ONCE described as one of the hottest prospects in English football, Tommy Wright packed enough incident into a mere 21-minute debut for Aberdeen on Saturday to suggest he will be one of the hottest heads in the SPL this season.
Wright's career has veered off track since he made his Premiership debut as a teenager for Leicester City and played for England in the Under-20 World Cup finals, a succession of moves down the league ladder taking him to Darlington before Jimmy Cald
erwood decided he could be the man to bolster the Pittodrie attack.
The 23-year-old's introduction as a 69th-minute substitute for Lee Miller at Fir Park injected some much-needed urgency into a previously abject Aberdeen display.
Wright almost scored with his first touch, having a shot smartly saved by Motherwell goalkeeper Graeme Smith, then proceeded to infuriate the home supporters and players with a series of injudicious challenges.
Two late lunges on Steven Hammell, the second of which earned him a booking, were evidence of his poor disciplinary record from English football and offers some explanation why Wright has failed to fulfil his early potential as a player.
He was fortunate not to see red on Saturday when an attempted headbutt on Motherwell captain Stephen Craigan was not spotted by referee Steve Conroy or his assistants. "He's gone to butt me and I've done him a favour by not reacting," said Craigan. "He was running around looking for a fight as soon as he came on."
Calderwood knows his new recruit's enthusiasm will have to be channelled more sensibly if he is not to simply become a liability in the weeks and months ahead. "Tommy's tackle on Steven Hammell was a silly one," said the Aberdeen manager. "You can't go around like that in Scottish football. I'll have a whisper in his ear about it. Whether he changes or not, I don't know."
Wright was only partially repentant afterwards and it seems he will be resistant to any attempts from the Aberdeen management to tailor his approach to the game. "It is the way I play and I won't change it," he said. "I tried to do that with Darlington last season and went off the boil. The manager brought me here and you can't change a player you have brought in. I have never been intimidated by defenders, my dad would slap me in the face if I was. It's just the way I was brought up."
Motherwell's frustrating start to the campaign continued when Aberdeen's Charlie Mulgrew curled home the game's only goal from a free-kick with four minutes left.
"I'm disappointed but not despondent," said the Lanarkshire side's manager Mark McGhee.
The full article contains 463 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
