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Richard Wright: In Profile | Help spread the word: Share on Facebook 
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Paul Bloomfield looks at the ups and downs of Richard Wright’s career, as the goalkeeper rejoins Ipswich Town after 7 years away.Richard Wright is a man that needs no introduction to Ipswich Town fans, having played his part in helping the club return to the Premier League in 2000, and qualify for Europe the following season. The Ipswich-born goalkeeper came up through the Ipswich youth ranks, and burst onto the first-team scene with a string of impressive performances, quickly establishing himself as Town’s first-choice keeper. It would be fair to say that Richard Wright hasn’t enjoyed the best of times since leaving the Blues, and will be looking to recapture the success both he and the club enjoyed during his previous stint. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a Town player was the penalty save he made in the Division One Play-Off Final at Wembley in 2000, after he was penalised for bringing down Barnsley’s Craig Hignett. Wright went on to make an equally crucial stop late-on in the game, keeping out a header from close range. Wright’s form for Ipswich earned him two England caps; the first of which came just days after Ipswich’s Play-Off success at Wembley. England manager Kevin Keegan decided to hand Wright his international debut in a friendly match against Malta, ahead of the upcoming Euro 2000 tournament. Wright’s debut turned out to be an eventful one to say the least. In the first of a number of déjà-vu moments for the Ipswich shot-stopper, Wright brought down a Maltese player inside the box and conceded a penalty. The resulting spot-kick was converted, only to be ordered to be retaken by the referee after spotting an infringement. The retake saw the ball strike the post and cannon into the back of the net off Wright. The incident evoked memories of a similar occurrence just days before in the Play-Off Final against Barnsley, when The Tykes went ahead through a long-range Craig Hignett effort which came down off the crossbar, struck Wright on the back and found its way into the net. Things got worse for the goalkeeper when he conceded a second penalty late-on in the match. However, he was to redeem himself this time by saving the penalty, and make another crucial save to prevent Malta from equalising just moments later. England eventually emerged with a 2-1 victory. Wright’s consistently impressive performances in Ipswich’s highly successful first season back in the top flight inevitably caught the attention of the big boys, and in July 2001, Arsenal secured his services in a £6m deal. An injury to David Seaman gave Wright an extended run in the first-team and after a steady start to life at Arsenal, things started to take downward turn. Some costly goalkeeping errors were soon followed by Wright suffering an injury, compounding his misery. As a result, he found himself dropping to third-choice goalkeeper behind youngster Stuart Taylor. Richard was to move on to Everton in 2002, having made a total of 22 appearances for the Gunners. Wright established himself as the number one goalkeeper at Goodison Park, before succumbing to an injury, and numerous other ones since then have set the tone for the rest of his career to date. Having had surgery on a troublesome knee, Richard suffered a damaged shoulder in bizarre fashion, as a result of falling out of his loft. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he went on to suffer another freak injury prior to an FA Cup 4th Round Replay against Chelsea. The keeper embarrassingly fell onto a sign in the goalmouth in the warm-up, compounded by the fact that it was captured by television cameras covering the match. The man who had been standing in for Wright, Nigel Martyn, suffered an injury himself prior to the game. This meant that Wright had his chance to regain his place between the sticks, if he had not put himself out of contention. These were times that Wright will not look back on with a great deal of fondness. Richard was released by Everton at the end of the 2006/2007 season and West Ham came along to snap him up. Wright found his duties at Upton Park to be nothing more than warming the bench, and could only watch on as former Norwich City goalkeeper Robert Green continued to perform well for the Hammers. Wright was allowed to join Championship side Southampton on a month’s loan where he could get some much-craved first-team games. The loan deal was later extended for the remainder of the season, and he helped the club to narrowly avoid relegation. After lengthy speculation about a possible return to Portman Road, Richard Wright completed his move to Ipswich Town last month, signing from West Ham United for a fee believed to be around £500,000. Paul Bloomfield (7th August 2008) Click to view author Paul Bloomfield's profile Fancy writing for LiveFootball? Click here to find out more. |