Mark Wright’s hidden gesture during TOWIE star’s professional football comeback

TOWIE star Mark Wright has been a big hit at League Two Crawley Town.

The reality TV star is fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing football professionally – and is so keen that he is forgoing wages and expenses to play for them on a non-contract basis amid the coronavirus crisis, which is hitting lower league clubs hard.

Wright, 34, is making a BBC documentary, The Last Chance, around his spell at the club and he was on the bench again for their FA Cup tie at Bournemouth in midweek.

Former semi-pro footballer Wright, who was on West Ham and Tottenham ’s books as a youngster, came on against Leeds in the FA Cup third round and has genuine talent.

Crawley boss John Yems has insisted he would have no fears of playing Wright and has been impressed by his attitude and drive with his younger brother Josh already at the club.

The Last Chance is made up of four episodes and is a really good watch about the ex-Spurs youth team captain having one last crack at fulfilling every boy’s childhood dream.

Gundogan's magnificence away from the game

Footballers have really stepped up to the plate throughout the global pandemic.

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti is a really striking presence on TV adverts pleading for men to step forward to help with research while his club and many others like Manchester City, United, Brighton and across the country have done so much in the community.

And one of the best, most personal stories, is about City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan who comes across as such a nice man, has bought into the Manchester way of life and is now auctioning off shirts, boots and even a one-to-one meeting (after lockdown) to raise money.

Gundogan is doing it for the cafes and bars in Manchester struggling with lockdown and he said: “Manchester feels like home to me. Over the last few years I spent a lot of time in the city's many wonderful cafés and restaurants.

“Recently, it has been in the media again and again in which difficult situation they are currently in. Some of the owners and employees of the restaurants with who I am in contact have also told me this.

“I would like to support these wonderful people in Manchester in these challenging times and at the same time offer fans the opportunity to buy something special at auction and do some good with it.

"Only together can we get through this difficult time.”

AFTV's pull continues to grow

Arsenal Fan TV is renowned for its YouTube views, rants and supporters enjoying their five minutes of fame.

But research by analysts American Gambler claims AFTV is by far and away the most successful supporters’ channel and will surpass one billion views on their YouTube channel in February and earns £100,000 each month from adverts alone.

Alex Kostin, one of the researchers of the study, said: "We knew AFTV was popular but we didn't expect the ad revenue to be as high as it is.

“Using the same software used to research ad revenue earnings, we are predicting their total views to hit 1 billion by early February and their subscriber count to treble by 2024 to just under 4m.

“There's clearly huge demand for unofficial fan content and while fans can't go to stadiums, this is the next best thing.”

Pini still making moves

Super agent Pini Zahavi has long been regarded as one of the most influential in football.

But at 77, he is still as busy as ever as this week he was the agent who brokered the Thomas Tuchel deal with Chelsea.

Don’t forget it was Zahavi who also oversaw Jose Mourinho becoming Tottenham boss 14 months ago.

Clearly, there is no substitute for experience.

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