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Alan Wright - Defender Date of Birth: September 28, 1971 Birthplace: Ashton under Lynne Nationality: English Height: 1.63m / 5"4' Previous Clubs: Blackburn, Newcastle, Blackpool Joined Villa: March 10, 1995 Acquisition Price: £900.000 Debut: March 1995 Left Villa (for): August 4 (Contract terminated) Selling Price: Contract terminated

Alan Wright didn't really get a chance to prove his worth at the end of 1994-95. However, he did so during the summer preliminaries, and immediately gained a place in the first team. So far he has proven himself valuable to the defence and also as the man to take the ball 'coast to coast' for a cross, which often is of extreme accuracy. Ian Taylor's 2-0 goal in the 1996 Coca Cola Cup final was a good example, where the Leeds defence wrestled just to get Wright's cross away from the box. Alan Wright is generally one of those players that is everywhere to be found on the pitch. A fighter. This explains why the fans love him so dearly. In the end of the 1996-97 season, the Internet fans voted him Player of the Year! His size leaves a lot to be desired, his height being 1.63m and his weight only 59kg. Apparetly, his contract with Reebok is rumoured to give him specially designed boots, since he wears an "incredible" size 4 (four). This also became a problem for him when he bought his beloved Ferrari. Cars in that category are small, but not small anough for Alan. :-)

The following seasons saw Alan Wright start on the pitch for practically every single game. His work rate was astounding, he won the ball in the air more than frequently despite his height and he often followed the ball all the way up the pitch to serve one of his many precise crosses. He was elected Player of the Year by Aston Villa's mailing list after the 2000/01 season.

Alan continued his stern performance game in and game out until the 2001/2002 season. He was hardly fielded at all during Graham Taylor's reign, and new manager David O'Leary didn't feel that Alan had a future at the club. He was finally released by the club in August 2003.