Benjamin Matthew "Ben" Wright (born 20 August 1988) is an English

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 ...

who plays as a striker for Tadley Calleva.

Career

Wright was born in Basingstoke,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. After scoring prolifically for Hampton & Richmond Borough in 2008, Wright attracted attention from bigger clubs, including Fulham, where he passed a medical and looked set to sign. However, Roy Hodgson backed out of the £50,000 transfer at the last minute, and he instead joined

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 ...

team

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

on 29 January 2009 on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in cont ...

. He made his League debut in a 2–1 defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

after coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute on 28 February. He joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

team Kettering Town on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

until the end of April in March and he made his debut after starting in a 2–0 victory over Weymouth. He scored his first two goals for Kettering in a 2–1 victory over

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 fr ...

. On 29 September 2009, Wright signed on a one-month loan for Conference side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. On 27 November Wright signed a two-month loan deal with

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

, but after only featuring in two games inside his first month, and spending the rest as an unused substitute, manager

Neil Woods Neil Stephen Woods (born 30 July 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is academy manager at Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a striker from 1983 to 2000 for Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Ipswich Town, Bra ...

allowed him to return to Peterborough a month early. On 11 March 2010, Wright agreed to join

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on an emergency loan deal until 20 April after injuries depleted their forward line. Wright was transfer listed at the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season, before joining Hayes & Yeading United on loan in August 2010, scoring two goals on his debut against

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

. Later that same month he joined

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. On 3 November 2010, Wright was sent out on loan to fellow Conference side Newport County. In January 2011 he rejoined Hayes & Yeading United on loan until the end of the season. Wright left

by mutual consent in June 2011 and subsequently joined Braintree Town. He spent a season with Braintree, finishing as top goal scorer notching 18 goals in all competitions but left the club at the end of the season. Wright then joined fellow Conference Premier side

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

on 11 May 2012. He made his debut for Forest Green on the opening day of the 2012–13 season against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

as a substitute. He scored his first goal for Forest Green on 1 September 2012 in a 3–1 win against Hyde at

The New Lawn The New Lawn, also known as The Bolt New Lawn for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. It has been the home stadium of League One club Forest Green Rovers since 2006. During the 2007–08 season the stadium ...

. After a lengthy injury lay off, Wright returned on loan to former club Braintree Town on 28 March 2013. On the same day Wright made his second debut for the club, earning an assist for Braintree's first goal in a 2–1 win against

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. On 23 July 2013, Wright and Forest Green came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract a year early so he could go in search for more first team football. He signed for Salisbury City the next day, on a 2-year contract. The pre-season period ahead of the 2013–14 season saw him feature regularly for Salisbury in their fixtures. He impressed by scoring 4 goals against a developmental Bournemouth squad, and one against

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

. He was also recognised for his impressive delivery of the ball from set pieces. He re-joined

Basingstoke Town Basingstoke Town Football Club is a football club based in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Winklebury Sports Complex. Their motto, 'Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum', means 'Never a step backward' ...

on a month's loan in December 2013, making his second début in the abandoned match at Gosport Borough on 28 December 2013. On 4 December 2014 he joined

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

from Eastleigh for an undisclosed fee, after being contracted to Eastleigh since the summer. On 30 June 2015 he left the Hawks for Maidenhead United by mutual consent, to become their ninth summer signing, linking up with manager

Alan Devonshire Alan Ernest Devonshire (born 13 April 1956) is an English former professional footballer who is the current manager of Maidenhead United. He was a wide midfielder who played for West Ham United, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1980, and Watford, ...

for the third time in his career. In June 2016 he completed a move to National League South rivals Gosport Borough on a two-year deal. He returned to his hometown club Basingstoke Town ahead of the 2017–18 season. In March 2018, Wright returned to Gosport Borough on loan from Basingstoke Town, registering his first goal in a 2–5 defeat to

Redditch United Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the V Trico Stadium. They are managed by former Captain and Assistant Manager Matt Clarke. ...

on 17 March. In August 2020, Wright joined

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ham ...

. In July 2022, Wright remained with

Combined Counties Football League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and sou ...

side Tadley Calleva having finished as their top scorer the previous season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Ben 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Basingstoke English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Basingstoke Town F.C. players Winchester City F.C. players Andover F.C. players Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Fleet Town F.C. players Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players Gosport Borough F.C. players Hartley Wintney F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Footballers from Hampshire Combined Counties Football League players Wessex Football League players