Ian Wright - The Wright Way

Speaking live on 'Absolute Radio' earlier this morning, Ian Wright has revealed that in between stints as a successful TV pundit and his ongoing commitments to various youth projects, he has recently completed his UEFA 'B' Continental Coaching qualification, enabling him to work across Europe as a Football Manager.




Wright, a former Arsenal and England striker enjoyed a glittering career as a player, scoring 128 goals in 221 games in an Arsenal shirt. Wright is considered as a legend amongst the Arsenal devoted and was fortunate enough to be at the club during their 'golden' era, playing alongside such greats as Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. Wright never announced any intention to coach or manage in football and instead appeared content to pursue work on TV as a host for various TV shows and as a pundit for the BBC amongst other companies.

Wright was quoted as saying: "I've been involved in football for about as long as I can remember. When I binned my boots as a player, I honestly thought that I would never pursue a career as a football manager...I thought I had done everything I'd wanted to do in football, but there's still something inside me, one more challenge for me to overcome and maybe, just maybe I'll find that challenge as a manager."

Wright had been gaining some limited experience as a coach, working on a part-time basis on the coaching team with MK Dons, but it was never envisaged that this would progress much further than it had already.

It's still unclear whether the 49 year old former Arsenal and England striker has made any applications for jobs or not. When pushed on the subject, Wright remained tight-lipped stating only: "I don't know yet. I've still got my work as a pundit on TV and I still have several youth projects in the pipeline, as well as the part time job with The Dons....Who knows? If Arsene ever retires or moves on, at least now I'm properly qualified to take over!"

Sky Bet have stopped taking any more bets on Wright returning to Arsenal in some capacity, but knowing him as well as we do, it wouldn't shock us if he turned up at another club altogether, taking the reins and leading the charge as a Manager himself. Mr Wenger, your days are apparently numbered.

Good luck! (1ST COMMENT)

sportinglife.com understands that former Arsenal and England striker, Ian Wright has taken his first steps towards becoming a full time football manager today by sending out his first application for the vacant Hayes and Yeading job.




Hayes and Yeading have found themselves without a manager following an underwhelming performance in the Blue Square Premier League in the 2011-2012 season, which saw them relegated. The media have widely been tipping them to be in or around the play-offs this season, with an outside chance of making a return to the Blue Square Premier League, but their preparation for the upcoming campaign was thrown in to disarray when current manager Phil Babb left last week, citing 'a clash of personalities' with chairman Derek Goodall.

There has been no official word from either Wright, or Hayes and Yeading United, but sportinglife.com understands that many fans are excited at the prospect of a former premiership and england international striker taking charge of the club.

Best of luck! I will keep a close eye on this

Hayes and Yeading United have officially announced today that Ian Wright will take over later this week as Full Time manager of the club.




Former Arsenal legend, Ian Wright had been making the headlines earlier in the month when it was revealed that he had completed all the relevant UEFA licensing qualifications required to manage a club professionally anywhere on the continent. Although Wright had been working part-time with MK Dons as a coach, it was widely expected that this would remain a side project and Wright would continue to focus on a career in sports punditry and TV.

Speculation was rife this week with fans across football figuring that Wright would put himself in the job market and make applications for various vacant positions, including the the Hayes and Yeading United hotseat. Neither Wright, or United would comment on the speculation that a job application had been made until the club's official announcement today.

United fans are understood to be thrilled at the prospect of Wright taking over as manager. One user on twitter was quoted as saying "I think this is the first England International that United have ever signed...let's hope it's the first of many!"

Wright is expected to make an immediate start to the job, beginning tomorrow with supervision over a friendly match at home to Brentford, which United as expected to lose. A press conference has been called immediately after the match to allow Wright an opportunity to introduce himself to the media, many of whom he has previously worked alongside.

New Hayes and Yeading United manager, Ian Wright has tried to reach out to the fans of the club following his recent appointment as manager of the club.

In an emotive letter to the fans, posted on the club's official website, Wright has asked for the fans to show their continued support to the club and to afford him a little bit of patience whilst he finds his feet in the hectic world of professional football management.




"Dear United supporter,

As many of you will no doubt be aware, I have just been appointed as the full time Manager of United.

I won't lie to you all, as a lifelong Arsenal fan...I never expected to ever read headlines in the paper stating that I had joined United! It is an honour and a privilege to be afforded this opportunity to gain experience as manager of this fantastic club and I hope to repay the faith the Chairman and the board have shown in me by putting this club back in the Blue Square Premier League and beyond.

