AddThis SmartLayers

700 miles to get Wright story

Justin Allen, a sports writer for the Evening Argus in Brighton, did a one-day 700-mile round trip to Burnley just to get half a dozen paragraphs of quotes from ex-England footballer Ian Wright.

Justin, 23, who was recruited from the East Kent Mercury in August, was writing a feature on Billy Smith – the man who first discovered the former Arsenal, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Celtic star – and to add authority to his piece needed some quotes.

Wright recently signed for Burnley, so Justin decided to turn up at the Division Two club’s press conference without any guarantee of success in speaking to him personally.

But after blurting out the name Billy Smith, the striker was more than happy to spare him a few moments.

Justin said: “It was a complete nightmare of a journey. Six hours from Brighton and six hours back. The sports editor, Chris Giles, would’ve probably killed me had I not managed to get hold of him, but thankfully I did and it made a nice feature much better.”

Do you have a story for us?
Ring the HoldTheFrontPage newsdesk on
01332 291111 x6022, or e-mail us now