TalkSport Radio - Ian Wright

talkSPORT’sGalactico guarantees us a lot of things: 30 goals a season, commitment to the cause, passion, fighting spirit, a few irate people at BBC and more frequent dealings with Ofcom for us. Not to mention a few battle royale’s with Adrian Durham.Ian came into professional football fairly late by today’s standards aged 21. He signed terms at Crystal Palace under Steve Coppell. It was where Wrighty honed his ‘V’ sign skills and he pointed a couple firmly in the direction of Southend and Brighton after failing to impress them as a teenager in trials.The Eagles scouts saw him plying his trade at amateur and non-league levels while also holding down a job as a full-time plasterer and invited him to train at Selhurst Park and in doing so gave birth to one of the most prolific marksmen the English game has ever known.In his first season he finished as The Eagles’ second top scorer with nine goals and the following season a fellow pea from the same pod emerged in the form of Mark Bright and the two would go on to forge the kind of partnership which was the football equivolent of holly matriomony and fired Palace to the top-flight via the play-offs in 1989.A twice-cracked shin bone blighted Wright’s first season in the English elite but he went on to make a dramatic comeback in the 1990 FA Cup final against Manchester United when he came off the bench to score twice. His first forced extra time and his second put The Eagles ahead at 3-2, only for The Red Devils to peg the underdogs back and win the replay 1-0 . Ian would go on to many more bruising encounters with United througout his illustrious career. Particularly with goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who looks like he wants to club you and eat your bones.More acclolades came his way the following season with England recognition and reaching 100 goals for Palace. He notched a double as the South East London club beat Everton in the much-coveted Zenith Data Systems Cup and fired a massive statement of intent to opposition defenders by netting a hat-trick against Wimbledon inside the space of 18 minutes.In six seasons Wright scored more goals at the highest level than me and you could score in a year having a kickabout down the park and after bagging 117 goals in 253 starts for Palace, was voted their Player of the Century.A move to Arsenal in 1991 for what is an absolute pinch at £2.5m (a record fee at the time) saw him show The Gunners fan what they were getting for their money with a goal on his League Cup debut against Leicester City and then a troika against Southamtpon on his league debut – going on to win the Golden Boot that year with 29 league goals.If Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were pivotal to Arsenal’s success of the 2000’s Wright was unquestionably the top dog in their success of the nineties. Top scorer for the North London club six seasons in a row, FA and League Cup double winners in 1993, he helped Arsenal reach the 1994 European Cup Winners’ Cup final against Parma, which they won 1-0, but played no part in the final through suspension.The following season he scored in every round but the final as Arsenal looked to retain their European crown. They were beaten in the final by a freak goal from former Tottenham player Nayim as they lost to Real Zaragoza 2-1.Bruce Rioch’s arrival at the helm saw the pair get on as well as a cat and a dog might and prompted the front man to hand in a trasfer request. However, with Bergkamp’s arrival and ultimately Rioch’s departure, Wright went on to cement his place in Gunners folklore.In 1997 he broke the record every fan on the planet was willing him to break when a hat-trick at Bolton saw him surpass Cliff Bastin’s record of 178 goals. The happy day was made even more hilarious by Ian proving maths wasn’t his strong point.He started the celebrations early after scoring his first goal, revealing a vest which read ‘179 Just Done It’ , when in fact all he had managed was to equal it. Still, the other two goals he scored that day ensured he stood out on his own as Arsenal’s ultimate Gunner.That record has since been taken by Thierry Henry.In 1998 Wright signed off his Arsenal career with a league and cup double, but, as he will tell you through gritted teeth, he was left seething that Arsene Wenger did not give him a chance to say goodbye to the Higbury faithful after being an unused substitute in the 2-0 FA Cup win over Newcastle. Bar Thierry Henry, the entire present Gunners playing staff can barely match Ian’s goalscoring exploits. He finished his Highbury career with a record that read 185 goals in 279 starts. Not bad, eh? He finished his club career with 323 goals in all competitions.Short spells followed at West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Celtic and Burnley before he retired in 2000. With Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham the partnership of choice for most of his international career, Wright still managed nine goals in 33 international appearances.