Mark Wright

[Crazy Dave]

One for the oldies this:

 

Was Mark Wright any good for Liverpool?

 

I remember him doing alright under Evans in the mid-nineties, but I've been watching (fuck knows why) some of the vids of Liverpool in the early 90's and Wright looked horrendous. The Souness years were obviously a really bleak time for the club, but I couldn't believe how abject a player Wright looked under him. At the scene of the crime during countless drubbings by the likes of Coventry, Blackburn and Bolton. 

 

He was near enough the clubs record signing when he signed in 1991. Just odd how poor he looked given his obvious pedigree as an international back when England had a pretty decent squad of players. 

 

 

[Mook]

I remember him being fairly poor, going from the likes of Hansen to him was pretty indicative of our decline.

 

Seemed a decent enough sort but never Liverpool class in a million years.

[Arl arse]

The best compliment I can give him is that he was better than Klavan.

[an tha]

I remember him being underwhelming and disappointing in his first couple of years or so then getting a bad injury and missing ages but then having a bit of a renaissance of sorts when he came back... and even though he was knocking on a bit he finally looked like the player we thought we had bought.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

He improved significantly after he nearly got bombed out of the club. The story at the time was that his neighbour - one Gerry Marsden - told him to stop sulking and get his shit together.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Similar story as Lovren the way I remember it. Regarded as a good player at Derby, but quite a disappointment here.

[VladimirIlyich]

I remember him being underwhelming and disappointing in his first couple of years or so then getting a bad injury and missing ages but then having a bit of a renaissance of sorts when he came back... and even though he was knocking on a bit he finally looked like the player we thought we had bought.

Performed significantly better under Roy Evans than he ever did under Souness. Turned into an excellent defender alongside John Scales later on in his Liverpool career. I've also got to say that Scales is criminally underrated by a fair amount of supporters but probably more for his Wimbledon connections than anything else. Very versatile player and one who would have done much better in a better quality Liverpool squad. His injuries didn't help of course but he was a good signing in my view,overall.

[aws]

Decent but not really good enough. Would walk into the current team.

[General Dryness]

Performed significantly better under Roy Evans than he ever did under Souness. Turned into an excellent defender alongside John Scales later on in his Liverpool career. I've also got to say that Scales is criminally underrated by a fair amount of supporters but probably more for his Wimbledon connections than anything else. Very versatile player and one who would have done much better in a better quality Liverpool squad. His injuries didn't help of course but he was a good signing in my view,overall.

This. I rated Scales. Fuck sight better than Babb, and 75% of the letters in his name aren't the same letter.

[Guest]

I seem to recall that Mark Wright played better as a sweeper than as an out-and-out central defender. In a back five he was better, both for England and for Liverpool but a in a back four he tended to get found out with his lack of pace, slightly slow reading of the game and physically not being as strong as some of the strikers of the day.

 

I think he played in a back five with Scales and Babb and it was quite a good attacking side but not so strong in defence. A bit like now really.

[an tha]

Performed significantly better under Roy Evans than he ever did under Souness. Turned into an excellent defender alongside John Scales later on in his Liverpool career. I've also got to say that Scales is criminally underrated by a fair amount of supporters but probably more for his Wimbledon connections than anything else. Very versatile player and one who would have done much better in a better quality Liverpool squad. His injuries didn't help of course but he was a good signing in my view,overall.

I'll have that.

[JohnnyH]

I was delighted when we signed him. England's starting centre back (when that meant something) and a hugely talented player. He just never got going and injuries didnt help. Improved significantly in the mid 1990s but his time was coming to an end by then anyway.

 

Just another in the line of very good players who became shite when they joined us.

[VladimirIlyich]

I was delighted when we signed him. England's starting centre back (when that meant something) and a hugely talented player. He just never got going and injuries didnt help. Improved significantly in the mid 1990s but his time was coming to an end by then anyway.

 

Just another in the line of very good players who became shite when they joined us.

