Blades-Mad feature former Everton, West Ham United, Arsenal and Ipswich Town shot stopper Richard Wright in our player-profiles section.
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Name: Richard Ian Wright
DoB: 5 November 1977
POB: Ipswich
Height: 6ft 2inch
Debut: 11/12/2010 at Barnsley (0-1)
Clubs: Ipswich Town (1995-01, 291 (0) + 0), Arsenal (2001-02, 22 (0) + 0), Everton (2002-07, 69 (2) + 0), West Ham United (2007-08, 3 (0) + 0), Southampton (loan, 2008, 7 (0) + 0), Ipswich Town (2008-10, 63 (0) + 0), Sheffield United (2010-11, 2 (0) + 0).
Wright signed a four month contract with Sheffield United on 21st September 2010 and immediately made his debut the following day; starting between the sticks at Bramall Lane as the Blades beat Sheffield Wednesday Reserves 1-0.
To date the keeper has had an established career; winning two England caps against Malta in June 2000 and Holland in August 2001; he also has fifteen under-21 caps and one under-18 cap to his name.
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He made his name at Portman Road were as a 17 year old was handed his debut in May 1995 in a 2-0 home victory over Coventry City; despite that defeat the Blues were relegated from the Premier League - finishing rock bottom of the league.
He was ever present during the 1996-97 campaign as Town qualified for the Play-Offs; however they were knocked out at the semi-final stage on the old away goals rule by Sheffield United.
It was to be the start of play-off misery as the Portman Road club again finished in the top six the following season; but again were dismissed at the first hurdle - this time by Charlton Athletic.
They had early had local derby success, beating Norwich City 5-0 at home. They also knocked out Manchester United (2-0) of the League Cup and after a further victory against Oxford United were dumped out by Chelsea on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Bolton Wanderers were to take advantage of Ipswich's 'bad luck' in the play-offs - the Trotters winning on the away goals rule after a 4-4 aggregate score.
However in the millennium season they were to strike lucky; dumping Bolton Wanderers out at the semi-final stage they faced Barnsley at the old Wembley Stadium, winning 4-2 to win a place in the Premier League - he also saved a spot kick during that victory.
Wright played his first game for England just four days later; winning 2-1 in Malta; though he was marked down as an own goal for the hosts. There were transfer rumours linking him north of the boarder to Glasgow Celtic but Wright opted to stay at the Portman Road club.
They embraced the Premier League well in their first top flight campaign for six years; drawing 1-1 with Manchester United and winning 3-0 against Everton and Tottenham Hotspur- by Christmas they had lifted themselves into third spot.
A Marcus Stewart hat-trick guided Town to a 3-0 win over Southampton and ended the season with just two defeats from their last ten; they finished the season in fifth spot, winning a UEFA Cup place.
Twelve months previous, in the hype of a possible move to a bigger club he had signed a new contract; as part of the deal he was to be informed if Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool made a bid. The Gunners showed an interest in the highly rated shot stopper.
That summer Wright was transferred to Arsenal - signing a five year deal, who had finished as runners up behind Manchester United for an unreported £6,000,000 fee - a very large sum to pay for a goalkeeper.
He had played his last game for Ipswich in a 1-1 draw at Derby County and travelled to Highbury as cover for the much experienced David Seaman. He had made nine short of 300 appearances for the Suffolk club.
With Arsenal he played his second game for England in a 2-0 home defeat to the Netherlands before making his Gunners debut at Derby County (2-0). Under Arsene Wenger they won the league without recording a single defeat away from home.
He had an awful season with the London club; he punched the ball into his own goal in a 4-2 defeat to Charlton Athletic before limping off injured against Deportivo la Coruna in the UEFA Champions League.
Wright was reduced to third choice stopper but was handed a run in the FA Cup; beating Liverpool (1-0), Gillingham (5-2), Newcastle United (3-0) in a replay and Middlesbrough (1-0). They made it all the way to the final but David Seaman was installed as number one against Chelsea.
He had expected to retain his place in the final but French manager Wenger opted for his regular choice keeper; "That was very difficult to take," said Wright. "It was a real kick in the teeth. My schoolboy dream had been shattered."
In the Premier League he kept three clean sheets and played in the penultimate 4-3 win over Everton which handed the Gunners the league title; Wright was substituted with six minutes remaining to allow both Wright and under study Stuart Taylor the opportunity to win league winners medals.
