First day nerves? Not when you’ve played in front of 60,000 spectators

After a career tackling on the pitch, one of the force’s latest recruits is now turning his attention to a life of tackling crime.

To many football fans 35 year old Tommy Wright will be a familiar face, after a successful career playing for clubs including Leicester City, Barnsley, Brentford, Blackpool and Aberdeen he’s stepping up to score goals of a different kind as a trainee police officer.

As a youth player Tommy was described as ‘’one to watch” and he certainly was – he went on to play over 250 professional games and represent England at youth level before becoming a football manager and coach.

He made his debut for Leicester City in the Premier League in 2002 aged 17 - just six months after leaving school, in a match against Leeds United. The following season he scored the winning goal against Nottingham Forest in 2003. That year also saw him called up to represent England at the Under 19s European Championships and the Under 20s FIFA World Championships.

Having life skills and experience are favourable qualities when recruiting student officers, something Tommy has in vast amounts.

His managerial career took off in 2013, winning the Southern Premier with Corby Town during the 2014-15 season. During 2016-17 he joined Nuneaton Town as player/coach becoming manager later on that year.

He was then headhunted (or should that be ‘headerhunted’?) by Darlington in 2017 before becoming manager of Stratford Town, he then briefly returned to Corby Town whilst also managing the education programme for Mansfield Town at Brooksby Melton College before leaving to join the force this summer.

Commenting on his previous experience and all that lays ahead, Tommy said: “I worked in football for 20 years and every part of it was a dream come true. I feel very fortunate to have been involved in it as a player, a coach and a manager which was something I had always wanted to achieve.

“I have always worked as part of a team, and that along with communication skills and people management, have set me on the right path to become a police officer.

“I was coaching at Mansfield Town when my wife came across the police officer recruitment advert, it caught my eye because, even though I loved being involved in football, I instantly knew this was what I wanted to do next.

“I felt like I had achieved everything I set out to do within football and once the process started to become an officer and I progressed through each stage I grew more and more excited about the prospect of joining the police. I had wanted to try something new for a while but I needed something that was rewarding, that would challenge me and provide me with a role that my friends and family would be proud of.

“I was lucky enough to represent my hometown by playing for Leicester City and to now be given the opportunity to represent Leicestershire Police is something that I am immensely proud of.

“In one way it’s like starting again, I’ve got a lot of experience to gain but also a lot to share.”

Tommy is the third former Leicester City player to join Leicestershire Police as an officer, if any of the squad are reading this and fancy a career change they can apply, along with anyone else interested in a career with us via www.leics.police.uk/joinus