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 lea ...

. He was a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

who has played over 750 league and cup games for eight clubs, including an eight-year spell in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for Aston Villa. He has also played for Blackburn Rovers,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and Sheffield United plus he has had loan spells at Derby County, Leeds United, Cardiff City,

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. He finished his career with spells at Cheltenham Town and Fleetwood Town. He was capped twice by the England U21 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 and

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

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 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. 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 Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

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, 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 Leeds United. Wright was also part of the Aston Villa 1996 League Cup winning side, beating Leeds again, this time at Wembley. 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 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 Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

) and July 2002 (a 2–0 loss to FC Zürich), 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 L ...

and Dennis Mortimer 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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

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 An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 23 September 2006. Since then he was sent out on loan playing 1 game with Leeds United 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, ostensibly as cover for the suspended Julian Bennett. Wright extended his loan with Nottingham Forest in May 2007 and played in the League One play-off semi-final against Yeovil Town, 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 but eventually joined Cheltenham Town 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 on 27 October 2007.

Fleetwood Town

In July 2009, Wright signed for Conference North outfit Fleetwood Town. 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 The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

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' 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, Wright took control in Simpson's absence. Wright remained in his role as assistant manager to incoming manager Martin Foyle. At the end of the 2011–12 season Wright became the caretaker manager after Foyle's departure to Hereford United, leaving the role after Lee Ashcroft 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 Fleetwood Town 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 A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional association football, football player and manager. He played the whole of his Football League career at Blackpool F.C., Blackpool, usually at right 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:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Aston Villa *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1995–96 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 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