By Ben Campbell

John Mousinho's all action performances since his move from Brentford in the summer have been greatly received by all the Adams Park faithful, so I thought I'd catch up with John's former PE Teacher to find out where all this desire comes from.

In an exclusive interview with wwfc.com, Trevor Whitby, Head of PE at Dr.Challoners Grammar School in Amersham, shares his thoughts on John's progression throughout his footballing career as well as giving us an insight into how he feels his former student will do under the guidance of Wanderers boss Peter Taylor.

Trevor first encountered young Mousinho at the age of 11 whilst he was in Year 7 at Dr.Challoners, but before he had the opportunity to work with John, the Mousinho family moved to America the following year.

However, four years later the pair were reunited after John returned to the Grammar School at the age of 16 for the start of Sixth form.

"He had an outstanding year and he deserved the captaincy as well as being selected for England."

And Trevor believes the time John spent away helped him improve as a footballer. He said: "By the time he had come back he had developed into a very good player."

Mousinho immediately forced his way into the first team and was part of the Year 12 team that Trevor described as "terrific." Following a string of very good performances he was rewarded with the captaincy and an England Schoolboys call-up.

Trevor said: "He had an outstanding year and he deserved the captaincy as well as being selected for England. It made my very proud and what was pleasing was not only a player of his ability and attitude that been selected but one who has an outstanding student overall."

"John's spell with the nation's schoolboys coincided with the 100 years that England Schoolboys had been in conjunction with the FA and I was lucky enough to be able to watch him play in a special centenary game at Villa Park against the rest of the World, for the record the game finished 2-2."

Back for his school John continued to impress on the way to the very prestigious Bucks School Cup Final when they met rivals Wye Valley. Trevor will also remember the game will great fondness as he explained to me: "It was just one of those occasions, you knew that the lads weren't going to be beaten and John also scored the winner from the penalty spot. It was a real highlight for the lads and for me."

Following the 1-0 win Trevor began to realise what a good player the school had and never doubted that John would go on to bigger and better things.

"He's a terrific athlete, who has tremendous determination. Without doubt he is one of the best youngsters I have ever seen. He's not a prima donna like some kids can be, he would be willing to play in any position and would always give you 100%."

Trevor was proved right as John got a move to Brentford where he impressed the Bees faithful during his stint with the club. And as John entered his final year with the club he began to look towards collecting his FA Coaching badges, with his required time out on the training field spent coaching his former schools U13 and U14 teams on a number of Friday afternoons.

John Mousinho
Mousinho began his professional career with Brentford

Wanderers boss Peter Taylor was quick to approach Mousinho after his release from Brentford and John had this to say to wwfc.com when he signed his two-year deal.

"It's been my local club since I was quite young so I've been down here a few times and it was the lure of that, plus the chance to work with Peter Taylor, that made me jump at the chance.

"I saw how exciting it was when he joined the club and that was a big bonus for me."

John has impressed during his short time with the club, scoring an exquisite lob in the 2-0 win at Chester, but more importantly offering something different to the Blues' midfield. And Trevor thinks John's game will only get better under the guidance of very experienced manager Peter Taylor.

He said: "Absolutely no question will John thrive under Peter Taylor, he is a great manager and John will be able to learn a lot from him."

And whatever level John reaches as a player Trevor believes that his former pupil will have earnt it through his hard work and drive.

Mr. Whitby said: "From my position as someone who doesn't know a great deal about the level he's playing at or the level above it's difficult to judge whether John could play at a higher but I would like to think so.

"Whatever level he ends up at though I'm confident that John will have given everything he has and taken his ability as far as it can go."
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