Top facts about Ian Wright, Wrighty

The English former professional footballer has become a famous television and radio personality, currently working as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport.

Back in his early career in 1985, he got contracted with the semi-professional club of Greenwich Borough and in the light of his perseverance and immense talent, in 1985, he was absorbed by Crystal Palace football club.

While he spent a span of six years dazzling for them, he even went on to get a big breakthrough as Arsenal was attracted to him.

Therefore during a stint of seven years with Arsenal, he crowned the

title, both the major domestic cup competitions and the European Cup Winners Cup, racking up 128 goals and 221 games as well.

Being highly regarded for his speed, agility, finishing and aggression, he also starred for West Ham United and Celtic, while he ended up playing 581 league games, and scoring 287 goals for seven clubs in Scotland and England.

As he also earned 33 caps for the English national team, and put away 9 international goals, since his retirement from the football profession in the early 2000s, he began his broadcast TV career.

One of the most amazing top facts about Ian Wright, is that as of 2021, he is Arsenal's second-highest scorer of all time and Crystal Palace's third-highest.

Top facts about Ian Wright, Wrighty

Here is everything there is to know in regard to top facts about Ian Wright, with the focus of his life outside of his playing years. In case you are interested to delve even further into his football profession, you can probe into

.

Ian Wright facts in brief

Bio

• Popular name

  : Ian Wright

• Nickname

  : Satchmo, Wrighty

General information

• Age

  : 58 Years

• Date of birth

  : 1963-11-03

• Gender

  : male

• Place of birth

  : Woolwich, London, England

• Nationality

  : British

• Ethnicity

  : English-Jamaican

• Horoscope

  : NA

• Religion

  : NA

Personal life

• Father

  : Herbert Wright

• Mother

  : Nesta Wright

• Siblings

  : Two

• Brothers

  : Maurice and Nicky

• Sexual Orientation

  : Straight

• Marital Status

  : Married

• Ex-wife

  : Debbie Martin

• Wife

  : Nancy Hallam (M 2011 to present)

• Children

  : Eight by her four relationships two married and two unmarried

• Profession

  : Former footballer, current pundit

• Net worth

  : $20 Million

• Source of wealth

  : Sports Industry

Physical status:

• Height

  : 5 feet 9 inches

• Weight

  : 73 Kg

• Eye Color

  : Black

• Hair Color

  : Black

Ian Wright childhood and family

Ian Edward Wright was born in Woolwich, London, England, to his parents Nesta Wright and Herbert Maclean, who had their originality from Jamaica.

While Ian was the third and the youngest son in his family, he was raised with two elder brothers: Maurice and Nicky.

Ian Wright childhood

was spent amidst extreme poverty in south-eastern London’s Woolwich area.

When he was just 18 months old, his father left them because it was difficult for him to provide for three children. Then after a few years, his mother married Ian’s stepfather who had not a good relationship with Ian at all.

Therefore he had to experience a  traumatic childhood as he was often severely beaten by his abusive stepfather and this had made him an angry child.

Perhaps because he tended to be an active and extroverted child, his stepfather was not good with him, yet he did find solace during these rough times and that was playing football.

Even when he became a youngster, he had turned into a harsh young man, until the time that a teacher called Sydney Pidgen entered his life and taught him many precious lessons to make his life better.

As he taught him reading and writing, he also gave him ideas to come out of the darkness that he was immersed in since his childhood times.

As a result, his passion for football was rejuvenated, as he made his mind to become a professional footballer when he was 14 years old, yet he was rejected by a number of clubs.

After his high-school graduation, while he learned plastering and brick layering, he married early and thereby had to cope with extreme poverty. Once, whereas he was fined for driving a car without insurance, due to his inability to pay the fine, he was incarcerated.

But when he was in the prison, he found a dogged determination to change his path and successfully resolve to become a footballer at any cost.

Ian Wright football profession

Following that he was released from prison, he entered a local club called the Sunday League Club, so as to fully develop his skills as a footballer.

Then in 1985, he moved to Greenwich Borough, which was a semi-professional club. While his financial situation was improving, he found the opportunity to fully concentrate on polishing his abilities.

Therefore it took not a long time that he saw the result of his hard-working as he attracted the eyes of

. As a result, in August 1985, he got contracted his first professional deal, with Crystal Palace and with his first season with them, he ended up being the second-highest goal-scorer for his team.

