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WELCOME TO BEN WHARTON
Ray McLaughlin25 Jan 2017 - 21:29
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BY DAVE PARKER
BRIGHOUSE Town manager Paul Quinn finally got his man last week after just over three months of trying.
Following Town's 0-0 draw at Colne in late October, he put in a seven day notice for the 6ft 2ins striker Ben Wharton but was beaten to him by Bamber Bridge.
Quinn would not have got much service out of Wharton in November as the former Stockport County, Rochdale, Radcliffe Borough and Warrington Town front man whipped his girlfriend Emma on to a plane and headed for New York to propose to her. Fortunately for him she accepted and he came back a happy man to try and do for them what he had done at Colne. Following his move from Warrington he helped them gain promotion from the North West Counties Premier Division and opted to stay with them for their first season in the Evo-Stik NPL Division One North. Within seven days of playing against Town on October 22 he was on his way to Bamber Bridge who for the past two seasons have made the play-offs but not got over the final hurdle.
Averaging 15-20 goals a season and similar, he says, in assists, he feels now he might well have been better off coming straight to Brighouse where he has settled in straight away.
He says the travelling two or three times a week from his Stockport home will not worry him after travelling to Colne, and Bamber Bridge on the outskirts of Preston.
In the daytime the 26-year-old is a football coach in schools and nurseries around Stockport and loves every minute of it.
Wharton, 26, rates without doubt the highlight of his career so far when playing for Warrington three seasons ago against Exeter City in front of the BBC 2 cameras and a full house at their Latchford-based ground. They won 2-1 and went up to Gateshead for the next round but he was injured and missed out on that game shown BT Sport.
Following Town's 0-0 draw at Colne in late October, he put in a seven day notice for the 6ft 2ins striker Ben Wharton but was beaten to him by Bamber Bridge.
Quinn would not have got much service out of Wharton in November as the former Stockport County, Rochdale, Radcliffe Borough and Warrington Town front man whipped his girlfriend Emma on to a plane and headed for New York to propose to her. Fortunately for him she accepted and he came back a happy man to try and do for them what he had done at Colne. Following his move from Warrington he helped them gain promotion from the North West Counties Premier Division and opted to stay with them for their first season in the Evo-Stik NPL Division One North. Within seven days of playing against Town on October 22 he was on his way to Bamber Bridge who for the past two seasons have made the play-offs but not got over the final hurdle.
Averaging 15-20 goals a season and similar, he says, in assists, he feels now he might well have been better off coming straight to Brighouse where he has settled in straight away.
He says the travelling two or three times a week from his Stockport home will not worry him after travelling to Colne, and Bamber Bridge on the outskirts of Preston.
In the daytime the 26-year-old is a football coach in schools and nurseries around Stockport and loves every minute of it.
Wharton, 26, rates without doubt the highlight of his career so far when playing for Warrington three seasons ago against Exeter City in front of the BBC 2 cameras and a full house at their Latchford-based ground. They won 2-1 and went up to Gateshead for the next round but he was injured and missed out on that game shown BT Sport.
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