Ian Wright

For other people named Ian Wright, see Ian Wright (disambiguation).

Ian Wright

Personal information
Full name	Ian Edward Wright MBE
Position(s)	Striker

Ian Edward Wright, MBE (born 3 November 1963 in Woolwich, London) is an English former professional footballer and current television and radio personality.

Early career

Ian Wright came to professional football relatively late. Despite having had trials at Southend United and Brighton during his teens, he was unable to attract sufficient interest to win a professional contract offer. Reverting to playing for amateur and non-league teams, he was left disillusioned about his chances of a career as a professional footballer, and looked set to pursue a job as a full-time plasterer.

Crystal Palace

However, Crystal Palace talent scout Peter Prentice happened to see Wright in a local Sunday-league match and invited him to have a trial at Selhurst Park. Having impressed then-manager Steve Coppell, he signed professional terms for Crystal Palace in August 1985, just three months short of his 22nd birthday.

He quickly made his mark in his first season, scoring nine goals to finish as Palace's second-highest scorer behind Phil Barber. When Mark Bright arrived on the Palace scene the following year the duo soon established a successful striking partnership and it was largely their goals which took the club to top flight via the playoffs in 1989.

Wright was called up for England B duty in December 1989 but a twice-cracked shin bone reduced his initial impact in the First Division. However, after recovering from the injury he made a dramatic appearance as a 'super-sub', in the 1990 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. He equalised for Palace a few minutes after coming onto the field forcing extra time, then putting them ahead in extra time. The eventual score was 3-3, but Palace lost the replay 1-0.

The next season he gained full international honours, and reached a hundred goals for Crystal Palace. He scored twice as Palace beat Everton to win the Zenith Data Systems Cup at Wembley. Wright became renowned for his deadly striking ability, as shown when he scored a hat-trick in just eighteen minutes in Palace's penultimate game of the 1990-91 season away to Wimbledon.

Wright scored 117 goals in 253 starts and 24 substitute appearances over six seasons for The Eagles in all competitions, making him the club's record post-war goalscorer and third on the all-time list. In 2005, he was voted into their Centenary XI and was named as their "Player of The Century".

Arsenal

Wright signed for Arsenal in September 1991 for £2.5m, which was at the time a club record fee. He scored on his debut against Leicester City in a League Cup tie, and then scored a hat-trick on his League debut against Southampton. He won the Golden Boot in his first season by scoring 29 league goals, five of which were for Palace, and 31 in all competitions. As of 2007, only Wright and Teddy Sheringham (1992-93 season) have won the top-flight goalscoring award having scored for two different clubs during the season in question.

Wright went on to be the club's top scorer for six seasons in a row. He played a major part in the club's success during the 1990s, winning an FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993; he scored in both the FA Cup final and the final replay. Wright also helped Arsenal reach the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final, although Wright was suspended for the final in which Arsenal beat Parma 1-0.

Wright scored in every round but the final of Arsenal's 1995 Cup Winners' Cup campaign, but the arrival of Bruce Rioch heralded a bleaker time; the two did not get on and eventually Wright handed in a transfer request (which he later retracted). The arrival of Dennis Bergkamp, however, heralded a brief but fruitful striking partnership.

By the time Arsène Wenger had arrived at Arsenal in September 1996, Wright was nearly 33. Despite his age, he continued to score regularly, and on September 13, 1997 he broke Cliff Bastin's Arsenal goalscoring record with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers (a record since surpassed by Thierry Henry in October 2005). A couple of months later he suffered a bad hamstring injury which ruled him out of the club's run-in to a League and Cup Double; Wright was named as a substitute in the cup final against Newcastle United but did not play.

Wright scored a total of 185 goals for Arsenal in 279 starts and 9 substitute appearances. His final goal at Highbury came on October 4, 1997 against Barnsley and was his 300th career goal for both Crystal Palace and Arsenal. He scored his final goal for Arsenal on January 6, 1998 in a League Cup quarter-final victory against West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground.

Years after Arsenal

In July 1998, Wright moved to West Ham United for £500,000; he spent fifteen months as a West Ham player without reaching the same form he had at Arsenal. During his spell there he made the headlines for all the wrong reasons when he vandalised the referee's dressing room at Upton Park after being sent off during a match against Leeds United. He had subsequent short spells at Nottingham Forest, Celtic, and Burnley (whom he helped to promotion to Division One) before retiring in 2000. He finished his club career with 323 goals in all competitions.