As he had a successful partnership with Mark Bright, he played an influential role in the team’s journey to the top in the late 1980s. That is to say, in the 1989 season, he put away 33 goals for them, with 24 of those goals coming only in the second division.

Following the 1990–1991 season, at the end of his span in Crystal Palace, he picked up the honour to become the highest goal-scorer for his team during the post-war era.

It means that during the six seasons he starred for the team, he netted 117 goals in 253 games and later, in 2005, he earned the “Player of the Century” by the club.

He even went on to receive the biggest fortune of his career in the early 1990s, at the time of making a deal with

, for a fee of around  £2.5 million, which was a record-breaking agreement fee, back in 1991.

As it was expected, he made a spectacular feat in the first season, by putting away 31 goals and even scored a hat-trick in the first game of the league, against Southampton, and amazingly another hat-trick in the final game of the season.

While he had the ability to score goals in the most arduous conditions, he fairly proved that he deserved such a high fee. Afterwards, in his following six seasons with Arsenal, he continued to be the top goal-scorer as well.

Even in 1993, he played an absolutely crucial role in his team winning both the FA Cup and the League Cup. Besides, in 1994, he helped his team reach the European Cup Winners' Cup final, but as his team won the finals, he was suspended from the game.

Even though he had grown older, reaching the age of 33 years, he was still a regular scorer in the club. He further went on to play a significant role in his team winning the 1998 FA Cup and during the 288 games he starred for Arsenal, he put away 185 goals, while he is still the second top-scorer for Arsenal in the history of the club.

In spite of the fact that age had slowed him down a bit, in 1998, he was transferred to

United while he still could manage to rack up 9 goals in 22 games in a season for them. He even went on to feature for the clubs like Celtic and Burnley, until the time that his retirement was announced in 2000.

In addition, on the international stage, although he had a bit underrated by the managers, as a member of the English national team he did cap in 33 international games and racked up 9 goals, while he helped the team to be qualified for one

and two European Championships.

Ian wright other careers

Although Ian wright had been retired from his football profession, his activity in the sport has continued until now as he has worked as a coach, TV and Radio presenter, football pundit as well as a writer.

Coaching

In March 2007, Wright was assigned to the Director of football strategy of the Isthmian League team,

and after he purchased a stake in the club, he took his place on the board of directors. On 18 May 2012, he was appointed as a first-team coach at Milton Keynes Dons as well but left the role in 2013.

Television

His television career was started when he became a guest host on Top of the Pops and after that, for two seasons he appeared on a chat show, Friday Night's All Wright, interviewing celebrities like Elton John, Mariah Carey and Will Smith.

Since then, he has been featured in the programmes like Friends Like These, I'd Do Anything, The National Lottery Wright Ticket, What Kids Really Think, Men & Motors show Wright Across America, and Ian Wright's Excellent Adventure, where he travelled to Greenland with a friend.

He also starred as a "celebrity hijacker" in the television series Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack and on 12 March 2008, he became one of the presenters of the new series of the popular game show Gladiators.

Likewise, he became the presenter of Channel 5's early evening magazine programme Live from Studio Five, and the Football Behind Bars, which was a reality TV series aired on Sky1 and was about Ian Wright programme to socialise young men imprisoned at Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset by organising them in a football academy.

He also appeared on an episode of BBC's 'Top Gear' in 2005, posting a 1.47.8 on the celebrity power lap times and in November 2019, it was confirmed that Wright would contribute to the nineteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Moreover, in February 2021, it was confirmed that Wright would be the host of a new prime time game show for ITV called Moneyball.

Radio

Among

top facts about Ian Wright

, it is notable to suggest that he previously co-hosted the drivetime slot (4–7 pm) Monday to Thursday on Talksport, with Adrian Durham.

Afterwards, in 2010, he hosted the Rock 'N' Roll Football in Absolute Radio, which was a post-match analysis and chat on Saturdays from 5 till 7. In August 2013, along with Kelly Cates, he presented the Sunday BBC Radio 5's 606 football phone-in programme.

Punditry

When it comes to the top facts about Ian Wright punditry career, one can point out that he came up as a pundit on BBC Sport's International Match of the Day and has been a pundit for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2004.

