Josh Wright interview: The stats behind Gillingham captain's superb season
Thursday 6 April 2017 14:34, UK
Gillingham captain Josh Wright speaks to Sky Sports News HQ about his journey to becoming one of the Football League's best kept secrets…
Josh Wright hit the headlines last month when he scored a sensational hat-trick of penalties to inspire Gillingham to a remarkable 3-2 comeback victory over Scunthorpe.
In the process, he became the first player to achieve the feat in an English league match since 1957 and joined a select group of players - including Brazil World Cup winner Ronaldo - to have netted a treble of spot-kicks.
But, moreover, it underlined the confidence of a player that has transformed himself into one of the Football League's best goalscoring midfielders.
His 13 goals (12 in League One and one in the Football League Trophy) for Gillingham this season have propelled him into the higher echelons of the Sky Bet League One scoring charts and also represents his best campaign in front of goal.
Wright had netted just five times in his previous 234 league appearances prior to this season, but the change in his fortunes doesn't totally surprise the 27-year-old.
"I think I have certainly proved some people wrong, but I don't have to pinch myself because I have always believed that I could do something like this," Wright told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I know that I could, and probably should, be playing at a higher level than what I have been at. But for whatever reason, I haven't been and I don't believe it's been as much fault of my own, it's just life and the way things have gone.
"I am delighted to where I have come to be as people on the outside can sometimes doubt you. I am just proud that I have proved what I know I could do and I know I have got more in me."
Named Gillingham club captain at the beginning of the season by then-manager Justin Edinburgh, Wright has thrived on the responsibility and has been a virtual ever-present, featuring in 42 matches in all competitions.
"I have always believed that I am a leader. I get a buzz off being the vocal one in the dressing room," Wright said.
"It's my job to encourage them and to set an example to the rest of the team. It's given me a huge lift and I just think I am coming of age.
"Sometimes you get late developers and I have always been a late developer in terms of life and people say you don't hit your prime until you're 29 or 30. So, in that regard, I hope that's the case with me."
As well as racking up the appearances as club captain, Wright has also proven himself a more than willing runner for the Gills, averaging a hugely impressive 12km in the games that he has played this campaign.
More significantly, he has flourished since being given the license to go further forward by new boss Adrian Pennock, having spent the majority of his career playing as a holding midfielder.
His shooting accuracy has more than doubled in comparison with last season, while he is on course to achieve a one in three scoring ratio having trebled his number of shots on target.
But Wright attributes his rapid improvement to a new found maturity in his game rather than simply to a positional change.
"No one has made me an attacking midfielder, I have just had the shackles taken off of me and that has allowed me to get into the thick of the action," he said.
"There's a slight surprise, but I know I can go do this next season and continue this form on for the next so many years. I know I've got it in me and I always will have, it's as simple as that in my eyes.
"I've definitely matured as a player. I really feel that I have found a new dimension to my game - I get up, get back, get around the pitch, dictate play, still do that defensive side of my game, but now I'm getting into the box and getting the goals.
"I feel like I have found a new player in me. I feel mature, I feel good out there and I feel my game has improved in all aspects. I'm growing and I am getting better and better at different things that I've never really done before."
Sky sources understand a number of Championship sides are interested in Wright ahead of the summer and, with Gillingham's League One future still in the balance, the Kent-based club could face the prospect of losing their star man at a cut-price.
Wright, who has made 119 appearances at Championship level for Charlton, Scunthorpe and Millwall, has 15 months remaining on his contract at Gillingham and remains unmoved by the growing interest in him.
"I have had it a lot over my career, as much as I have never got that "big move". I am just someone that really enjoys playing my football and I have to be going into work happy. I am happy at the moment," he said.
"I have had it before when I've been promised stuff as a youngster, I was going to get this move and that move, I've seen it all fall through and I never get sucked into it. I try to blank it out. If you let it affect you, it will eat you up on the pitch.
"I am a very, very loyal person and I will never ever forget what Gillingham Football Club, the chairman, the management and the fans have done for me. I love it there. I would be happy to finish my career at Gillingham and one day became the manager of the club.
"But I think any fan would understand that if a bigger club came in, a decision may have to be made. When I say a bigger club, it would have to be one that changed my life, changed my family's life and helped to progress me as a footballer.
"If it's a sideways step, and not a move that's going to progress my career, then maybe not. Why would I want to leave a club that I love and enjoy?"
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