I'm in Middlesbrough on Friday lunchtime as it happens, pm me as I don't seem very successful at doing it, meet up for a coffee or a pint
Clearly @BarTyke is more in the know than most on here. I see little point in a custodial sentence from a non law perspective. Surely the damage to his reputation & a fine & suspended sentence, or community service, when prisons are full & there are violent & sexual offenders that need to be put away. A heavy fine & some sort of community service would do in this case for me just looking at natural justice. When I was in banking in the 80's there was a case where our assistant manager tea leafed a large segment of a certain prominent cricketer's testimonial fund, as well as "borrowing" money elsewhere from the bank too. He got two years for that. As "theft employee" it was treated more heavily than regular theft. I think he served about 8 months at the time. Corruption is everywhere in all societies. A 5k bung is still a bung, but is laughably small. It is a massive breach of trust on behalf of Wright, but must be the tip of the iceberg. Punishment is necessary, but I find it hard to see that said offender will do so again, as his career in football is surely over. I find it hard to see how he could be so greedy / stupid, when probably earning a lot more than most of us. For that reason I can't feel sorry for him, he will deserve what he gets under the law we have.
Good points well made JP. I really hope he avoids the clink but he couldn’t argue if it goes the wrong way.
Thanks, I really do defer to your views on this, just posting my thoughts & I agree that if he gets time he probably deserves it. Whether the cost to the state of banging him up is a good idea, i'd say no.
Tommy Wright sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 12 months, fined £5k which he has to pay to the Telegraph with £3k in additional costs.
That's fair enough. It's a big rap on the knuckles for basically being a bit greedy and naive. I hope he gets his career back and learns from his mistake.
Disagree. It's a Piss take. His fine isn't a punishment as he made that anyway in his illegal activities and a suspended sentence is a warning He wasn't being naive, he was corrupt. A bent corrupt football official deliberately trying to convince his employers, and OUR clubs, players to leave us for his financial gain. I'll say that again. He was trying to convince our best players to leave us. The scummy ******* was deliberately trying to weaken Barnsley football clubs team to line his own dirty little pockets. Naive? Give over. Naive is a kid doing something because his mates tell him to not a fully grown adult in a position of responsibility and power trying to systematically destroy the football club of the town he lives in. As daft as it sounds causing emotional harm to thousands of innocent people all so that he could pocket some illegal money. I don't know how he's got the cheek to still live within the town.
I hope he never gets another job in football ever again. He tried to do us over, knew what he was doing so wasn't at all naive and is very lucky to avoid prison.
Totally agree. It was a good result to avoid immediate custody but it’s a very long way back to a career in football. Hope he gets there and makes the most of the opportunity he has been given to move on and pick up the pieces of his life. Temptation and greed led him astray, he’s learned a painful lesson, paid the price and deserves a second chance.
He was foolish and greedy no more, no less. Some people must think that first team football coaches in League 1 are earning millions, they couldn't be further from the truth. I reckon he was on c30k a year, this obviously doesn't excuse his behavior but human nature is a funny thing and totally unpredictable, when someone is offered thousands of pounds for a bit of information and persuasion it could be hard to resist. I'm just glad we live in a country with a judicial system that is balanced and fair for everyone and that we don't listen to the 'throw away the key, I'm whiter than white brigade'. I hope he has a conscience that kicks him in the ******** every day just to remind him what an idiot he was, but to continue to take away his livelihood is simply wrong.
Was there any evidence presented in court from incidents other than the sting operation by the Telegraph? Was he targeted by the Telegraph because there was evidence of prior corruption or did they try this tactic on a random sample and simply wrote up their findings when it stuck? Didn't follow the case so don't know.
