The Interview: Ian Wright
The Arsenal Legend and Former England International on Arsenal Men and Women, England, Chelsea, his son Brad, Picking Liverpool in the Premier League Title Race and the Rapid-Fire Quiz
One of the true highlights of World Cup 2018 for me was getting to work with and know the great Ian Wright. Not only is he amazing at his job, but he’s just a really good guy, someone who I can’t imagine ever big-timing anyone. It was a blast catching up with him when he was in New York City over the weekend, and I think you’ll enjoy the discussion below.
The entirety of the written interview below is reserved for paid subscribers. As always, you can still get the entire free audio version of my podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to go for your pods.
Grant Wahl:
Our guest now is one of my favorite figures in the soccer/football world. Ian Wright is an Arsenal legend, former England international and a friend since we worked together during World Cup 2018. He co-hosts The Ringer podcast Wrighty's House, and he's been in New York City this weekend on behalf of GREAT Calling, a campaign asking Americans to see the UK differently. Ian, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming on the show.
Ian Wright:
Grant, it’s great to see you too my friend, it's really good to see you.
Grant Wahl:
Likewise, likewise.
Ian Wright:
It's like you say, it was so long ago, 2018, the last time I saw you.
Grant Wahl:
Four years since that World Cup, and it feels like 10 because of the pandemic.
Ian Wright:
Yes it does.
Grant Wahl:
It's great to have you back in New York. We're coming out with this podcast on Monday morning. We're doing this interview on the Friday before, but you're part of GREAT Calling’s big watch party in Brooklyn on Saturday for Man United-Spurs with more than 300 fans. The group you're with even did a scientific poll of Americans with one in four surveyed saying they first heard about the Premier League from watching Ted Lasso, which is absolutely wild to me. What's the main purpose for your visit with GREAT Calling?
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Ian Wright:
Well, to be honest, like I say, to build awareness for the GREAT campaign and promoting the best of what Britain has to offer in respect of the event and trying to create that buzz, the traditional match day buzz, what we have in England. We want that for America as well. And to be honest, it's the first... I was meant to come here and go to Philadelphia and do it in Philadelphia. But I missed out on that one. So I'm kind of excited, Grant, about being here with it’s 400 fans, I'm hearing, and I'll get a chance to watch it with them guys, watch the Man United-Tottenham game together. And so I'm really looking forward to it and I'm hoping, and I'm sure it will be an amazing atmosphere.
Grant Wahl:
What do you like to do when you come to New York City?
Ian Wright:
Well, to be honest, Grant, this time I didn't bring my coat and it's really, really cold. So I normally just have a nice walk around. It's funny because I got invited to a wedding this morning, somebody in Central Park, a guy's getting married and I would've went this morning, but obviously I'm doing this stuff, but I normally just walk around. I like to go to Central Park. I love Central Park because sometimes... I went to Central Park last time and I got invited to play in a scrimmage kind of baseball game. It was amazing.
You know what I mean? So that was really cool and no one knew me, so I was just trying to do my stuff... And they underarmed the ball. They didn't throw it over their arm, and it's the first time I played baseball properly. So I like to walk around Central Park, if I'm being totally honest.
Grant Wahl:
Fantastic. Now, before we go any further, your son Bradley Wright-Phillips just announced his retirement from football this past week. He had a tremendous influence on New York soccer and MLS as a whole, 137 goals over the years he scored for MLS teams. What can you say about the legacy that Brad leaves here?
Ian Wright:
Honestly, I couldn't be any prouder of what he's done. You know what I mean? He had it very difficult in England trying to not only get out of my shadow, but his brother's shadow. You know what I mean? He had his problems in respects of the game, he had to go to different clubs, but one thing he never did was he never gave up on himself, never gave up on the fact that he knew he had something to offer. And what I was pleased about once he did come to New York here with Thierry [Henry] and Tim Cahill, is that Thierry took him under his wing, New York gave him a chance. And in the end he repaid them and I'm just so proud of him, you know what I mean?
And what he's done, and the journey he's had and the goals he's scored, you know what I mean? Very, very proud. And he's now shadowing New York Red Bulls the director of football because I think that's what he wants to do next.
Grant Wahl:
Nice.
Ian Wright:
And I couldn't think of a better place that he could do it too, because that club has been magnificent to him and he's been great for the club. So like I say, his legacy will be one of... He's one of the most lethal strikers in this league, sixth, I think, in the all time goal scorers. So I think that he's left an indelible mark on the American game.
Grant Wahl:
Really appreciate everything Brad has done for soccer in the United States. I'm excited to hear he's going to continue doing stuff here. I've also been watching your grandson recently, D'Margio Wright-Phillips, Shaun’s son, who's now playing for Stoke City. Congratulations to the family on that. What can you tell us about him?
Ian Wright:
Well, he kind of plays the same as his dad. They're quite short and diminutive in the way they play, very low center of gravity, brilliant skills on the ball, running with the ball very quick. You know what I mean? Great right foot, just like his dad, to be honest, and sharp, but he's somebody that he just constantly just wants to learn. He wants to learn. I told him that, listen, from what you are doing and what you're capable of doing, he can link play, he’s very good at crossing and he's got to score goals. I said, "That's the thing you've got to get into your game, get into the box." And that's what he's working on right now. He's working on making sure that you never give the ball away.
Like I told him from a young age, and do not miss the target. That's the main things. That's all you need to know, I said to him, you know what I mean? Don't give the ball away, do not miss the target. And he's very excited because again, he's somebody, that's had a lot of pressure for who he's following, because Bradley had to follow myself and Shaun. He's got to follow me, Shaun, Bradley and now he's there as well. He's done pretty well because he's very focused, and I'm very pleased for him. I'm very pleased for him and fingers crossed that it continues for him.
