Former Chesterfield FC assistant manager sentenced for bribery

Former Chesterfield FC assistant manager Tommy Wright has received a suspended sentence for accepting a £5,000 bribe.
Former Chesterfield FC assistant manager Tommy Wright.Former Chesterfield FC assistant manager Tommy Wright.
Former Chesterfield FC assistant manager Tommy Wright.

The 54-year-old, who was assistant manager at Barnsley at the time of the offence in September 2016, was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for a year, after he was found guilty of two charges of accepting a bribe.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court heard that Wright, who denied the charges, was handed an envelope of £5,000 in cash by an undercover reporter from the Daily Telegraph.

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The BBC has reported that he also leaked information about Barnsley players at a meeting in August 2016.

Wright was John Sheridan’s assistant during his first spell at the Spireites in 2009.

Two other men, Giuseppe Pagliara, of Bury, and Dax Price, of Sittingbourne, also received suspended sentences as part of the same investigation.

Price, 48, a football agent, was handed an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, after being convicted of two charges of offering or promising a bribe.

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Pagliara, 64, another football agent, was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, after also being found guilty of two charges of offering or promising a bribe.

Det Con Chris Glover from the City of London Police's Fraud Squad, said: "This case is the first in the UK relating to corruption in the football industry and shows how offending of this extremely serious nature can lead to significant prison sentences.”