By Phil Tooley

This article originally appeared in the Northampton matchday programme

There were plenty of members of the press present when Dave Allen was unveiled as the new majority shareholder, as there were when John Sheridan was named as the club's new manager. Even new player-coach Mark Crossley got plenty of coverage when he became The Spireites oldest ever debutant at Torquay United last week.

But one man who's quietly manoeuvred himself into a vital position at Saltergate is Sheridan's assistant-manager Tommy Wright. Mind you, he's not all that quiet on the touchline if his pre-season performances plus that at Plainmoor are anything to go by!

A Scot, born in Dunfermline in 1966 (a good year I seem to remember, but mainly for the English!), as a striker he turned out for Leeds United, where he was a team mate of Sheridan's as well as his predecessor Scott Sellars, Oldham Athletic, Leicester City, Middlesbrough (who paid £650,000 for his services), Bradford City, Oldham again, St Johnstone, Livingston, Doncaster Rovers and Kings Lynn, making over 500 senior appearances during his career, scoring more than 100 goals.

He linked up with Sheridan at Boundary Park, where he was John's assistant during his close on three year tenure as manager after a spell there coaching the youth side.

When Sheridan was interviewed for the vacant manager's position at Saltergate, he made it clear that he wanted Wright alongside him and when the appointment was duly confirmed, Tommy's name was rolled out as his No.2.

So what makes them such a good team? "I don't really know what makes us a team. We work well together, we don't always agree but it's good to have a number two who doesn't always agree, there's no point in agreeing with everything you say because you need to look at the bigger picture. We get on well, we combine the coaching well and we've been friends for a while, going back to being young players at Leeds United.

"I think John trusts me, that's a massive thing in football, you need to know the staff you can trust. It went well at Oldham together and when he got the offer here he wanted to keep his staff that he knew around him, so me and Mark Crossley came here."

Looking back to their time at Boundary Park, where Oldham were never out of the top ten in League One, despite one of the section's smallest budgets, Tommy recalls; "I don't think people realise how well we did at Oldham. The first season we got in the play offs and for the next season we lost possibly two of the most influential players in the league in Chris Porter, who scored 26 goals, and Richie Wellens who went to Doncaster and then to Leicester for £1m, so they were massive losses.

"We then had a young squad in the second season but we finished eighth, had a good cup run, we won at Everton, a massive result for the club and last year we had a very good start but fell away a bit but we were still in contention, still in the top six or seven when the people at Oldham decided to change manager, something a lot of people thought was strange, a lot of people still think it was strange and looking what happened afterwards, I think the team didn't win a game in ten after that so that answered that question really."

In his distinguished playing career, Tommy played for a whole host of managers, so whet did he pick up along the way? "I think you try and pick up bits from every manager you've worked for, especially bits you think can influence a team or influence an individual. I worked under some experienced managers like Joe Royle, David Pleat, who had some good ideas about attacking football, Gordon Lee who was a good motivator and Brian Little who was very good when he went to Leicester and he had great success there, he was a really good coach. I was impressed with his coaching."

Tommy said staying in the game was always in his plans; "I've always loved watching football, even as a player I always used to watch games endlessly on the television. Some managers used to say I always had an opinion maybe even when I shouldn't have had an opinion. I just wanted to stay in football, I enjoyed being a footballer, I love football, love watching games, scouting, coaching, I love everything about the game really."

About his boss, he's full of praise; "His biggest assets are that he can judge a player and change things on the pitch. He wants to play a certain way. He'll help the players, he'll make them better players. The Dan Gray's, the Jamie Lowry's, Scott Boden, Jordan Bowery up front, he'll improve them. He had a fantastic record at Oldham bringing players through and I think he can do the same here. If they want to learn and be better players and listen, they'll not get a better man than John Sheridan."

He's finding working at the club a great experience to date; "It's friendly, everyone's friendly. We've done quite well in pre-season, looked quite solid, maybe could have scored a few more goals but you have to take into account the quality of the opposition like Derby, Sheff United and Leicester, they'll probably all be challenging in the Championship so they've been good tests for the players and they've done well."

On the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson as Director of Football at nearby Notts, Tommy is pleased; "I think it's good for the division, he'll bring publicity wherever Notts County play which will be good for all of the clubs, it'll increase the gates wherever they play so it can only be a good thing for League Two." We'll see what is does to our attendance on Wednesday.

Welcome to Saltergate Tommy!

Phil Tooley