March 2007 saw his appointment of Director of Football Strategy of Isthmian League team, Ashford Town, and him taking his place on the Board of Directors, following his purchase of a stake in the club.

England national team

Wright was handed his England debut by manager Graham Taylor in February 1991. He started in the 2-0 victory against Cameroon at Wembley and helped England reach the finals of Euro 92 in Sweden. Despite the fact that his international career spanned eight years, 87 matches and three different full-time managers, he only started 17 times and was a used substitute in 16 matches.

In each of the seven seasons that followed the 1990 World Cup, Wright never scored less than 23 goals a season for his club. He scored 25 goals for Crystal Palace during 1990/91 before going on to break the 30 club-goal barrier five times in the following six seasons. Despite Wright's goalscoring feats, the most number of games he started for England consecutively was two - something he only did three times.

Taylor, who became England manager after the 1990 World Cup in Italy and remained in charge for 38 matches, only handed Wright nine starts and seven substitute appearances. He opted instead to use a whole host of less prolific strikers, including Nigel Clough of Nottingham Forest, Paul Stewart of Tottenham Hotspur, David Hirst of Sheffield Wednesday and Brian Deane of Sheffield United. Wright did not make it into the squad for Euro 92 at the expense of Clough, Gary Lineker of Tottenham Hotspur, Alan Shearer of Southampton and Arsenal team mate Alan Smith.

Five of Wright's nine international goals were scored under Taylor's management. These included a vital late equaliser in a 1-1 away draw against Poland in May 1993 and four goals in the 7-1 away win against San Marino in Bologna, Italy, in November 1993, the final match of Taylor's reign as manager which was infamous for England amazingly conceding a goal in a World Cup record 8.3 seconds. Both matches were qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, for which England failed to qualify for the first time since 1978.

Terry Venables replaced Taylor as manager after the unsuccessful 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign but Wright's appearances in the side became even more limited. Despite featuring in four of the first five matches under Venables, albeit three times as a substitute, Wright never played under his management again. Ultimately, it cost Wright a place in the squad for Euro 96, where England reached the semi-finals as the host nation. Venables vacated his position as England manager after the tournament and was replaced by Glenn Hoddle.

After being in international exile for 21 consecutive matches, Wright was recalled to the England team by Hoddle in November 1996 when he came off the bench in a 2-0 1998 World Cup qualifying victory in Georgia. It had been over two years since Wright had made his previous England appearance in October 1994.

Four of Wright's nine international goals were scored under Hoddle's management, including the winner in a 2-1 friendly win against South Africa at Old Trafford in May 1997, and the opener a month later in a 2-0 victory over Italy in the Tournoi de France. England won the four-team tournament, staged as a warm-up event to the 1998 World Cup in France, which also included world champions Brazil as well as the hosts.

Wright went on to help England qualify for the 1998 World Cup by scoring two goals in the 4-0 qualifying campaign victory against Moldova at Wembley in September 1997 before producing arguably his best performance for his country in the vital 0-0 draw in Italy, a month later, which secured his country's passage through to the finals. He missed out on the finals, however, with a recurrence of the hamstring injury which had ruled him out for much of Arsenal's double-winning campaign.

Following the 1998 World Cup, Wright went on to play a further two times for England as a West Ham player. He came on as a substitute in the Euro 2000 qualifier in Luxembourg, a match England won 3-0 in October 1998. He made his final international appearance, a month later, in a friendly against the Czech Republic at Wembley. England won the match 2-0 and it also turned out to be Hoddle's final game as manager.

Wright started seven matches and was used as a substitute on six occasions under Hoddle, who was manager for 28 matches. He made his first appearance under Hoddle aged 33 and his final appearance under him aged 35. England went on to qualify for Euro 2000 in Belgium and Holland, by which time, Wright was approaching his 37th birthday and retired from club football shortly after the tournament.

