Cheetham was born in
Byker,
Newcastle upon Tyne. A late entrant to the professional game, he played local football before joining the
Army and played for his regiment while serving in the
Royal Artillery. In August 1935, aged nearly 25, he signed for London club
Queens Park Rangers, He set a new club record by scoring in 9 consecutive games at QPR's home ground,
Loftus Road. His performances earned him an invitation to play for the Possibles against the Probables in March 1936 in a trial match for selection for the
England national team. Though his next two seasons were less productive, in 1938–39 he scored 22 league goals from the 26 games before he left the club on 7 February 1939 to join
First Division club
Brentford for a fee of £5,000. Brentford brought in Cheetham and
inside forward Les Boulter to help their fight against relegation, though
The Times suggested that their weakness lay less in attack than in defence. Cheetham made his debut in the top division in a 4–2 home defeat to
Aston Villa, but he went on to score twice as Brentford beat fellow relegation strugglers
Chelsea 3–1 and created both goals in a 2–0 defeat of
Leicester City in early April, by which time his club had achieved a mid-table position. He finished the
1938–39 season with eight goals. Then in the
1946–47 Football League season, the first full season after the war, Cheetham resumed his prolific goalscoring; 30 goals from 41 games in League and
FA Cup made him Lincoln City's leading scorer. He played only infrequently in
1947–48. His last game came on 6 April 1948 against
Rochdale and he retired from professional football at the age of 37. He then scouted for Lincoln City in the London area. == Personal life ==