Ambitious Shrewsbury Town new boy Kris Bright can’t wait for the start of the season one which he hopes will end with a dream appearance for New Zealand at next summer’s World Cup.
Bright, 22, put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Shrewsbury earlier this week and is pushing strongly for a place in the side for Saturday’s League Two opener at home to promoted Burton Albion.
He’s delighted to have finally fulfilled a long-time wish of playing in England after a cosmopolitan few years which has seen him play club football in New Zealand, Holland, Norway and last season in Greece’s top division for Panserraikos.
“It’s great to be in England,” said Bright, whose Canterbury-born dad David represented New Zealand at the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain.
“Obviously, my aim is to play in the Premiership, it’s everyone’s dream, so this is a start and hopefully we can go up this year and see how we go from there.
“I’ve already played in four countries and I’m just looking to improve so I think the experience I’ve had will help me, especially playing here.”
Bright had been on trial at Norwich before arriving in Shrewsbury, quickly doing enough to convince boss Paul Simpson he would be an astute capture after impressing in last weekend’s friendly at Tranmere.
“The fans were really supportive at Tranmere so I’ll do my best for them and the side and see how it goes,” said Bright, who arrives in Shrewsbury with a decent goalscoring record. You won’t see me doing too much back in midfield and in defence,” he added. “I’ll just be up there hustling around causing a few problems. Get the ball in the box and we’ll go from there.”
Auckland-born Bright is proud of his New Zealand roots and has recently broken into his country’s full international squad, collecting his fourth cap against a star-studded Spain in the Confederations Cup in South Africa in June.
“It all goes on form but hopefully I took my chance in the Confederations Cup and I’ll get selected again,” said Bright, who grabbed his first goal for the All Whites against Thailand in March.
“We played Italy a few days before the Spain game and did really well but Spain were a different class and we were a bit shell-shocked early on. Overall, the tournament went well for us and we drew against Iraq.”
Now Bright, whose immediate priority is doing well for Shrewsbury, admits he would love to return to South Africa next summer by helping New Zealand qualify for the biggest football show on earth.
“Everybody wants to play in a World Cup Finals,” he said. “I’ll just be happy to be involved in the qualifiers and see how it goes.
“We’re one or two games away against either Bahrain or Saudi Arabia, and if we beat them then we’re through.”
Bright, one of three new signings unveiled by Simpson this week along with Brentford striker Nathan Elder and on-loan West Brom midfielder Joss Labadie, has packed a lot in for someone his age and arrives in Shrewsbury fresh from an eventful season playing at the highest level in Greece for Panserraikos.
“We had a great cup run and beat Panathainakos home and away,” he recalled.
“Winning in their stadium had never been done before for a side like us. Every week we were playing in front of tens of thousands of people in big games so that was good.
“The games and the training, the football side of it, were great, but out of football it was really difficult and if you’re not happy off the field it’s not easy playing so well on it.”
by Stuart Dunn