Alan Geoffrey Wright (born 28 September 1971) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He was a left back who has played over 750 league and cup games for eight clubs, including an eight-year spell in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Aston Villa. He has also played for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, Blackpool,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

plus he has had loan spells at

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, Cardiff City,

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He finished his career with spells at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

and

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. He was capped twice by the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

team in 1992. Following retirement Wright was part of the coaching staff at Blackpool before going on to have spells as manager of

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

and

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

Club career

Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers

Wright was born in

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He began his career as a trainee at Blackpool, for whom he made 98 league appearances between April 1988 and October 1991. The new Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish noticed Wright, and brought him to Ewood Park as his first signing for £500,000, making him Blackpool's most expensive sale as well as the most expensive sale by any Fourth Division club. He spent four years at Ewood Park, but, after the arrival of England left back

Graeme Le Saux Graeme Pierre Le Saux ( ; born 17 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer and television pundit. As a versatile left sided player he played most of his career at left back with two spells at Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers, Southamp ...

, made only 67 appearances, seven as a substitute. He left Blackburn just before they won the Premier League title in the 1994–95 season.

Aston Villa

Wright was signed from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £1,000,000 in February 1995, brought to the club by then Villa manager Brian Little. Wright made an immediate impact. His first goal for Aston Villa came later nearly a year after his arrival when he found the net against Middlesbrough, opening the scoring in a two-goal victory on New Year's Day 1996, in which Wright was also in a defence that kept a clean sheet. Wright scored one other goal that season, rounding off the scoring in a 3–0 home defeat of

. Wright was also part of the Aston Villa 1996

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winning side, beating Leeds again, this time at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. In the 1996–97 season, Wright scored only once, this time against Wimbledon, scoring the second in a 2–0 win. Despite playing in the majority of the fixtures in the 1997–98 season, Wright failed to find the net. He appeared in the Aston Villa side that lost the

2000 FA Cup Final The 2000 FA Cup Final was the 119th final of the FA Cup, and the 72nd (excluding replays) and last to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. It took place on 20 May 2000 and was contested between Chelsea and Aston Villa, the latter making its fi ...

to Chelsea. With the emergence of the younger J Lloyd Samuel from the Villa academy, he transferred to Middlesbrough for free in August 2003. To date, Wright is currently in third place in Aston Villa's European appearances list, having made 26 appearances between September 1996 (a draw with

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superett ...

) and July 2002 (a 2–0 loss to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

), behind

Gordon Cowans Gordon Sidney Cowans (born 27 October 1958) is an English retired football player and coach. Cowans started his career at Aston Villa as an apprentice in 1974, and signed as a professional in 1976. During his time at Aston Villa, he won the Le ...

and

Dennis Mortimer Dennis George Mortimer (born 5 April 1952) is an English former footballer and captain of Aston Villa. He made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League playing for Coventry City, Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Bir ...

on 29.

Sheffield United

Wright appeared only twice for Middlesbrough, one a 4–0 reverse at home to Arsenal, before being loaned out to Championship side Sheffield United on 31 October 2003, signing for them permanently on 12 January 2004. He scored his first goal for United in a 2–1 loss against Nottingham Forest on 3 April 2004. Playing in the Championship, Wright continued his impressive disciplinary record (never sent off to date) and was also part of the Sheffield United side that upset Aston Villa 3–1 in the 3rd round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in the 2004–05 season. Wright made a couple of appearances for United at the start of the 2006–07 season, the last against Arsenal on 23 September 2006. Since then he was sent out on loan playing 1 game with

and seven games for Cardiff City. On 16 February 2007 he joined

on a month's loan. Wright joined

on loan until the end of the 2006–07 season in March 2007, where he linked up with former Aston Villa teammate

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager at Northampton Town. As a player, he was a centre-back who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hots ...

, ostensibly as cover for the suspended Julian Bennett. Wright extended his loan with Nottingham Forest in May 2007 and played in the

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

play-off semi-final against

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, in which he scored an own goal. He was released by Sheffield United in May 2007.

Cheltenham Town

In July 2007, Wright was offered a trial by

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

but eventually joined

on non-contract basis on 8 October 2007. He subsequently signed a contract until the end of the 2007–08 season. He scored his first goal for Cheltenham in a 2–2 draw with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on 27 October 2007.

Fleetwood Town

In July 2009, Wright signed for

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

outfit

. During his first season for Fleetwood he played over 30 matches for the club including all 3 play-off matches to help the club win promotion to Conference National for the first time in their history. The club finished 2nd, 1 point behind winners

. He was not offered a new contract at the end of the 2010–11 season and was released, along with a number of other players.

International career

Wright played for the England U21s twice in 1992. He was also called up to

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

' England squad in January 1996 and April 1996, but ultimately was never capped for the senior side.

Coaching career

In June 2011, Wright was named as a coach at Blackpool F.C.'s Centre of Excellence. He went on to become assistant manager during Steve Thompson's spell as caretaker manager in 2013."WRIGHT DELIGHT AT COACHING ROLE"
, blackpoolfc.co.uk, 24 June 2011. Wright was appointed assistant manager to Paul Simpson at non-league Northwich Victoria in February 2012 and worked in this role alongside existing duties at Blackpool. However, he departed after only a month to accept a job in Portugal. On 21 February 2012 against

Rushall Olympic Rushall Olympic Football Club is an English football club based in Rushall, a former mining village now forming part of the northern suburbs of Walsall. The team plays in the . History Early years Although football had been played in the villa ...

, Wright took control in Simpson's absence. Wright remained in his role as assistant manager to incoming manager

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...

. At the end of the 2011–12 season Wright became the caretaker manager after Foyle's departure to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

, leaving the role after

Lee Ashcroft Lee Ashcroft (born 7 September 1972) is an English former footballer and football manager who manages North West Counties Premier Division club Longridge Town. An England under-21 international, the striker began his playing career at Pre ...

was given the job full-time. On 15 May 2013, Wright was appointed Southport manager, succeeding Liam Watson who resigned to take over at Telford United. He appointed John Hills as his assistant manager. Wright's first signing for Southport was ex Barrow and

goalkeeper Danny Hurst.

Personal life

His position was left back, and he is known for being one of the shortest players in Premier League history standing at only 5 feet 4 inches tall hence his popular nickname 'the mighty atom'. Wright was inducted into the Hall of Fame at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters' Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Wright is in the 1980s.

Honours

Blackpool * Football League Fourth Division play-offs:

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Aston Villa * Football League Cup: 1995–96 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1995–96 Premier League

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Alan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Ashton-under-Lyne English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Derby County F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Southport F.C. managers Men's association football defenders English football managers