team players.  Wheatley had recovered from his injury but he then apparently refused to play in the reduced strength side, no doubt feeling that it would affect his chances of a move. He had a trial with Leicester but it came to nothing. At the end of the season he tried to cancel his contract at Ilkeston. He later refused to accept an offer to continue at Ilkeston and was determined to leave. This week Mark Duffy reported that Wheatley had received an offer from Mansfield and had gone there. It now appears that Jordan has signed for Kevin Wilson at Nuneaton. Personally I feel that Mansfield would have been the better option. It would have meant less travel and in my opinion he would still have had the same first team opportunities but at a higher level. Jordan probably felt that his previous manager Kevin Wilson was a safer option.  I believe Jordan Wheatley will eventually make it as a professional footballer and I wish him all the best. If only he had accepted the offer from Brighton then none of the bitterness would have followed,