Shite is harsh. It was more to do with Souness abysmal man management and it taking a defensive re-shuffle to find his best position.

[Trumo]

Wright and Scales were more consistent than our other centre back options under Evans at the time. Babb wasall over the place at times yet composed at others, and Ruddock could be solid one game and in half-arsed pass-the-pound mode the next.

 

Actually, I thought Wright's reading of the game was sound but it was his lack of pace that hindered him in a back four. In a back three, he could operate as a sweeper covering either one of the other two centre backs. At the 1990 World Cup, Bobby Robson switched to a back three and deployed Wright as sweeper to good effect.

 

The Souness years are an aberration for just about everybody, and it didn't help that we never had a settled centre back partnership in there. Nicol and Harkness, though versatile, were not centre backs, and neither Piechnik nor Tanner were good enough.

[rubble-rouser]

He played well as the middle of 3 CB's and as others have pointed out, he did improve in his later years. Unfortunately he had injury problems by then.  Scales was a funny one - he had some shockers but when he was good he was excellent. I seem to remember him playing well at RB for a while.

 

The 96-97 season, as I remember it had 3 CBs from Babb, Ruddock, Wright, Scales and we generally defended pretty well with Ruddock or Wright in the middle.

 

One of Wright's problems in a back  was that he wanted to dominate and tended to dive in, often selling himself. The  comparison with Lovren is a good one for that reason.  

[razor]

We played Bolton is a pre-season friendly and he stunk.  He wasn't alone in that.

 

Evans bombed him (and Dicks) out because although he was one of a number who was appalling, he had an attitude about it.

 

Eventually he got his head down and worked his way back into contention even though he had been publicly humiliated by Evans.

 

Then, about 6 months later we were playing the mancs at home and were riddled with injuries.  Evans was forced to recall Wright.  There was a bit of talk on the Kop as to whether he'd get revenge on Evans by not trying, but he was absolutely majestic that day.

 

I was there when he broke his leg against us (at White Heart Lane?) in the cup semi-final.

 

He came back from injury and humiliation and became as steady a defender as there was in the league.

 

I have always liked him.

[Total Longo]

I remember him being underwhelming and disappointing in his first couple of years or so then getting a bad injury and missing ages but then having a bit of a renaissance of sorts when he came back... and even though he was knocking on a bit he finally looked like the player we thought we had bought.

 

This is spot on. He did brilliantly to force his way in under Evans after getting told his attitude stunk in pre-season. I always liked the fella for two reasons

 

1) His auld fella lived up the road from my ma's in the 90's (he had a glazing business called "The Wright Windows" i think) and Wright was seen constantly going in wearing his ludicrously coloured trackies, i even got the odd "alright?" from him as i mooched past on the way to the 86 bus stop. Seemed like a decent fella.  

 

2) Swearing like a trooper in front of royalty when he lifted the cup in '92. 

[lifetime fan]

Racist prick, crap footballer and a shite pundit

[Bjornebye]

Another one of those players that sum up the 90's for us. Not the worst player in the world but not good enough for Liverpool Football Club. And a bit of a prick. 

 

See also:

 

James

Walters

Saunders

Piechnik

Bab

Scales

Ruddock

Ince

Tanner

Leohnardsen

Dicks

Stewart

Clough

Thomas

Kvarme

Song

Dundee

Rosenthal

Venison 

[Baresi]

I just remember that he had hair like there had been an explosion in a mattress factory. 

[magicrat]

I have nothing to say about Mark Wright other than I have never watched The Essex thing and I hate all reality TV Stars. He also looks a massive whopper. Hope this helps

 

 

[rubble-rouser]

Racist prick, crap footballer and a shite pundit

 

Accurate on 1 and 3

[rubble-rouser]

I just remember that he had hair like there had been an explosion in a mattress factory. 

 

Used to constantly joke about him having 'gone full blown'

[Rorschach08]

I'd say he wasn't as good as Tommy Smith but better than Zak Whitbread. Somewhere in that range.

[Harry Squatter]

Why was he racist?