Stephen Wright
Personal information
Full name	Stephen John Wright
Date of birth	February 8 1980 (1980-02-08) (age 33)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	6 ft (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Coventry City
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-2002 1999 1999-2000 2002- 2007-2008 2008-	Liverpool → Crewe Alexandra (loan) → Crewe Alexandra (loan) Sunderland → Stoke City (loan) Coventry City	14 (0) 5 (0) 17 (0) 92 (2) 16 (0)
National team
	England U21	10 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen John Wright (born February 8, 1980 in Bootle, Liverpool) featured for sunderland from 2002-2008.

Sunderland CareerEdit

After finding first team opportunities increasingly difficult to come by, Wright joined Sunderland in a £1.5m deal, which would eventually rise to £3m. Wright was handed the number 2 shirt and made first choice right back, replacing Bernt Haas, who had moved on loan to FC Basle. Wright's tough and uncompromising style made him initially popular with the Sunderland faithful, however, a drastic loss of form, combined with Sunderland's dreadful form in the league saw him criticised towards the end of the season. Sunderland were eventually relegated with a record low of 19 points, in a season that saw manager Peter Reid sacked just weeks after signing Wright, and his replacement, Howard Wilkinson, sacked, just 5 months into his role.

Wilkinson was replaced by former Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, who often alternated between Wright and team-mate Darren Williams for the right back slot during the 03/04 season. With the club performing well in the league, Wright's confidence grew as a player, and he soon won over his critics with a series of solid displays. Wright scored his first goal for the club on August 25, 2003 against Watford at the Stadium of Light.

Unfortunately for Wright, Sunderland were beaten in the play-offs by Crystal Palace, crushing any hope of a swift return to the Premiership. During the summer, manager Mick McCarthy strengthened the squad by signing Manchester United right back Mark Lynch, though Wright remained first choice. After a poor start, Sunderland eventually won the league comfortably, with Wright playing a major role and earning himself the respect of the supporters that had once criticised him. As a measure of his popularity, Wright was one of the front-runners for the annual Player of the Year award, eventually finishing in 4th place.

With Sunderland returning to the Premiership, Wright was expected to resume his role at right back, however, a serious knee injury put Wright on the shelf for 6 months, just one game into the season. Upon returning to fitness, Wright was sent off for two bookable offenses on his comeback game against West Ham on February 4, 2006, and later picked up an ankle injury in training that required surgery. This effectively ended Wright's season after just two appearances, as Sunderland crashed out with another record low points tally, 15.

With manager Mick McCarthy dismissed towards the end of the 05/06 season, new chairman and former team-mate Niall Quinn agreed to take the reins, however, decided to leave Wright out of the opening games of the 06/07 season, instead preferring midfielder Rory Delap for the role. Wright made his first appearance for 7 months in the 3-2 defeat to Plymouth on August 12, 2006, however, picked up another injury in the defeat to Bury two games later. Since the 2007/2008 season he has been dropped from sunderland's squad completely, without even been giving a squad number, and being transfer listed by Roy Keane. At the end of the 2007/2008 season Wright was released by sunderland.

External linksEdit

• Stephen Wright career stats at Soccerbase