The Daily Telegraph's investigation

some excellent posts Jay.

I asked the question on another thread - Why on earth was Wright, an ASSISTANT manager, at a relatively small club targeted - £5k isn't exactly mega bucks.

And I am sorry to see him sacked - his contribution to the club has been immense this past 12 months.

 

personally I think the only 'facts' that matter in this case is that he was accused by the Telegraph of being caught doing something that he shouldn't , he was interviewed by the club regarding same and was unable to justify his position to the powers that be and it cost him his job. Read into it what you may

 

Pretty much exactly my thoughts.

 

Apart from the alleged corruption bit ,which I'm sure lawyers etc will kick about like a football stating he did/didn't commit.
There is also the fact he introduced Cryne and Hecky to these people and pretended he didn't know them and also instructed the participants to pretend vice versa .
IMO that's deceiving his employers and warrants the sack and also puts his future employment into delicate scrutiny whoever takes a chance on him.
So whether he's convicted or not it surely puts the game under suspicion if these types of suspicious actions are not at the very least thoroughly and decisively acted upon.

 

Top post Jay. Part of me feels sorry for the backroom staff who see the game awash with money and are not getting proportionately a fair share. In the scale of it what Tommy did was wrong but seriously, much worse has gone on in the past and currently is going on.

 

I wouldn't go that far. The allegations against him have sullied the name of the club and you can't have an employee doing that.

I don't know how guilty he is, I don't know if he's bent or not, I don't know how much responsibility he can take for the success of the club over the last twelve months. I do know he shouldn't have put himself in the position he did, he should have just said he wasn't interested. As I've said before, the fact he met with these guys doesn't necessarily make him a bad person. It may be one of many infringements or it may be that he was just naive on one occasion. But he really can't expect to keep his job after saying the things we heard on camera as it taints the reputation of Barnsley FC and makes the club look guilty of such practices by association.

My biggest problem is with The Telegraph wasting their time tempting insignificant employees with an envelope full of money, and publishing what such people say they will do rather than what they have actually gone on to do. It deflects attention away from where the real corruption lies. It's the agents and business men who invest in these deals that need exposing, not some coach who tells them he knows of a couple of players who are quite good. Anyone with any knowledge of the game can tell you Conor Hourihane is a good player, that's not the problem here, and The Telegraph's investigation would have been far more credible had it uncovered some real deals where the things they are alluding to have actually taken place, where they can expose the people behind it, rather than reporting on a set-up where no one actually did anything, it was just talk. By all means, expose the employees at the clubs who recommend players during such an investigation, but there has been no evidence that Tommy Wright has ever done this for real.

In my opinion it would be far more worthwhile to get onside with an assistant manager or a scout who has been approached by the kind of people who do this and then investigate and report how one of the deals actually takes place and who is behind it. What they've actually achieved is nothing because they're all still out there and anyone can tell them who the good players are and a little investigation on the internet can lead them to their agents or other employees at their club.

 

To be honest, my overwhelming reaction to the Allardyce and Wright sagas was not to feel sorry for them, but to think that they are a bit thick.
Allardyce, leading English tactical brains in the country, charged with making England a leading force in world football again - is actually a bit of a dimwit.
Tommy Wright, risks his career and reputation, for 5k.

Jesus wept. I can't 'understand' the behaviour of either at all, not even couched in the terms you portray.

 

Completely agree

 

Understanding it and repeating such things myself are much different. I've seen people corrupt themselves for far less. Greed affects us all to a greater or lesser extent.

 

I'd presume that our reputation for adding value to young players might have made us a plausible target for the Telegraph's sting (Stones, et al).

As regards TW, you'd assume that we have taken the advice of our Chairman in dealing with it, given that he is one of the foremost sports lawyer in the country.