Tommy Wright (footballer, born 1963)

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Tommy Wright
Personal information
Full name Thomas James Wright
Date of birth (1963-08-29) 29 August 1963 (age 61)
Place of birth Ballyclare, Northern Ireland
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Position(s) Goalkeeper (retired)
Team information
Current team
 St. Johnstone (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
? Linfield ? (?)
1988–1993 Newcastle United 73 (0)
1991 → Hull City (loan) 6 (0)
1993–1997 Nottingham Forest 11 (0)
1996 → Reading (loan) 17 (0)
1997 → Manchester City (loan) 5 (0)
1997–2001 Manchester City 29 (0)
1999 → Wrexham (loan) 16 (0)
1999 → Newcastle United (loan) 3 (0)
2001 → Bolton Wanderers (loan) 4 (0)
2001 Bolton Wanderers 0 (0)
Total 169 (0)
International career
1989–1999 Northern Ireland 31 (0)
Managerial career
2003–2005 Limavady United
2005–2008 Ballymena United
2009–2011 Lisburn Distillery
2013– St Johnstone
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas "Tommy" Wright (born 29 August 1963 in Belfast) is a former football goalkeeper and current manager of St Johnstone.

Wright represented Northern Ireland 31 times as a player. At club level he played for Grange Rangers, Linfield, Newcastle United, Hull City, Nottingham Forest, Reading, Manchester City, Wrexham and Bolton Wanderers. Since retiring as a player he has worked as a coach or manager for Limavady United, Ballymena United, Shamrock Rovers and St. Johnstone.

Playing career

Wright entered English football with Newcastle United in 1988 and had a spell as first choice goalkeeper. After losing his place to Pavel Srnicek he eventually moved to Nottingham Forest where he went straight into the starting line-up, however after an injury absence he failed to regain his place from Mark Crossley. He also saw relatively little first team action in later spells at Manchester City and a number of loan clubs.

Wright won 31 caps for Northern Ireland in a ten-year period from 1989 to 1999. The high point of his Northern Ireland career was his performance in Nuremberg in 1996, as Northern Ireland earned a 1–1 draw against reigning European champions, Germany, in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match. Wright had not played an international match in over two years prior to that point and had just returned to club action, on loan at Reading, after a prolonged injury absence.

Management and coaching career

Wright was first a goalkeeping coach for Norwich City but left when Glenn Roeder resigned. He was then appointed Youth Development Officer at Ballyclare Comrades. In November 2003 he made his first move into management at Limavady United[1] and stayed for a couple of years. Wright was then appointed manager of Ballymena United and reached the County Antrim Shield against Linfield at Seaview. Wright resigned at the end of the 2007–08 season.

He was a full-time goalkeeping coach at Shamrock Rovers for the 2009 League of Ireland season under his former team mate Michael O'Neill. In September 2009 he was appointed manager of Lisburn Distillery.[2] His first game was against his former club Ballymena United, which Lisburn won by a single goal.

St. Johnstone

Wright left Distillery in November 2011 to become assistant manager of Scottish Premier League club St. Johnstone.[3]

After Steve Lomas left the Perth club to manage Millwall in June 2013, Wright was promoted to manager.[4] Wright's first game in charge was a UEFA Europa League tie in Norway against Rosenborg. St. Johnstone won 1–0, their first-ever away victory in European competition.[5] The second leg ended in a 1–1 draw, putting St. Johnstone through 2–1 on aggregate, and through to the third round of the qualifying stages for the first time.[6] Despite winning 1-0 win against Minsk in the first leg of the next round, they went on to lose on penalties.[7] After the match, Wright criticised Minsk, believing they lacked class in victory.[8] After winning two games and drawing once in October, Wright won the Scottish Premiership Manager of the Month award.[9]

In March 2014, Wright was involved in a touchline incident with Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara.[10] This resulted a one-match ban for Wright.[11] A few days later, Wright was taken to hospital after suffering stomach pains.[12] Despite being in the hospital, Wright was still involved in the squad selection ahead of a match against Hibernian.[13] The operation was a success, and Wright made his return in a match against Partick Thistle.[14][15]

After Wright led the club to a top-six position in the Premiership, he guided them to their first Scottish Cup Final after a 2-1 win over Aberdeen.[16] They were victorious in the May 17 Final meeting with Dundee United at Celtic Park. It was St. Johnstone's first major trophy win.[17] Wright signed a new contract with St. Johnstone in August 2014.[18] He signed another contract with St. Johnstone in October 2015, soon after the club had rejected an approach from Dundee United for Wright.[19]

Managerial statistics

As of match played on 9 January 2016
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Limavady United Northern Ireland November 2003 May 2005 54 23 15 16 42.59
Ballymena United Northern Ireland May 2005 April 2008 117 44 29 44 37.61
Lisburn Distillery Northern Ireland September 2009 November 2011 97 36 16 45 37.11
St. Johnstone Scotland June 2013 Present 119 53 25 41 44.54
Total 388 156 85 147 40.21

Honours and Achievements

As a player

Football League Division One Winners Newcastle United 1992/93

As a manager

Lisburn Distillery
St. Johnstone

References

  1. ↑ http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid=126460.html
  2. ↑ http://www.lisburntoday.co.uk/sport/wright_takes_over_at_whites_1_1643219
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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