Newcastle United - Tommy Wright - Nottingham Forest Webjam

Tommy Wright was one of the most unlucky players I can ever remember playing for Nottingham Forest but indirectly he played an important part for the team during the 1990’s.

As he attended a non-footballing school in his home town of Ballyclare Tommy was late arrival into football with him excelling at Athletics and Cross Country at school with the highlight of becoming “All-Ireland” Cross-Country Champion in 1978. He began his footballing career as a teenager initially as a forward for local amateur league team Grange Rovers but when he switched to goalkeeper he began to make people notice his potential.

Firstly he moved to “B” Division team Brantwood before joining top League of Ireland side Linfield. Although not a regular at Linfield Wright gained his first international honours whilst at the club when he won an Under-23 cap. This call up brought him to the attention of a number of English League sides and in March 1988 Newcastle United who were then managed by Willie McFaul who himself made the journey from Linfield to Newcastle in the mid-60’s signed Wright for a fee of £ 30,000.

Wright would make his debut in January 1989 by which time Jim Smith had become manager of a Newcastle side destined for relegation and would make nine appearances during the 1988/89 season. Towards the end of the season the disappointment of the imminent relegation was tapered when he won his first Northern Ireland cap in a World Cup qualifier in Malta.

The following season Wright would feature more for Newcastle but eventually veteran John Burridge gained preference and with Newcastle heading for the play offs Wright struggled to regain his place. Even though Newcastle lost in the play offs Wright struggled to oust Burridge who remained first choice the following season and would not play for the club during the 1990/91 season though a period on loan at Hull City would give him more first team opportunities.

Things looked bleak for Wright when new manager Osvaldo Ardiles brought in Pawel Srnicek but the 1991/92 season would see Wright as first choice at St.James Park, playing in 33 league games and when Kevin Keegan arrived in February things were beginning to look a lot brighter at the club.

Wright began the 1992/93 season as first choice but an injury against Birmingham saw him lose his place to Srnicek and with Newcastle heading for promotion he failed to get the goalkeepers jersey back. An early season injury to Srnicek the following season saw Wright make three Premiership appearances for the club but the signing of Mike Hooper brought an end to his Newcastle career (for now).

Nottingham Forest had been relegated the previous season in Brian Clough’s final season as a manager and new manager Frank Clark was building a new team hoping for immediate return to the Premiership. The club had been struggling for a quality goalkeeper for a few years since Clough had fallen out with Steve Sutton over contract negotiations. Recent seasons had seen the erratic Mark Crossley and Andy Marriott tried in goal but neither had proved a successful replacement for Sutton.

In search of a replacement Clark returned to the club where he played most of his career and signed Wright for £ 450,000 in September 1993. Wright went straight into the Forest team and finally it seemed he was first choice at a club. However in November Wright got injured in a game at Sunderland and Crossley was back in the team.

The two months out of the team had changed Crossley, he had learned from his past mistakes both playing and personal and was determined to hang on to the jersey this time. He came back a different keeper and Wright would embark on a frustrating period at club as a number of injuries would blight his career. Firstly he suffered a back problem then he needed an operation on the cartlidge on his knee during which time Crossley had become a permanent fixture in goal as well as becoming a crowd favourite. Then when he finally had become fit his son became serious ill and Wright was allowed time off on compassionate grounds.

After that first injury occurrence at Sunderland Wright would make only two further appearances for the club with a County Cup appearance in the 1994/95 season followed by a Premiership appearance at Tottenham when Crossley was suspended. Even though Wright was man of the match in the Tottenham game his career at Forest was almost over as Frank Clark who was now Manchester City manager was about to complete a permanent transfer for Wright after he had spent a month on loan before being recalled for that Tottenham appearance.

Wright would be first choice at Manchester City until Clark lost his job and was replaced by Joe Royle who preferred youngster Nicky Weaver meaning Wright was back as reserve keeper again. The remainder of his career would see Wright on a number of loan deals including a return to NewcastleBolton in 2001. before ending his league career at

He then rejected the chance to stay on at Bolton and moved back to Northern Ireland to play for Ballymena before his injury curse struck again and he decided to concentrate on a coaching career. He first became goalkeeping coach at Linfield and then manager at Limavady United between 2003 and 2005 followed by Ballymena from 2005 to 2008. In May 2008 he returned to England to become goalkeeping coach at Norwich City but left in February 2009 when Glenn Roeder left as manager.

Wright then returned to Ireland initially as goalkeeping coach at Shamrock Rovers before taking over as manager at Lisburn Distillery where he remains today.

Wright will never be mentioned as a Forest great but his arrival got Mark Crossley to reassess how his career was progressing and turned him from terrace boo boy to become a terrace cult hero but in his own right was a quality keeper that seemed to suffer injuries at key times that lost him his place in sides.

CAREER STATS

PLAYING CAREER

LEAGUE CAREER

Linfield 1983/84 to 1987/88 7 (0)

Newcastle United 1987/88 to 1993/94 72+1 (0)

Hull City (Loan) 1990/91 6 (0)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1993/94 to 1996/97 11 (0)

Reading (Loan) 1996/97 17 (0)

Manchester City 1996/97 to 2000/01 24 (0)

Wrexham (Loan) 1998/99 16 (0)

Newcastle United (Loan) 1999/2000 3 (0)

Bolton Wanderers 2000/01 3+1 (0)

Ballymena United 2001/02 6 (0)

Linfield 2002/03 0 (0)

NFFC SEASON BY SEASON

1993/94 League 10 (0)

League Cup 2 (0)

TOTAL 12 (0)

1994/95 County Cup 1 (0)

1995/96 Did Not Play

1996/97 League 1 (0)

TOTAL League 11 (0)

League Cup 2 (0)

County Cup 1 (0)

TOTAL 14 (0)

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Northern Ireland 1988/89 to 1999/2000 31 (0)

(including 10 appearances whilst a Forest player)

COACHING CAREER

Linfield (GK Coach) 2002/03

Limavady United (Manager) November 2003 to May 2006

Ballymena United (Manager) May 2005 to April 2008

Norwich City (GK Coach) May 2008 to February 2009

Shamrock Rovers (GK Coach) February 2009

Lisburn Distillery (Manager) September 2009 to date

Navigation

PLAYED FOR US AND THEM » Newcastle United - Tommy Wright

Comments

Leave a Comment

Advertisements