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Stephen Wright
Personal information
Full name	Stephen Wright
Date of birth	February 8, 1980 (age 27)
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Sunderland
Number	2
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997-2002 1999 1999-2000 2002-	Liverpool → Crewe Alexandra (loan) → Crewe Alexandra (loan) Sunderland	14 (0) 05 (0) 17 (0) 91 (2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:25, 6 January 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

For other people called Stephen Wright, see Stephen Wright (disambiguation)

Stephen Wright (born 8 February 1980 in Bootle, Liverpool) is an English football defender, currently with Football League Championship side Sunderland.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Liverpool 1.2 Sunderland 2 International career 3 Trivia 4 Career honours 4.1 Honours as a player 4.1.1 Liverpool 4.1.2 Sunderland 5 References 6 External links

Stephen Wright joined Liverpool on a youth contract in June 1996, choosing to join Liverpool over rivals Everton, the club he supported as a boy. Wright turned professional a year later in August 1997, and the following season was named as an unused substitute for the UEFA Cup clash with Celta Vigo on 24 November 1998.

Following a successful loan spell with Crewe in the 1999/2000 season, Wright made his Liverpool debut in the 8-0 drubbing of Stoke on 29 November 2000 in the Football League Cup, replacing Markus Babbel at half time. He went on to play 4 times that season for Liverpool, including a brief substitute appearance against future club Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in February 2001.

Initially starting out as a centre back, Wright made the transition to right back during the 01/02 season, where he established himself as a useful member of the Liverpool squad. On 27 October 2001, Wright saw red for the first time in his career, after being sent off against Charlton at The Valley. Wright scored his first goal for the club 3 days later in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund. The game ended 2-0 to Liverpool.

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 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 25 August 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.

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 reigns, 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 12 August 2006, however, picked up another injury in the defeat to Bury two games later, and will battle with Nyron Nosworthy and on-loan defender Danny Simpson to regain his position after resuming training with the first team.

He was capped for the England U-20 team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship, with teammates Stuart Taylor, Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch, Andy Johnson, Matthew Etherington, etc. But the team finished bottom at the group stage, after three defeats.

• Despite playing for Liverpool, Wright actually supported rivals Everton as a boy. ^[1]
• Wright's father, John Wright, is a masseur at former club Liverpool.^[2]

Winner

• 2000-01 UEFA Cup

Runner Up

• 2001-02 FA Premier League (Level 1)

Winner

• 2004-05 Football League Championship (Level 2)

• Stephen Wright career stats at Soccerbase

Sunderland A.F.C. - Current Squad
2 Wright | 3 Simpson | 4 Evans | 5 Cunningham | 7 Edwards | 8 Whitehead | 9 Stokes | 10 Elliott | 11 Murphy | 12 Nosworthy | 13 Ward | 14 T. Miller | 15 Collins | 16 Hysén | 17 Welsh | 18 Mocquet | 19 Arnau | 20 John | 22 Clarke | 23 Leadbitter | 24 Carson | 27 Varga | 28 Kavanagh | 29 Hartley | 30 Richardson | 31 Connolly | 32 Fülöp | 33 Wallace | 34 Yorke | 36 L. Miller | Manager: Keane