A football thug who was jailed for six years and once described hooliganism as ‘the best buzz in the world’ is now living off a EuroMillions fortune.
Notorious Bradford City hooligan Daniel Wright was at the centre of a mob known as The Ointment who arranged violent clashes with rival firms and revelled in the chaos that followed.
He received three football banning orders and even boasted about his brutal antics on television, telling Danny Dyer‘s Real Football Factory: ‘When it kicks off, it’s the best buzz in the world. No drugs can touch it.’
Now it has emerged that Wright, 41 – once branded a ‘committed football hooligan’ by an outraged judge – is a lottery millionaire after landing a tax-free windfall on EuroMillions.
He splurged his £1 million prize on a new-build home in the leafy North Yorkshire market town of Yarm – 80 miles from his former Bradford hunting ground – and a £40,000 Rolex he had always wanted.
However, Wright has yet to splash out on a motor befitting of a millionaire – because he is banned from driving.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Wright described himself bluntly as a ‘lucky b*****d’ and admitted many would say he does not deserve a shred of good fortune.
He shrugged: ‘I would probably agree with them. But life isn’t fair. If life was fair, everyone would get what they deserve.
Bradford City fan Daniel Wright, 41, once branded a ‘committed football hooligan’ by an outraged judge, is now living off a EuroMillions fortune
Pride of place in his home is a 100-inch television, brought with his lottery winnings, on which he watches his beloved team
Wright was at the centre of a mob known as The Ointment, who arranged violent clashes with rival firms and revelled in the chaos that ensued
‘I’m a bit of a gambler and I’d always fancied myself to win the lottery.
‘I’d looked into it and they don’t have any rules like that. I knew they couldn’t refuse to pay convicted criminals. There’s no point playing it if they wouldn’t pay out.’
Prior to landing the UK Millionaire Maker win in April 2022, Wright was a self-proclaimed football hooligan who boasted in Danny Dyer’s docuseries in 2006: ‘How many lads don’t like fighting?’
As a leading member of The Ointment – named, said Wright, because ‘you’d need ointment to sort it out after we’d battered you’ – his weekends were spent taking on rival firms across the country.
In 2008, he was jailed for 27 months after being caught on CCTV hurling punches at Rotherham United fans outside a Bradford pub.
The judge who jailed him condemned him as ‘a committed football hooligan who revelled in his notoriety’, handing him an eight-year nationwide stadium ban.
Judge Durham Hall told Wright: ‘You clearly couldn’t care less. You revel in your notoriety even finding some satisfaction in being part of a group childishly named The Ointment – a choice which indicates the intellectual level of this activity.’
It was Wright’s third banning order, following earlier bans in 2004 and 2005.
Wright (right) even appeared on the documentary Danny Dyer’s Real Football Factories: Yorkshire talking about his hooliganism
Wright moved to Redcar, in North Yorkshire, before purchasing a new-build three-bed house outright for £250,000 and several additional rental properties
In 2016 he was jailed again, this time for three-and-a-half years after a mass brawl in a bar in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Wright claimed: ‘I tried splitting it up but I’ve got a bad reputation in Bradford with the police.
‘They said I was the ringleader and was punching this guy. I got found guilty and got three-and-a-half years.
‘So I’ve paid the price. Probably more than any hooligan I know. I don’t know many more who have had sentences like that.’
Wright’s gang was one of the most feared hooligan outfits in the country.
Members would meet rival firms miles from stadiums to avoid police and dodge banning orders.
Wright was first arrested in 2003 when trouble flared after a pre-season clash with Aberdeen.
Police raided homes after hooligans brawled in the streets, with eight thugs eventually jailed – though Wright escaped prosecution.
Wright (left) pictured with former Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson, who led the club from 2011-2016
He told how he found out he was a millionaire while holidaying in Cape Verde in April 2022 with a former partner.
Euromillions operator Camelot only queried the win because he was abroad – not because of his criminal record.
Wright said: ‘I had an email saying “you’ve won”. I thought I’d won £2.50 or something like that. I logged into the app and I thought I’d won £1,000.
‘Then I started counting the zeros. I couldn’t believe it. I spoke to Camelot and because I was abroad, they asked me where I’d bought the ticket.
‘Thankfully I was on a standing order because if I’d put it on while abroad, they wouldn’t have paid out.’
One of the first things Wright did after the jackpot landed in his account was to move from Bradford in an attempt to go straight.
Wright said: ‘I love my mates to pieces but we’re bad influences on each other. I didn’t want to do what I used to.
‘But in the first 18 months I felt lost. It’s hard when you’ve never had money and then suddenly you’ve got loads. You don’t know what to do with it.’
Wright (centre in blue t-shirt) previously travelled the country following his beloved Bradford City, but was handed an eight-year nationwide stadium ban in 2008 and jailed for 27 months after being caught on CCTV hurling punches at Rotherham United fans outside a Bradford pub
Wright has invested money in a property development company and bought further properties to rent out.
Pride of place in his home is a 100-inch television on which he watches his beloved Bradford City.
But money hasn’t stopped him making catastrophic decisions. He is currently banned from driving after thrashing his brand-new £40,000 Golf GTI.
‘I had a stupid moment,’ he admitted. ‘I got speeding points and thought, well that’s me banned.
‘So I wondered how fast I can go. I ended up driving down south and got another nine points in about 24 hours.’
In his recent podcast, to promote a new novel based on the hooligan antics of his gang, Wright told how he still misses the ‘thrill’ of fighting at football games.
He said: ‘I don’t do it anymore but if you said to me I do it tomorrow and get away with it, there’d be no repercussions, I’d be there in a shot.
‘I’m 41 now. Yeah, I’d be there in a shot. But I think there’s people older than me that would be there in a shot as well.’
Wright has now written a novel, Northern Monkeys, about his time in The Ointment football firm. Although he no longer participates in hooliganism, he says he still misses the ‘thrill’ of street fighting
Unlike convicted Michael Carroll, the so-called ‘Lotto Lout’ who blew his £9.7million fortune on drink, drugs and wild parties, Wright insists he has been careful with his winnings.
He added: ‘The Rolex was the most extravagant purchase but I always wanted that watch.
‘I went travelling for a year, stayed in nice places, and spent a bit. But I’m not that bothered about experiences. I like designer clothes, but nothing ridiculous.’
Wright, who is single, has also spent his time writing. His debut novel, Northern Monkeys, a fictionalised account of his time in The Ointment is published later this month.
He is now allowed back into football grounds and says his ultimate dream is to one day take control of the club he once fought for on the streets.
He added: ‘That is the dream of mine to be Bradford City chairman one day. First of all I need my book turned into a TV series, then I’ll move back to Bradford and buy the club.’
Northern Monkeys is available from troubador.co.uk in paperback or as an ebook from November 29.
