What is Ian Wright doing now?
Arsenal’s legendary striker Ian Wright called time on his illustrious career in 2000 at the age of 37 after a spell playing in League One with Burnley.
Scoring goals at every team he played for, he enjoyed most of his success at Arsenal where he was a member of the double-winning side of 1998. He was also a member of the Gunners side that won the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993 as well as the European Cup Winner’s Cup in 1994.
During his time at Highbury, Wright also broke Cliff Bastin’s 50-year goalscoring record which was then broken by Thierry Henry a few years later.
On the international front he enjoyed a seven-year career in the 1990’s with the England national team winning 33 caps and scoring nine goals but missed out on the squads for the 1992, 1996 and 2000 European Championships as well as the 1998 World Cup finals despite his stellar goal-scoring record.
Upon retiring from playing, Wright moved seamlessly into a career in broadcasting and was a regular fixture on both television and the radio for many years until he stepped down in 2024 to spend more time with his family.
Wright did however make a brief return to football in 2012 as a part-time first-team coach at MK Dons but had to leave after a year due to his other commercial commitments.
He has also fronted a variety of programmes including Friday Night’s All Wright, Friends Like These, I’d Do Anything, The National Lottery Wright Ticket and he also had a spell as a team captain on the popular sports quiz show They Think It’s All Over. He was also a presenter on Channel Five’s evening magazine programme Live From Studio Five but left after eight months after a fall-out with the show’s bosses.
A regular on the radio since 2008, Wright has also worked on talkSport, Absolute Radio’s Rock N Roll Football and BBC Radio 5’s popular 606 football phone-in programme.
He was also a well-respected television pundit for many years on the BBC’s iconic ‘Match of the Day‘ show as well as ITV Sport for their coverage of England international games.
In 2019 Wright appeared as a contestant on ITV show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! getting paid a rumoured £400,000. A popular camp-mate, he lasted 18 days in the jungle and finished in eighth place.
When Wright released his new autobiography in 2016 he revealed how he took revenge on ex Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon by splitting his penis in a tackle. The pair fell out whilst on England international duty when Wright, who was in his first training camp, kept losing the ball due to nerves leading to McMahon loudly criticising him.
He never forgot this ‘bullying’ so when Manchester City and Arsenal met in a league clash a couple of years later he got his revenge. Although Wright said it was accidental, he went in for an over-zealous challenge on McMahon and his foot slipped straight into his groin splitting his penis all the way down. Years later, McMahon said that every time he was aroused it would start hurting and he would think of the former Arsenal striker.
In his book Wright also revealed that he has lost eight houses and is still facing income tax issues from bad financial advice in the 1990’s.
In October 2021 he made a return to our television screens as host of ITV’s Saturday night prime-time show ‘Moneyball’ and in January 2024 he made his film debut as a pirate radio station DJ in the Netflix film The Kitchen.
Follow on Twitter @IanWright0
Back to Arsenal
Ian Wright #One2Eleven (4-4-2 Formation)
Ian Wright was a guest on Sky Sports programme The Fantasy Football Club in August 2013 where he picked the eleven best players he had ever played with in their #One2Eleven section of the show.
GK – David Seaman – didn’t jazz his saves up, he just made them.
RB – Lee Dixon
LB – Nigel Winterburn
CB – Steve Bould
CB – Tony Adams
These four at the back worked at their game every day in training and they were a well-drilled unit.
Their defensive work was like an art.
LM – Marc Overmars – I’ve never seen anyone with the pace he had. You couldn’t catch up with him. His movement, coming off the line, the way he would move defenders with the pace he had, he was impossible to mark. Just an unbelievable player.
CM – Bryan Robson – Captain Fantastic who I played with a couple of times for England B. The ultimate midfielder for me who had everything.
CM – Paul Gascoigne – for me the best midfielder England has ever produced. Before he did his leg in the 1991 FA Cup Final he was one of the best players in the world.
RM – Paul Merson – a top class player who could score goals and he set lots up for me.
ST – Dennis Bergkamp – the best player I ever played with and world-class. I don’t think I ever saw him have a bad touch.
ST – Teddy Sheringham – I still haven’t seen anyone as good as ‘The Bear’ was in terms of awareness.
Ian Wright: Premier League Statistics
| Nationality | English |
| Position | Striker |
| Appearances | 213 |
| Goals | 113 |
| Yellow Cards | 52 |
| Red Cards | 2 |
| Premier League Teams Played for | Arsenal, West Ham United |
Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com
Last Updated on 22 January 2024 by Admin