Tommy Wright (footballer, born 1966)

Tommy Wright
Personal information
Full name Thomas Elliott Wright[1]
Date of birth (1966-01-10) 10 January 1966 (age 58)[1]
Place of birth Dunfermline,[1] Scotland
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1986 Leeds United 92 (28)
1986–1989 Oldham Athletic 112 (23)
1989–1992 Leicester City 129 (22)
1992–1995 Middlesbrough 53 (5)
1995–1997 Bradford City 45 (5)
1997 Oldham Athletic 12 (2)
1997–1998 St Johnstone 5 (0)
1998 Livingston 7 (1)
1998–2000 Doncaster Rovers 28 (1)
Total 455 (86)
Managerial career
2012 Chesterfield (caretaker)
2016 Barnsley (caretaker)
2019 Carlisle United (joint caretaker)
2021 Swindon Town (caretaker)
2022 Oldham Athletic (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Elliott Wright (born 10 January 1966) is a Scottish football coach and former player. A winger, he made nearly 450 appearances in the English Football League and Premier League, and also had short spells in the Scottish League. He was most recently a First-Team Coach at Oldham Athletic.

Career

Coaching

Having worked previously as his assistant manager at Oldham Athletic,[3] Wright followed John Sheridan to League Two side Chesterfield to serve in the same capacity, in June 2009. He was made Caretaker Manager following the sacking of Sheridan on 27 August 2012, with Mark Crossley assisting.[4][5]

Wright was appointed assistant head coach of Barnsley on 25 February 2015 [6]

On 21 June 2018, he linked up with John Sheridan once more when being appointed the new assistant manager of Carlisle United.[7]

Swindon Town

On 9 July 2019, he joined the coaching team at Swindon Town.[8]

In November 2020, Swindon Town F.C. manager John Sheridan stressed that he had no plans to change the existing coaching team. He wanted Wright and Noel Hunt to stay at Swindon Town F.C. and was looking forward to working with them.[9]

In the same month, it was reported that former Swindon Town F.C. manager Richie Wellens was planning to bring coach Wright to Salford City F.C. but Wright turned down his offer and continued to coach the Swindon Town F.C. team.[10][11]

In February 2021, Wright admitted he wasn't sure whether he and manager Sheridan would keep their jobs if they won their Wigan Athletic F.C. game.[12]

On 18 April 2021, following the resignation of first-team manager John Sheridan, Wright was placed in charge of the first-team with Swindon sitting bottom of the league, seven points off of safety with four games remaining.[13]

Oldham return

On 25 January 2022, following the return of Sheridan to Oldham Athletic, Wright returned to the club as a coach.[14] He left the club on 26 September 2022 following the recent change in management.[15]

Corruption conviction

Main article: 2016 English football scandal

Wright was suspended by Barnsley on 28 September 2016 pending investigation into allegations that he had taken a £5,000 cash bribe to arrange player's transfers.[16] His criminal trial was held in October 2019,[17] at which he was convicted of soliciting and accepting bribes.[18]

Bribery incident

In August 2018, the City of London Police announced that the former assistant coach of Barnsley F.C., Wright, had been charged with bribery offenses.[19] In December 2019, Swindon Town F.C.'s first-team coach decided not to sack Wright. Although Wright had been found guilty of taking a bribe for leaking commercial information about players to the public, he was allowed to keep his assistant job.[20]

Managerial Statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref.
P W D L Win %
Swindon Town (caretaker) 18 April 2021 26 May 2021 4 2 0 2 050.00
Total 4 2 0 2 050.00

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tommy Wright". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ "Sheridan makes Wright assistant". BBC Sport. 5 June 2006. Retrieved 5 June 2006.
  4. ^ "Sheridan named Chesterfield boss". BBC Sport. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  5. ^ "Doncaster Rovers Player Profile". Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Tommy Wright — Assistant Head Coach". Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Tommy Wright joins Carlisle Utd as John Sheridan's new assistant manager". News & Star. 21 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ^ "TOMMY WRIGHT JOINS FIRST-TEAM COACHING STAFF". swindontownfc.co.uk. Swindon Town F.C. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  9. ^ "John Sheridan would like Tommy Wright and Noel Hunt to stay at Swindon Town". swindonadvertiser.co.uk. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Richie Wellens wants to bring Tommy Wright to Salford City". swindonadvertiser.co.uk/. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Tommy Wright says he is staying at Swindon despite Salford links". swindonadvertiser.co.uk. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Tommy Wright unsure if win can keep him in Swindon Town job". swindonadvertiser.co.uk/. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  13. ^ "CLUB STATEMENT: JOHN SHERIDAN". www.swindontownfc.co.uk. 18 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Wright Returns To Latics". www.oldhamathletic.co.uk. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Tommy Wright leaves". www.oldhamathletic.co.uk. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  16. ^ Team, Investigations (29 September 2016). "Exclusive: The explosive allegations at the top of the Championship". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  17. ^ "Football coach 'took £5,000 bribery bung'". BBC News. 17 October 2019.
  18. ^ Sawer, Patrick; Hardy, Jack (16 December 2019). "Football for sale: Agent and manager found guilty of bribery". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  19. ^ "Ex-Barnsley assistant Tommy Wright charged with bribery offences". skysports.com. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Former Middlesbrough winger Tommy Wright found guilty of bribery - but Swindon job 'is safe'". gazettelive.co.uk. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2021.