Media career

While he was still a professional footballer at Arsenal, he was signed up by ITV to present his own chat show, Friday Night's All Wright where he interviewed such showbiz greats as Sir Elton John, Mariah Carey and Will Smith and which ran for two seasons. Since his retirement from football, he has appeared as a pundit on the BBC's International Match of the Day and has been a pundit for 2002 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Since then, he has gone on to present programmes such as Friends Like These and What Kids Really Think. He took over from David Seaman in autumn 2004 as a team captain on BBC game show They Think It's All Over, which ran until 2006.

Ian Wright has also starred in Men & Motors show Wright Across America, where he fulfils a life long dream to travel coast to coast across America on a Harley-Davidson motorbike. The show is famous for Wright's rocky relationship with co-host and legendary custom bike builder Nicky Bootz.. He currently co-hosts the drivetime slot (4-7 pm) Monday to Thursday on Talksport, with Adrian Durham.

Along with appearances on television programmes, Ian also appeared in television commercials for the chicken sauce, Chicken Tonight and Ladbrokes along with Chris Kamara, Ally McCoist and former Arsenal team mate Lee Dixon.

Ian Wright appeared as a "celebrity hijacker" in the television series Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

He also appears in an advertisement for the Wii console where he is playing Mario Strikers Charged and Wii Sports with his son Shaun.

On March 12 2008, it was confirmed that he will be presenting the forthcoming series of the popular game show Gladiators.

On April 17, 2008 it was confirmed that Wright is quitting his job as a pundit on BBC Sport's Match Of The Day coverage of England internationals. He criticised the programme for using him as a "comedy jester", and added "Fans want people who are dressed like them. They've got no one to relate to on TV and that's why I've said to them I don't want to do the England games any more."

He is now a presenter on the radio station talk sport.

Personal life

Four of Wright's five children are professional footballers. His adopted son Shaun Wright-Phillips currently plays for Chelsea and England. Shaun's half-brother Bradley Wright-Phillips, who is Ian's biological son, plays for Southampton. Ian's cousin Jermaine Wright also plays for Southampton, while Ian's other son, Brett Wright, is now a reserve team player for Reading.

Wright is also the patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. Shortly after his retirement from playing in 2000, he was awarded the MBE for his services to football.

Honours

Personal

• MBE (2002)
• Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame (2005)

Crystal Palace

• English Second Division (old) playoffs winner (1988/89)
• FA Cup runner up (1990).
• ZDS Cup winner (1991).
• Golden Boot (leading scorer in English First Division Championship (old)) (1991-92).
• Highest goalscorer for Crystal Palace post-war with 117 goals. He is third-highest overall.
• Voted as fans' "Player of The Century".

Arsenal

• Golden Boot (leading scorer in English First Division Championship (old)) (1991-92).
• FA Cup winner (1993, 1998).
• Cup Winners' Cup winner (1994) Runner Up (1995).
• League Cup winner (1993).
• FA Premiership title (1997-98).
• Wright is Arsenal's second highest goalscorer, with 185 goals in 288 games in all competitions; he held the top goalscorer record from September 13 1997 until October 18 2005, when Thierry Henry surpassed his total.

England

• 33 caps, 9 goals
• Debut February 6, 1991 vs Cameroon at Wembley
• Last cap November 18, 1998 vs Czech Republic at Wembley

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1985-86||rowspan="7"|Crystal Palace||rowspan="4"|Second Division||32||9|||||||| |- |1986-87||38||9|||||||| |- |1987-88||41||20|||||||| |- |1988-89||42||24|||||||| |- |1989-90||rowspan="3"|First Division||26||8|||||||| |- |1990-91||38||15|||||||| |- |1991-92||8||5|||||||| |- |1991-92||rowspan="7"|Arsenal||First Division||30||29|||||||| |- |1992-93||rowspan="6"|Premier League||31||15|||||||| |- |1993-94||39||23|||||||| |- |1994-95||31||18|||||||| |- |1995-96||31||15|||||||| |- |1996-97||35||23|||||||| |- |1997-98||24||10|||||||| |- |1998-99||West Ham United||Premier League||22||9|||||||| |- |1999-00||Nottingham Forest||First Division||10||5|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1999-00||Celtic||Premier League||8||3|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1999-00||Burnley||Second Division||15||4|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 3493||241|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 48||3|||||||| Template:Football player statistics 5501||244|||||||| |}

External links

• Ian Wright Player Statistics at Soccerbase.com
• ArseWeb biography
• English Football Hall of Fame

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