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 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 ...

, and also had short spells in the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

. He was most recently a First-Team Coach at

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 ...

Career

Coaching

Having worked previously as his assistant manager at

, Wright followed John Sheridan to League Two side

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

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 Mark Geoffrey Crossley (born 16 June 1969) is a football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1988 until 2011 and he has previously played for numerous clubs in England's top flight, notably for Notti ...

assisting. Wright was appointed assistant head coach of Barnsley on 25 February 2015 On 21 June 2018, he linked up with John Sheridan once more when being appointed the new assistant manager of Carlisle United.

Swindon Town

On 9 July 2019, he joined the coaching team at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

. 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. In the same month, it was reported that former Swindon Town F.C. manager

Richie Wellens Richard Paul Wellens (born 26 March 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently head coach of EFL League Two club Leyton Orient. Wellens began his career at Manchester United ...

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. 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. Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

game. 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.

Oldham return

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

Corruption conviction

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. His criminal trial was held in October 2019, at which he was convicted of soliciting and accepting bribes.

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. 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.

Managerial Statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Tommy 1966 births Living people Footballers from Dunfermline Scottish footballers Association football wingers Leeds United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Chesterfield F.C. managers English Football League managers Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff Chesterfield F.C. non-playing staff Barnsley F.C. non-playing staff Carlisle United F.C. non-playing staff Swindon Town F.C. non-playing staff Swindon Town F.C. managers