Billy Wright
Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 1
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 On: 2006-07-17
Billy Wright was to English soccer in the post-WWII era as Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider were to American baseball in the 1950s.
In this updated edition of a biography published shortly after Wrights death in the early 1990s, Giller takes the reader on a sports journey with wonderful antidotes and statistics of the player who defined overcoming the odds to become a national treasure.
As a teenager, Wright nearly had his pro soccer career stall because he was initially deemed not tall enough to pursue the sport. Though the war took his career to the sideline, he returned and took the sport to great levels of popularity at the club level and as an international player & captain of the English squad.
He earned 105 international "caps." Though he played in front of crowds of 100,000-plus, his last international match was played in front of a sparse gathering at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.
As with many superstars, Wright proved he couldnt translate his stardom as a head coach. And talk about poor timimg, Wright gave up a coaching job with the national team for a head coaching slot with Arsenal, a top club squad that was struggling.
Wright was fired by Arsenal before the young players he had been developing took the club into championship contention. And his coaching slot with the national team may have led him to the top leadership role when England captured the World Cup.
Giller briefly writes about Wrights overcoming his battle with alcoholism after his playing days. I feel this chapter could have been expanded; not to chop the hero down, but as a means to assist others who take the words to heart.
The closing section with quotes from former players, the media, fans and family members is very long & may deserve nothing more than a quick breezing. But the biographical text makes for a great read for a soccer fan or one who is interested in English history in the post-war years.
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