76 Facts About Ian Wright

Ian Edward Wright was born on 3 November 1963 and is an English media personality and former professional footballer.

Ian Wright played in the Premier League for West Ham United, the Scottish Premier League for Celtic and the Football League for Burnley and Nottingham Forest.

Ian Wright has been active in the media following his retirement, usually in football-related TV and radio shows.

Ian Edward Wright was born to Jamaican parents in the Woolwich area of London on 3 November 1963.

Ian Wright's father was absent and he was brought up by his mother, Nesta, and a stepfather who was abusive.

Ian Wright is a cousin of fellow footballer Jermaine Wright and actor Patrick Robinson, and the uncle of fellow footballer Drey Wright.

Ian Wright recalls that after being locked in the cell, he burst into tears and vowed to God to do everything in his power to make it as a footballer.

Ian Wright described his school teacher Sydney Pigden, who taught him to read and write, as "the first positive male figure" in his life.

Ian Wright had an early connection with Arsenal as he was close friends with club legend David Rocastle.

From being a teenager, until the age of 21, Ian Wright played for Lewisham-based amateur Sunday league club Ten-em-Bee becoming the top scorer in the London and Kent Border Sunday League.

Ian Wright quickly made his mark in his first season, scoring nine goals to finish as Palace's second-highest scorer.

Ian Wright was particularly instrumental that season, scoring 24 goals in the Second Division and a total of 33 in all competitions.

Ian 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.

Ian Wright equalised for Palace a few minutes after coming onto the field forcing extra time, then putting them ahead in extra time.

Ian Wright scored twice as Palace beat Everton to win the Full Members Cup at Wembley.

Ian 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 December 2023, during an appearance on The Overlap YouTube channel hosted by Gary Neville, Ian Wright revealed he was bullied by teammate Jim Cannon until Cannon's departure from the club in 1988.

Ian Wright scored on his debut against Leicester City in a League Cup tie, produced a hat-trick on his league debut against Southampton, and in the final match of the season, scored another hat-trick against the Saints to take his total to 31 goals in all competitions.

Ian Wright went on to be the club's top scorer for six seasons in a row.

Ian Wright played a major part in the club's success during the 1990s, winning an FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993; scoring in both the FA Cup Final itself and the replay against Sheffield Wednesday.

Ian Wright scored in every round but the final of Arsenal's 1995 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up campaign, and scored freely in the Premier League, but it was a difficult time for Arsenal following the dismissal of manager George Graham over illegal payments, and under caretaker Stewart Houston they could only manage a 12th-place finish in the league.

Ian Wright scored his final goal for the club on 6 January 1998 in a League Cup quarter-final victory against West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground.

Ian Wright was an unused substitute as Arsenal won the 1998 FA Cup Final, and lifted his first Premier League title as the Gunners completed a league and cup double.

Ian Wright scored 185 goals from 288 appearances for Arsenal, and scored eleven hat-tricks for them, a total surpassed only by Jimmy Brain and Jack Lambert.

Ian Wright placed fourth in a 2008 poll of fans conducted on the club's website to select their 50 greatest players.

Ian Wright spent fifteen months as a West Ham player, scoring the winner on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday, without reaching the same form he had at Arsenal.

Ian Wright had subsequent short spells at Nottingham Forest, Celtic, and Burnley before retiring in 2000.

Whilst at Celtic, Ian Wright became involved in a campaign by some fans calling for the removal of manager, John Barnes.

Ian Wright finished his club career with 313 goals in all competitions.

Ian Wright was overlooked for the 1990 World Cup but was handed his England debut by manager Graham Taylor in February 1991.

In each of the seven seasons that followed the 1990 World Cup, Ian Wright never scored fewer than 23 goals a season for his club.

Taylor, who became England manager after the 1990 World Cup in Italy and remained in charge for 38 matches, only handed Ian Wright nine starts and seven substitute appearances.

Ian Wright 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.

Ian Wright did not make it into the squad for Euro 1992, with Clough, Gary Lineker of Tottenham Hotspur, Alan Shearer of Southampton and Arsenal teammates Alan Smith and Paul Merson preferred.

Ian Wright made his final international appearance, a month later, in a friendly against the Czech Republic at Wembley.

Ian Wright started seven matches and was used as a substitute on six occasions under Hoddle, who was manager for 28 matches.

Ian Wright 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 the Netherlands, by which time, Ian Wright was approaching his 37th birthday and retired from club football shortly after the tournament.

