Downfall of a player only shown the red card once

Friends of Tommy Wright liked to say he was football through and through.

Brought up in Scottish football’s school of hard knocks, he had a reputation as “a grafter” who would “do anything for anyone”.

Dunfermline-born Wright left school at 15 to take up a career in the game. His father, also Tommy, enjoyed a notable career and played for Scotland. It seemed almost destiny that Tommy Jnr would join Leeds United and score on his debut.

The winger made 455 appearances for Leeds, Oldham Athletic, Leicester City, Middlesbrough, St Johnstone, Livingston and Doncaster Rovers, scoring a total of 86 goals, and was

proud that he had only once been shown the red card.

When his playing days ended, Wright went on to senior coaching and management roles with Chesterfield, Barnsley and Carlisle United.

By the time he had risen to the post of assistant manager at Barnsley he was on a £120,000 salary. Despite this, he appeared to show little hesitation when offered £5,000, with a promise of another £5,000, in return for encouraging his players to sign with Pino Pagliara and Dax Price’s sports agency, choosing such players to go in Barnsley’s first team, arranging a meeting between the two men and the owners of the club, and supplying confidential information about his players’ contracts.

Presented with an envelope of cash at a Leeds hotel he said, “Cheers. Put it there” – indicating the seat next to him, before later tucking the package surreptitiously into his pocket.

He didn’t tell his bosses about the

Presented with an envelope of cash at a Leeds hotel he said, ‘Cheers. Put it there’

arrangement and it was only after The

Telegraph story broke that he declared the payment to the taxman.

Wright maintained the money was a consultancy fee arranged by Pagliara and Price for his professional opinion of emerging talent.

The charges clearly brought shame and embarrassment on Wright and his family. In the witness box he broke down twice, and again as he watched his son, Vatican-trained Catholic priest Father Elliott Wright, give evidence in his defence. A retired senior police superintendent also testified on Wright’s behalf, describing him as “principled” and “honest”. Barry Owen, 72, now a director of Oldham Athletic FC, said he was a committed family man driven more by the success of his players than by financial reward.

But in reaching their verdict after six days of deliberations the jury agreed with the prosecution. The money he picked up from the hotel in Leeds was nothing other than a bribe.