There is a lot of work to be done before we can realistically start aiming for winning titles and leagues. We had a poor season last year, we were in freefall following our relegation from the Blue Square Premier League and we've only just started to stabilise the club again. The foundations are here already, I just need your support and your continued backing whilst we turn this fledgling club in to a major footballing force.

I haven't come to the club as a stepping stone to another job. If nothing else, I'm loyal to a fault and I intend to be here for the long term and put my long term development plans in place at the club. The process will be long and I'm sure from time to time we'll struggle and doubt ourselves...but if you'll all have a little patience, we'll weather the storms and sail on to sunnier climes.

This season will be tough for us all, but if you continue to show your support, shout, sing and scream like never before, I'm certain with you all as the twelfth man on the pitch that we will be driven to accomplish great things.

I'll be supervising the lads at their pre-season match against Brentford tonight and I fully expect to take over the day to day running of the club from tomorrow.

One last thing I want to add before I get back to the day job, I read a comment on twitter last night from a fan asking me to make sure that I wasn't the last international signed for the club...some things are in the pipeline at the moment and if it all pans out how I hope it does, we'll be adding a handful more international experience to the club in the coming weeks.

Ian Wright, Manager of Hayes and Yeading United."

New Hayes and Yeading United manager, Ian Wright has announced his first signings for the club, bringing in a new Assistant Manager, Chief Scout and First Team coach to join his backroom setup.




In a move that fans have dubbed 'Bringing Arsenal to United', Wright has installed his long-time friends and former Arsenal teammates Tony Adams as Assistant Manager, Lee Dixon as First Team coach and Nigel Winterburn as Chief Scout.

Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams had been without a club following unsuccessful stints as manager of Portsmouth and a stint in Azerbaijan. Adams had been rallying for a position on the Arsenal board as Chairman prior to the appointment of Chips Keswick, but was said to have welcomed the opportunity to get back to management and work alongside his friend, Ian Wright.

Former Arsenal Full Back, Lee Dixon had been enjoying a hugely successful career as a TV football pundit with the BBC. Following regular appearances on Match of the Day and as a guest for many big matches on the BBC, including the recent Confederations Cup coverage, Dixon embraced the opportunity to transition in to coaching, but warned that he would have to be given time to maintain his current TV commitments.

And another former Arsenal Full Back, Nigel Winterburn had been spending his time in retirement building up an extensive knowledge of the youth and U18 talent in England. Winterburn is set to put his knowledge to great use, guiding former teammate Wright in the transfer market and hopefully picking out one or two gems that Wright can put to good use on the pitch.

With a wealth of playing experience at the very highest levels in the game, Wright, Adams, Dixon and Winterburn are surely some of the most qualified people to push Hayes and Yeading United to the upper tiers of English football.

2013-07-04 22:38#118041 Kane : Good luck! (1ST COMMENT)

Thanks Buddy! Hopefully I can keep this going and reach some of the dizzying heights you guys have been reaching on here! There are loads of fantastic stories on here giving me a lot of great inspiration.

2013-07-04 22:45#118043 P-KIDDY : Best of luck! I will keep a close eye on this

Cheers matey!! Hope I keep your eye entertained...(that sounds kinda wrong...)!

Nice start, good luck m8

Nice start!

This is a very good start

2013-07-05 00:42#118059 Sonalexwild : Nice start, good luck m8

Thanks buddy. I hope to keep this going...hopefully I can improve to the standards of some of you awesome writers!!

2013-07-05 01:45#118066 yuttra52 : Nice start!

Thanks! Lets hope you enjoy the next updates!

2013-07-05 05:15#118097 Louis O. : This is a very good start

Thanks Louis! If only someone would make me some awesome custom kits and banners for my story...if only there was someone in this topic who was awesome at making graphics....
**hint**

Well it's been an interesting start to my first full month in charge of a football club. When my mates told me that there would be a steep learning curve, they clearly weren't kidding!!

I've been spending a lot more time in the office than I thought I would do...infact, I've been spending so much time here that I'm thinking about moving the missus and the kids in to the changing rooms, so that at least I'll get to see them from time to time.

