Mark Wright swaps TOWIE for Crawley Town as he signs for League Two side

Reality TV star Mark Wright has signed for Crawley Town in a bid to resurrect his football career. The Only Way is Essex star has signed for Crawley on a non-contract basis after training with the League Two club for two months.

Wright rose to fame as one of the original cast on ITV’s reality show, which launched in October 2010, while he also came second on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in November 2011.

However, before he made his name on TOWIE, Wright had a nascent football career, training with Tottenham as a youngster before joining Southend United and making nine appearances for Crawley as a left-back in the 2006/07 season.

He had previously dismissed rumours that he might sign for his former club as “far-fetched”, saying he was just training for the “fitness” and “banter around the dressing room”, but he could now be involved in the Red Devils’ 2020/21 season.

Crawley said they agreed to sign the 33-year-old, who has regularly featured in charity football match Soccer Aid, after he impressed in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Reading last month.

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Wright’s profile – he has over 2.7million Twitter followers, compared with Crawley’s under 70,000 – is bound to be a boost to the Red Devils.

But he played under Yems in his first spell at the club and could feature in the remainder of the campaign.

“The Gaffer knows Mark very well,” technical director Erdem Konyar said. “Mark will bring an exemplary attitude that will rub off on the youngsters in the group. It’s an exciting acquisition for the club.”

General manager Tom Allman added: “Having someone like Mark involved with the club can only be a positive. As well as his obvious technical ability, having someone of his stature wearing the badge, will also shine a light on the positive hard work the club does off the field.”