A Wright Royal Blue talent

ECHO TRIBUTE TO TOMMY - AN EVERTON GIANT

- By CHRIS BEESLEY

Everton's FA Cup Final team (from left) in May 1968: Brian Labone, Gordon West, Geoff Barnett, Joe Royle, Roger Kenyon, Jimmy Husband, Tommy Wright, Ray Wilson, Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey, Alex Young, John Morrissey, Tommy Jackson and Alan Ball

GEORGE Best, one of the most incredibly gifted creative football talents the British Isles has ever produced, is reputed to have declared that Everton’s Tommy Wright was his most difficult opponent.

That one line alone could tell you about the levels of excellence we were dealing with when it came to Wright, but there is so much more you can say about the Scouser and True Blue legend who died on Tuesday aged 81.

Wright, who was born in Norris Green on October 21, 1944, was a one club man. He won the FA Cup with Everton in 1966 and he won the League Championship in 1970.

In his book, Money Can’t Buy Us Love: Everton in the 1960s, Gavin Buckland says of Wright: “Joining the club as an apprentice forward, the local-born player replaced the injured Alex Parker during the 1964/65 season, eventually making 374 appearances, all but three at fullback, a club record for the position that was only broken by Leighton Baines in 2017. Wright was very much an athletic modern fullback, accomplished both as a defender and an attacking threat, providing a stream of crosses for Joe Royle in particular.