David Wheeler joined the Grecians from Staines Town in 2013 having been a student at nearby Brunel University. He played around 170 times for City before departing for QPR in 2017 ahead of later playing for Wycombe Wanderers. 

David played academy football for Brighton until the age of sixteen but wasn’t offered a scholarship. He opted to continue his studies and made his debut for Lewes whilst doing A levels. After starting at Brunel University he switched to Staines Town because travelling was easier. Soon after graduating in 2013 David was given the chance to turn professional with Exeter City and, within twenty-four hours of signing, was playing against Bristol Rovers. To all intents and purposes David never looked back from that day onwards.   

David appeared in 38 league and cup games in 2013/14 netting three goals including the final goal of the season at Hartlepool. He continued to feature strongly in the first team as he scored seven times in 47 appearances in all competitions in 2014/15. During the following season David played slightly fewer games but scored an extra goal with most of his strikes coming before mid-October. David was clearly providing good value and he had an even hotter goalscoring streak when he scored eight goals in seven successive games between 31 December 2016 and 4 February 2017. Not only that but David’s final tally of 21 goals was pretty much triple what he had achieved in previous campaigns. Such a contribution was instrumental in helping City reach the play-offs and, once there, David scored in two of the three play-off games.

But David’s appearance in the Wembley play-off final, when he scored City’s goal, proved to be one of his last appearances for the club. After two games at the start of the following season David signed for Championship club Queen’s Park Rangers for an ‘undisclosed fee’ on a three-year contract. However the move wasn’t a great success with David only making nine league appearances for the Loftus Road club. He was soon on loan at Portsmouth and MK Dons before agreeing terms with Wycombe Wanderers on a three year deal in July 2019. David soon enjoyed greater success at Adams Park and scored in Wycombe’s first-leg play-off semi-final victory, and appeared in the return leg and final, as the Chairboys won promotion to the  Championship in 2019/20.. 

David played thirty-eight times in Wycombe’s season in the Championship which ended in relegation in May 2021 and, in August 2022, returned to St James Park to a good reception when he scored Wycombe’s goal in a 3-1 defeat. Often appearing as a substitute during 2023/24, he had reached 168 league appearances for Wycombe by May 2024 and had gained a degree of notoriety in March 2024 when - coming on as a substitute against Barnsley - he had been sent off without touching the ball.