Despite signing a lengthy contract with Arsenal he was soon on the move and in July 2007 was snapped up by Everton in a £3,500,000 deal where he was to remain at Goodison Park for five seasons; whilst being handed the number one jersey in each of those campaigns.
He made his Toffee's debut in a 2-2 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur and stared as they beat his former club Arsenal 2-1 at home which formed as part of a seven match unbeaten league & cup run. The victory over the Gunners came at the death when a then unknown Wayne Rooney snatched a last minute winner.
Moyes had brought Wright in to solve one of his big problems at Everton - an experienced goalkeeper; though at a cost of £3.5m was considered somewhat of a gamble by the Toffee's faithful.
His time on Merseyside was hampered with injury; he had been brought in initially as first choice keeper but after a serious knee injury lost his place to former Leeds United stopper Nigel Martyn and also faced competition from Steve Simonsen.
In early 2003 he had much needed surgery in his injured knee and that summer was unfortunate to be involved in a domestic accident when he fell out of his loft and separated his shoulder.
During the 2003/04 season Wright made just four appearances at the start of the season, mostly due to being sidelined and was absent from the remaining campaign.
He played a dozen times the season after, including a 7-0 thumping at Arsenal as he began to work his way back into the first team. On the heavy defeat Wright commented; "I enjoyed the Arsenal game. I know I conceded seven goals but I got a chance to make some saves and get involved."
A season later he was handed a chance at Chelsea with Martyn out injured; but during the warm up at Stamford Bridge in an FA Cup replay - in a bizarre accident the keeper fell on top of a sign posted to use temporary goal posts and injured his ankle.
Wright was forced to forfeit the match with Toffee's boss David Moyes calling Iain Turner for his Everton debut into the team; Chelsea won 4-1.
American Tim Howard was signed to replace the retired Nigel Martyn with Wright now second choice; in his final season at Goodison he played just once in the Premier League - Howard had initially been signed on loan from Manchester United and wasn't allowed to play for his parent club under the loan agreement.
The Red Devils won 3-0; Wright had earlier featured in a 2-1 victory at Peterborough United in the League Cup. At the end of that season he was released where he joined West Ham United on a free transfer despite being rumoured with a return to Ipswich Town and Glasgow Rangers.
He had been employed by the Hammers as understudy to Robert Green and emergency keeper James Walker (previously with Walsall); Wright failed to make a single Premiership outing whilst at the Boleyn Ground; though he made his debut at Bristol Rovers in a 2-1 League Cup victory.
In March 2008 he joined Southampton on loan until the remainder of the season; his quest whilst with the saints was to help guide them to Championship safety which they successfully achieved on the final day of the season.
At the time Southampton were experiencing a keeper crisis; trio Kelvin Davies (dead leg), Michael Poke (ankle) and Bartosz Biallowski (thumb) all sidelined through injury with Wright the only fit keeper available.
Nigel Pearson gave him his St. Mary's debut in a 0-0 home draw with Coventry City; prior to the match his temporary club were 19th in the league having previously lost 5-0 at Hull City.
The Saints picked up just five more points as they headed to the finale of the season at home to Sheffield United and were in the last relegation spot - the Saints came from a goal down to win 3-2 and a Leicester City defeat (at Stoke City) kept the South Coast club safe for just one more year.
Wright rejoined his former club Ipswich Town in July 2008; signing a two year deal after manager Roy Keane signed him for an undisclosed fee.
He made his second Town debut at home to Preston North End, which ended in defeat (1-2); they were knocked out of the League Cup by Wigan Athletic (1-4) at Portman Road in the keepers' 300th appearance for the club and he enjoyed a lengthy season between the sticks ever present in the Coca-Cola Championship.
The move back to Suffolk proved to be a happy one for Wright; winning the 'Supporters Player of the Year' trophy for the first time in the 2008-09 campaign.
In late November 2009 he played his last game for Ipswich; sustaining a knee injury in a 2-1 win at Cardiff City which ruled him out for four months - he was released at the end of the season following the end of his contract.
Following a brief trial with Sheffield United the keeper, aged 32 signed a four month deal with the Bramall Lane club as cover to Steve Simonsen and Mihkel Aksalu.
He made his first team debut in a 1-0 defeat at Barnsley, though he was substituted after 52 minutes due to injury and played on New Year’s Day at Burnley (lost 4-2), again leaving the field early due to injury and on 7 April 2011 it was announced that his contract had been terminated by mutual consent.
Updated: April 2011
