Tommy Wright

[thestooge]

Went and saw Stuart Cosgrove at the Fringe on Monday. He was interviewed by yon fud Spiers but it was a really engaging discussion. It was essentially about Cosgrove's life as a St Johnstone fan, mixed with some of his love of music. I've read his recent book, Detoit67 and its encyclopaedic, absolutely littered with minute detail, musical, cultural, racial and political, in a year in Detroit, using Motown as a focus. Marvellous stuff.

 

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the show, the aspect I enjoyed most was about the St J cup win in 2014, which concluded with a lovely, if tragic, story about Tommy Wright.

 

We obviously lost the semi to St J, that was the game where we were glibbly chanting "Who the fuck is Stevie May?", only for him to score a brace to sink us. As he celebrated reaching the final, he was pointing to the back of his shirt, at the time, I thought that was a direct response to our chant but it turns out he was pointing at "May 14", his name and squad number but also the date of the final. Written in the stars.

 

In the lead up to the final, Cosgrove posted a picture on Facebook of his uncle, a die hard St J fan, along with his uncle's best friend, also the father of Cosgrove's best buddy.  The picture was of the two friends, bleezing, returning from a previous St J cup adventure from years previous. Both men had passed away and Cosgrove had posted the pic in the lead up to the final as a wee memorial, asking other fans to list the names of fallen fans who would have loved to have been at the final. In the days that followed, literally hundreds of names were added. The club picked up on it and also started sharing the sentiment and it was brought to the attention of Wright. Tommy then responded saying how much he understood the importance of the game for families and the community and that he too would dedicate a victory to a departed loved one, for him, his four year old son.  He said, if they did win the trophy, he'd cradle the cup in his arms and kiss it like it was the forehead of his poor wee loon, who died as a result of problems from being born premature. Sure enough, on winning the cup, Wright can be seen tenderly kissing the trophy.

 

I love that story. Shankly maybe overstated it when he said football was more important than life and death but due to the passion, emotion, memories and nostalgia we can attach to it, and the highs and lows we share through it, it transcends it. 

[BigAl]

Title of this thread frightened me as I thought it was going to be about the ex Engerlund U21 internationalist upon whom we spunked either £75k or £100k depending on which story you believe.

Have to say it is a lovely story. Have always thought that Wright @ St Johnstone conducts himself with a fair degree of dignity and is a decent fellow.

[tlg1903]

Agreed, I like Wright a lot.  If DM was to be poached tomorrow himself and Hartley would be top of my shortlist

[TheDeeDon]

Nice threat - Cosgrove I have a lot of time for and Tommy Wright always impresses me when he speaks to the press and I think has done a fantastic job for St Johnstone.

 

Losing folk you love is always hard, but to lose a bairn must be the worst, a very touching story.

 

 

[manc_don]

Good read, thanks for posting stooge! Much like Al my heart was in my mouth when I read the title of the thread  but needless to say, I've always thought Wright conducts himself very professionally and will probably have a bright future in the game. St. Johnstone certainly know how to find a manager.

 

Hartley's comment to bain after the game the other day, amused me, "what a fucking save"  that it was too.

[scotfree]

To me, that is what following a football team is about.

It's about the fans who have been and gone.

A club's history is way more than just what your team has done over the years.

It's about the fans. Players, managers and chairmen come and go.

But the fans are the club.

Great post, Stooge.