Barnsley’s assistant sacked after club probe

Wright in payment allegation as part of newspaper investigation

Former St Johnstone winger Tommy Wright has been sacked as Barnsley assistant manager after the club launched an internal investigation into allegations of corruption.

Dunfermline-born Wright, 50, was suspended by the Sky Bet Championship club on Wednesday night after the Daily Telegraph claimed he had taken a £5,000 payment made by its undercover reporters, allegedly to help place players at Barnsley.

Video footage released by the Telegraph as part of its investigation into corruption in football appears to show Wright accepting cash during a series of meetings with a fake Far East firm, in which he agreed to help sign players part-owned by the firm. Wright has denied any wrongdoing. “Barnsley FC today terminated the contract of assistant head coach Tommy Wright with immediate effect,” read a statement on Barnsley’s official website.

“A meeting between the club and Mr Wright was held this morning, attended by club chief executive Linton Brown. After considering Mr Wright’s response to allegations in today’s Daily Telegraph about breaching FA rules over player transfers, Mr Wright was dismissed.

“The club was unaware of such matters nor was it involved in any wrongdoing. The club will continue to fully investigate the issues at hand and will co-operate with the regulatory authorities as necessary.”

Wright’s sacking follows revelations that led to the departure of England boss Sam Allardyce, and a separate report alleging that eight managers with Premier League experience and two from the Championship had taken socalled ‘bungs’ in transfer deals.

The Telegraph claimed Wright had held three separate meetings, in both Sheffield and Leeds, with a Telegraph reporter posing as a representative of the fake Far East company, disgraced former football agent Pino Pagliara and licensed agent Dax Price, who were acting as the firm’s consultants.

The video appears to show Wright accepting £5,000 cash at a second meeting in return for helping to persuade Barnsley to sign players who are part-owned by the firm. Wright is then alleged to have helped arrange another meeting at Oakwell with Barnsley chairman Patrick Cryne and head coach Paul Heckingbottom.

Both Cryne and Heckingbottom were unaware of Wright’s previous meetings, nor did they know at the time of Pagliara’s true identity as he had been introduced as a translator.

Cryne clearly expressed at that meeting the proposals to give the club cash to help buy players it could not afford in return for a share of any future transfer fee was in breach of Football Association and Fifa rules on third-party ownership of players.

Barnsley had no further contact with the group, and a further agreed payment of £5,000 by the firm to Wright was never made.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Cryne or Heckingbottom.

Pagliara has since claimed the money given to Wright had been intended to be passed on to him and Dax for their services to the Far East company.

Wright spent two months with St Johnstone in season 1997-98.

Picture: PA. Former St Johnstone winger Tommy Wright has been sacked as Barnsley assistant manager.