Likewise, in 2013, he began to work in BT Sport as a studio analyst for their coverage of the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Since 2014, Wright has regularly appeared as a studio pundit, along with Lee Dixon, for all England matches on ITV, being one of the main studio pundits for their coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2016 too.

Then he left BT Sport in 2017 so as to take a greater role at the BBC, regularly featuring on Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2, while he went on to co-host the 606 phone in show on Sunday evenings alongside Kelly Cates.

In addition, he currently co-hosts 5live Sport on a Monday evening along with Mark Chapman on BBC Radio 5live. He also comes up every Tuesday on The Debate on Sky Sports' Premier League channel, once again alongside Kelly Cates.

He is also one of the BBC's lead pundits for live games, as he regularly features along with Gary Lineker and

. Besides, since October 2020 he has co-hosted his own podcast 'Wrighty's House' on The Ringer FC, accompanied by a rotating panel of guests.

Commercials

Wright also has featured in a variety of television commercials for the chicken sauce, Chicken Tonight, Nescafé and Ladbrokes along with Chris Kamara, Ally McCoist and former Arsenal teammate Lee Dixon.

Since in his playing career, he was sponsored by the sportswear company Nike, it is no wonder to see him appear in numerous Nike commercials.

Writing

One of the most amazing

top facts about Ian Wright

is that at the time of his playing profession at Arsenal, he published his autobiography, Mr Wright as it was first published in hardback in 1996 by Collins Willow.

But even before that, in 1993, he wrote and released a single called Do The Right Thing which was a song co-written and produced by Chris Lowe (of Pet Shop Boys) and reached No. 43 in the UK Singles Chart.

Not to mention, that he is a columnist for the tabloid newspaper The Sun as well and in 2016, he wrote a new and updated version of his autobiography called A Life in Football, which was published by Constable.

As one of the top facts about Ian Wright, it is fascinating to note that in 2021, he co-wrote his first novel with Musa Okwonga dubbed as 'Striking Out'.

While the book targets are children and young people, it is inspired by a number of issues Wright himself confronted while raising up as a young, black, working-class footballer in London.

Ian Wright personal life 

When it comes to top facts about Ian Wright personal life affairs, one can suggest that he has been married twice and has eight children out of his 4 relationships.

When he was already a youngster he fall in love with his first wife Deborah and married her in Mauritius in 1993 but after living together for 9 years, they split in 2004.

The reason behind their divorce is the fact that Ian was unfaithful and cheated on his first wife, Debbie, destroying her marriage, while he expressed that he really wished he could change that period of his life.

The outcome of his first marriage was three children, a son called Stacey, and two daughters named Bobbi and Coco.

Ian also went on to marry a waitress and BBC researcher called Nancy Hallam in 2011 as they are still having a blissful life together.

The couple is also blessed with two daughters, Lola and Roxanne. But aside from these five children from his marriages, he has also three other children with his relationship with his two girlfriends.

His first girlfriend Sharon (Phillips) is the mother of his eldest boys, Shaun and Bradley Wright-Phillips. In fact, he adopted her son, Shaun, because his first girlfriend has already a previous relationship and had given birth to Shaun.

Then Sharon and Ian went on to welcome another son called Bradley together. As part of the

top facts about Ian Wright

, it is worth mentioning that both his sons Shaun and Bradley have become professional footballers playing for the New York Red Bulls. Shaun also has managed to make a grat feat playing for Manchester City,

and English national team.

He had also another son called Brett from his intimacy with another girlfriend, while Brett also had a trial with Reading in September 2005 and starred for their reserve team.

Ian Wright net worth

In his profession as a pundit, he makes more than £200,000 per year and along with the money he earned through his playing days. Also it is to be said that he has made a good amount of money and therefore 

Ian Wright net worth

is estimated to be around $20 million.

Part of this whooping cash has been made through his Endorsement and sponsorship deals either at the time of his playing career at Arsenal or in the light of his increased profile in recent years.

Ian Wright social media

As far as

Ian Wright social media

is concerned, he is active on various platforms like Twitter and Instagram, racking more than one million followers on the latter one with his account of

.

Among his notable social media activity, one can suggest that as part of the Premier League No Room For Racism campaign, he appeared in a series of videos on Twitter, discussing his experience of racism with Alan Shearer.

Moreover, after that a youngster in Ireland who had sent him racist abuse escaped a criminal conviction, he expressed his frustration and disappointment.  

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