In March 2007, Wright was appointed Director of football strategy of Isthmian League team, Ashford Town, with him taking his place on the board of directors, following his purchase of a stake in the club.

On 18 May 2012, Ian Wright was named as a first team coach at Milton Keynes Dons.

In November 2024, it was announced that Ian Wright was set to manage one of the 12 teams in the upcoming Baller League UK, a six-a-side football league.

Ian Wright began his television career as a guest host on Top of the Pops.

Ian Wright was later signed up by ITV to present his own chat show, Friday Night's All Wright, on which he interviewed celebrities such as Elton John, Mariah Carey and Will Smith; it ran for two series.

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

On 12 March 2008, Ian Wright was confirmed as one of the presenters of the new series of the popular game show Gladiators.

Ian Wright was a presenter on Channel 5's early evening magazine programme Live from Studio Five, from its launch in September 2009, to August 2010.

Ian Wright originally co-presented the show alongside former model Melinda Messenger and the runner-up of The Apprentice, Kate Walsh.

Ian Wright was reported to be unhappy with other changes at the programme, such as its daily airtime being cut from 60 to 30 minutes.

Ian Wright presented Football Behind Bars, a reality TV series aired on Sky1 about his programme to socialise young men incarcerated at Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset by organising them in a football academy.

Ian Wright featured on an episode of BBC's Top Gear in 2005, posting a 1.47.8 on the celebrity power lap times.

In November 2019, it was announced that Ian Wright would be participating in the nineteenth series of I'm a Celebrity.

In February 2021, it was announced that Ian Wright would be hosting a new prime time game show for ITV called Moneyball.

On 10 March 2023, Ian Wright announced he would boycott the next broadcast of Match of the Day in solidarity with presenter Gary Lineker, who stepped back from his duties amid a row over comment criticising the government's immigration policies.

Ian Wright made his last appearance on the show on 19 May 2024.

Ian Wright formerly co-hosted the drivetime slot Monday to Thursday on Talksport, with Adrian Durham.

In 2010 Ian Wright joined Absolute Radio, hosting Rock 'N' Roll Football, post match analysis and chat on Saturdays from 5 till 7.

Ian Wright appears in the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, alongside Seema Jaswal as the co-host of the fictional sports show, Forza Love of the Game.

Ian Wright appears in the Netflix-distributed science fiction action drama film The Kitchen as Lord Kitchener, a pirate radio station DJ who broadcasts to the struggling community known as The Kitchen.

Since 2014, Ian Wright has been a regular studio pundit, along with Lee Dixon, for all England matches on ITV, and was one of the main studio pundits for their coverage of 2014 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2016.

Ian Wright left BT Sport in 2017 to increase his role at the BBC, regularly appearing on Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2, as well as continuing to co-host the 606 phone in show on Sunday evenings alongside Kelly Cates.

Ian Wright appears every Tuesday on The Debate on Sky Sports' Premier League channel, teaming up with Kelly Cates.

Ian Wright appears regularly as one of the BBC's lead pundits for live games, regularly working with Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.

Ian Wright won the award for a second time in 2022 as well as Pundit of the Year at the Broadcast Sports Awards and World Soccers Broadcaster of the Year.

Ian Wright has appeared in television commercials for the chicken sauce, Chicken Tonight, Nescafe and Ladbrokes along with Chris Kamara, Ally McCoist and former Arsenal teammate Lee Dixon.

Ian Wright appeared in an advertisement for the Wii console where he was seen playing Mario Strikers Charged and Wii Sports with his son Shaun.

In October 1992, Ian Wright featured on the first TV commercial for Nike in the UK, Nike "Kick it" was Nike first TV commercial for Football.

In 1993, Ian Wright wrote and released the song "Do the Right Thing", which was co-written and produced by Pet Shop Boys member Chris Lowe.

In 2016, Ian Wright wrote an updated version of his autobiography called A Life in Football, published by Constable.

The book is aimed at children and young people and is inspired by many issues that Ian Wright himself dealt with while growing up as a young, black, working-class footballer in London.

In June 2014, whilst Ian Wright was away in Brazil as a pundit for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, his wife Nancy was held at knifepoint as a gang burgled their home whilst their children were upstairs.

Ian Wright flew back to England but later returned to Brazil, where he served as a pundit on ITV for the match between Cameroon and Brazil.

Shortly after his retirement from playing, Ian Wright was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to football.

On 21 April 2022, Ian Wright was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

Ian Wright was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to football and charity.

Ian Wright was made a Freeman of the City of London on 1 November 2023 in recognition of his sporting achievements.