Off the Field
Off the Field has been a mixed bag of news really. Despite my earlier plea for patience and increased support, we've had to endure the horror of having the lowest ever recorded attendance for a Blue Square South match.
Only 90 people turned out to watch our boys destroy Billericay. It's shame on two fronts, one because it was a home game and there was no travelling involved for our own fans...and two because it was probably our best performance of the season so far. The 90 that did turn out to see us at least got to see a vintage performance, and it was thanks to them making enough noise to make up for the small attendance that we were encouraged to push on and really put Billericay to the sword!

On the flip side, I've managed to convince the board to invest £350,000 in improving our Youth Facilities at the club. This is a big step forward for the club, having better youth facilities will allow us to improve our existing youngsters, but also to attract higher quality talents to the club. I'm excited for the work to be completed and can't wait to start running a few training drills with the youngsters in the new facilities.


Transfers
Aside from my previously announced changes to the backroom staff...I've been busy securing some new players for the club.
Bringing anyone in to the club has been particularly challenging as we have no transfer funds to play with. We have a decent wage budget, but that was adjusted down slightly in order to fund the improvements to the youth facilities. There's still a little bit left over for me to work with, but it has and will continue to be a real challenge to sign players to the club until our financial situation improves.

ST - Age 28 - 34 CA / 35 PA
Ellis is a player that has experience of playing in and around this level of English football. Ellis will add a real does of experience to the squad and offer us a few extra options in attack. He might not play every game, but he'll certainly be part of a rotation set up and could easily snag us a few crucial goals.

GK - Age 17 - 85 CA / 163 PA
Marie is a young french wonderkid that will provide us with a real boost of quality between the sticks. Even at only 17 years old, he's already good enough to pull that Number 1 shirt over his head and make it his own. I imagine we'll see big things from Marie and once his real quality starts to develop, I imagine the very best clubs in Europe will be knocking at our door to whisk him away.

ST - Age 16 - 65 CA / 126 PA
At only 16 years old, Thomas has his entire career ahead of him. He has been unfortunate already, picking up a niggling injury that has lead to him being released by Derby County at the start of the season. We've taken him on and I'm confident that with our training and medical treatment, we'll keep him fit enough to make a real impact on the team. With the right tutelage, we could easily be looking at the next Ian Wright....if only we had a manager with international and premiership experience that could tutor him....!

AML/AMR - Age 20 - 85 ca / 102 PA
Allan represents a real coup for this club in the transfer market. Allan has played with the youth setup and trained with one of the best clubs in France and he will be able to share his knowledge and experience of how these big clubs operate with the rest of the squad. He's not too shabby on the ball and is still young enough to develop even more. I think Allan will be a big part of anything we achieve this year.


On the Field
On the field we've had a fairly good start to the season. We've gone through the full range of emotions, with wins, losses and draws, but we find ourselves in a good position in the league and we now have an opportunity to really push on and build from here.

Weston-Super-Mare 0 - 1 Hayes and Yeading United
Oyenuga (25)
N'Diaye (8.2 Rating)

Hayes and Yeading United 5 - 1 Billericay
Remy (45, 49, 69, 71), Ekim (pen 77)
Remy (9.8 Rating)

Hayes and Yeading United 0 - 0 Borehamwood
Cadmore (7.3 Rating)

Basingstoke 1 - 0 Hayes and Yeading United
Pelé (7.4 Rating)

All in all, not a bad start to the season. It could have gone better, but it could also easily have gone a lot worse.

The loss against Basingstoke is particularly disappointing and I have to accept the lion's share of the blame for that outcome. We were not the favourites to win the match and coupled with being Away from home, I decided to set the team up to play a bit more defensively and try to utilise a counter attacking game. We conceded a very soft early goal which made me rethink my plans and adjust us to play our usual, fast flowing and attacking game.
My changes certainly made a difference as we dominated Basingstoke for the rest of the game, we just couldn't find that last bit of effort to put the ball in the back of the net.

We currently sit 6th in the league table, just outside the play off positions, but I'm encouraged by what I've seen and I remain confident that we can climb further up the table. Keep your support coming and please, please, please...let's not have another fan turn out like we did against Billericay!

Wow some awesome updates here mate this is really good and the graphics are too mate keep this up pal

2013-07-05 15:18#118196 wellsy1498 : Wow some awesome updates here mate this is really good and the graphics are too mate keep this up pal

Cheers Pal! I have some ideas for future features too, hopefully I'll have enough time to incorporate them all in to my story.

September update is underway, should be posted shortly!