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Mark Wright (born August 1 1963 in Dorchester , Oxfordshire , England ) was an English international Footballer now turned manager. He was the manager of League Two side Chester City up until April 2007 Playing career OXFORD UNITED Mark Wright started his career with Oxford United , signing professional forms during the 1980-81 season, after coming through the ranks as a trainee with his local club. After only 11 appearances, all of which were in his second season as a professional, the outstanding young defender was transferred to First Division Southampton together with Keith Cassells in a deal which took Trevor Hebberd plus £80,000 to Oxford. SOUTHAMPTON He joined the Saints on 25 March 1982 and really made his name as a player with the south coast club. The 18 year-old made his debut on 17 April 1982 in the 3-1 league win over Leeds United at Elland Road , a game which saw two to Saint legends, Kevin Keegan (2) and David Armstrong , score the goals. Wright's first full season for the club, 1982-83, saw the Saints finish mid table in 12th and also saw Mark score his first league goal. It came on 30 April 1983 in the 2-2 league draw with Luton Town at The Dell . He was also voted Southampton's player of the year. During the 1983-84 Wright's performances remained high as he helped the Saints to a very creditable runner-up spot to champions Liverpool , 3 points clear of 3rd placed Nottingham Forest and 4th placed Manchester United who both finished on 74 points. His performances also earnt him an international call-up as, then, manager Bobby Robson was looking for a long term replacement for the aging Terry Butcher . Somewhat surprisingly Southampton accepted an offer of £760,000, a then club record breaking fee, from Derby County who were also taking Wright's fellow international colleague Peter Shilton to the Baseball Ground . DERBY COUNTY So after 222 appearances for the Saints in which he scored and 11 goals Wright signed for Derby County, on 8 August 1987 . Arthur Cox had recently taken the Rams back to the top flight of English football and had the backing of chairman Robert Maxwell to bring in some players who were proven at the top level. Wright made his debut on 29 August 1987 in the 1-0 league defeat to Wimbledon at the Baseball Ground. Wright was held in very high regard at Derby and soon got the captaincy, he helped Derby to 15th position by the end of the 1987-88 season and then a very respectable 5th spot by the end of the following campaign. but behind the scene's thing were going wrong for Derby, Maxwell was leaving and Derby had to came up with the money they owed him. This meant that players of with the qualities of Wright and Welsh striker Dean Saunders had to be sold. Wright stayed for one more campaign but it saw Derby relegated back to Division 2 , not the way Wright would have wanted to leave the Rams, if he wanted to leave at all. He had played 171 times for Derby scoring 10 goals. LIVERPOOL Not willing to play outside the top division, as it would diminish his chances of international football, Wright joined Graeme Souness ' Liverpool on 15 July 1991 for £2.5 million, just 4 days before team-mate Dean Saunders signed for the club. He made his Liverpool debut a month later on 17 August in the 2-1 league victory over Oldham Athletic at Anfield . He settled in quickly at Liverpool in the daunting role as being a replacement for Liverpool legend and former captain Alan Hansen , a player Wright was sometimes likened to. Wright scored his first goal for the club on 1 September 1992 , Wright's 61st minute equaliser salvaged a point against his former club Southampton at Anfield. Wright was a regular until his retirement on 1 August 1998 at the age of 35. During his time at Anfield he captained the side to the FA Cup final in which they beat Sunderland 2-0 in 1992 but missed out on the 2-1 Coca-Cola League Cup win over Bolton Wanderers through injury. Wright was a major influence on the mainly young Liverpool team that consisted of players like Jamie Redknapp , Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler , a side who came close, but never managed to end rivals Man Utd's domination of the Premiership during the 1990's. Under new boss Roy Evans , Wright struggled somewhat and was publicly criticized by Evans, he also started to pick up injuries which impeded his chances of winning over the Liverpool manager. He finally overcame the injury problems and came back into arguably the best form of his entire career; as evidenced by Terry Venables ' decision to give Wright a surprising recall at international level. Unfortunately Wright suffered another injury setback, and wasn't able to take his place in the squad for Euro 96 . Injury finally brought an end to Mark's career - during his time at Anfield he had made 210 appearances scoring 9 goals. ENGLAND It was Bobby Robson who saw Wright as an international quality player and gave him his deserved England debut on 2 May 1984 in the 1-0 Home International Championship defeat to Wales at the Racecourse Ground , Wrexham . His only international goal couldn't have been a more important one. England were struggling to find their footing during the group stages of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy having drawn 0-0 with Holland in their opening game the groups, so called, whipping boys, Egypt , were up next on 21 June 1990 in the Stadio Sant'Elia , Cagliari . Egypt defended in numbers and England couldn't unlock the door that would lead to an all important goal, well, that was until Paul Gascoigne sent over an inviting free-kick for Wright to rise high above the Egyptian defence to head home, what turned out to be, the only goal of the game. His performances during this World Cup reached such a high standard at centre-back that they were one of the reason's why Liverpool bought him from Derby. Funnily he was originally a surprise selection for the tournament as he was ahead of the higher-rated Tony Adams , as he was not fully fit when the squad was named. Some suspected he was an emotion-driven choice, as he had missed the 1986 tournament with a broken leg. However, his inclusion was justified as he was one of England's many stars that year as they reached the semi-final only going out to the eventual winners, Germany , on penalties.. Wright ended up with 45 England caps but he would surely have passed 50 if he hadn't become injured just prior to the Euro 96 championship in England. His performances for Liverpool had alerted manager Terry Venables who gave him a shock recall for the international friendly with Croatia on 24 April 1996 , 4 years after his last cap, he also played in the friendly with Hungary on 18 May , his final international appearance, before he got injured. MANAGEMENT CAREER Following a brief spell in charge of Southport of the Conference , in June 2001, Mark Wright made his Football League management debut with the club he began his career with, Oxford United , who had just been relegated to the Fourth Level of the Football League (then called Division Three ) after an absence of more than 30 years. But his appointment was not a success after he was sacked for allegedly racially abusing a match official in December after an unremarkable start to the season. Wright was not out of work for long. He was put in charge of Conference strugglers Chester City and did well to keep them clear of relegation to the Northern Premier League . The following season, 2001-02 Season , Chester were pushing hard for promotion but lost to eventual winners Doncaster Rovers in the playoff semi-finals. A year later they went one better by finishing top of the division and regaining their league status four years after losing it, but Wright suddenly announced his resignation just 48 hours before the Coca-Cola League Two campaign began. This was, allegedly, following a long-running affair with a player's wife. Having been given, what people viewed as, a last chance to resurrect his career with Peterborough United , he managed to get them into contention for promotion, and all appeared well. However, on 25 January 2006 Wright was suspended from his position as manager pending an internal inquiry. Six days later he was sacked for gross misconduct after failing to appear in front of the board members. It is alleged that a racial comment was made towards one of his staff, something that he has consistently denied and court action is pending over the issue. A month after leaving Peterborough, Wright rejoined Chester City as manager. His initial contract with the club lasted until the summer of 2006. Wright staved off relegation upon his return to Chester and was rewarded with a 2 year contract. However, after only three wins in his last 20 games in charge at City, Chairman Stephen Vaughan showed Wright the door with just one game remaining of the 2006/7 campaign. STATISTICS CAREER HONOURS Honours As player Southampton Runner Up
Liverpool Winner
Runner Up
Honours As manager Chester City Winner
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