Grant Wahl:
Let's talk Arsenal, men's team first. Mikel Arteta’s guys are in fourth place right now. Things are looking pretty promising. Why do you think that is? What are you seeing with Arsenal?
“The player I most admired would be probably Dennis Bergkamp and the way he approached the game, the way he saw the game and the way he played the game, the way he thought about the game. And to end up playing with a player of that caliber for me, made me realize that my hard work was not in vain, because then I knew that I got myself to a level where I could play with a player of that caliber. And when Dennis came to our club, he changed the DNA of our club. All the success came from our club. We were on an upper trajectory when Dennis got to our club, and the common denominator in it is Dennis Bergkamp.” — Ian Wright
Ian Wright:
I think that the manager's done... He's got to take a lot of credit. And I think that the people upstairs at Arsenal where it's Vinai [Venkatesham], Edu, [Per] Mertesacker and Mikel, all young guys, all learning on the job, they had to do a massive clear out. They've had a massive culture change there in what he's trying to do. And I think it's worked up to this point. It's the signings, the recruitment has been great. He's now got players that are exactly what he needs in respect to trying to do what he wants to do on the pitch. He's got the great response like in [Martin] Ødegaard, in [Bukayo] Saka, in Emile Smith Rowe, [Takehiro] Tomiyasu, Ben White, the goalkeeper [Aaron] Ramsdale who can play out from the back. We're now looking like a force. The problem is, I still think we need a center forward who can do the kind of job what Lacazette does, but still we need more goals.
But other than that, we've got a style of play that everybody knows. Now we know how we're going to play. Our fullbacks are going to get outside. Our inverted wingers are going to go beyond people like Lacazette. Ødegaard’s going to come through and create and pass the ball to those guys going through. And hopefully we can continue to score goals, Grant, because at the moment it looks good. But if you get a team that negates that, like Saka and Emile Smith Rowe and stop the fullbacks getting forward, we're not scoring enough goals. So that's a problem. And we do need that person who can score that goal in an off chance. We've shown that we can beat teams 1-0 if it needs to be, but we do need that player to do that, Grant. So at the moment, Mikel is gravy at the minute, he's doing fantastically well, and for a team that's so young, you're just hoping that the inconsistency that comes with youngsters doesn't kick in.
Grant Wahl:
Meanwhile, Arsenal's women are top of the league in England with the Champions League quarterfinals against Wolfsburg coming up. How do you like their chances for these two trophies?
Ian Wright:
Well, to be honest I think they've got a very good chance in the league. It's going to be tough because they're doing very well. Chelsea and City will still chase them down. But the Champions League, I've watched them play against Barcelona and Wolfsburg, I'm not saying Wolfsburg are as good as Barcelona, but they are a very, very good side. Jill Roord coming back, obviously an ex-Arsenal player, and they're doing pretty well themselves. So it's going to be a tough game. The Champions League is going to be tough for them.
We saw what happened to Chelsea in the Champions League last season with what Barcelona done to them. And like I say, that Barcelona team came to Emirates and they gave us a proper beating, Grant. I'm telling you, it was beautiful to watch, but at the same time it was very painful. The league is something I think that they should be focusing on, but you can't turn your back on the Champions League. You've got to do as best you can in it, but it's going to be a tough game, but the league I think it's going to go right to the end.
Grant Wahl:
How has the American Tobin Heath done there for Arsenal?
Ian Wright:
Yeah, she's done okay. She's done really well. The games that I've seen Tobin play in, she's done well. She's had to come off the bench a few times, but we know what she's capable of. She's very good creatively. You know what I mean? She's got unbelievable attitude. You know what I mean? So she's somebody that at the moment, it's difficult for her to get into the team with Beth Mead and Nikita Paris as well. You know what I mean? So it's going to be tough for her. But at the moment, she's just got to bite her time and she's a good pro. So she knows what she needs to do. She came on the other day, done some really good things. So you're just keeping her fingers crossed that she can maybe force her way into the team, because she's an excellent player.
Grant Wahl:
I just visited Barcelona last week to write a story on their women's team. They're incredible. So I think they’ve got to be the favorites for Champions League.
Ian Wright:
Well, it’s the same with the Spain squad, the team, they've got eight players, maybe nine, from the Barcelona side they've been playing together now for so long. So the Barcelona side, they're fantastic. They're doing their stuff, and the national team, they've got to start winning something now.
Grant Wahl:
Yep.
Ian Wright:
But they are the team to beat, Grant, Barcelona. They're the team to beat.
Grant Wahl:
The big news in England right now obviously is the UK sanctions against Chelsea's Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich. How do you see all this affecting Chelsea in the near term and in the long term?
Ian Wright:
In the near term, you have to think, we don't know what's going on. And that's why. It's funny, I was listening to Emma Hayes, the manager for the ladies team. And she was saying, they just need time to process it, what's going on, because you know, it's happening very quickly. And I can imagine everybody's, their heads are all over the place, but I think the government have done the right thing. Especially when you read the charge sheet, but that said, I have to say, I wondered why it took so long, but that said, the club still has to operate.
And hopefully, the team for the future, they can resolve it very quickly. It's the most I can say on it, Grant, simply because it's happening as it's happening. I feel for the Chelsea fans, you have to, because everything what's happening to them, they don't know what's going on. So like I say, I'll know more about it as it goes on, but at the same time, you just hope it can be resolved quickly for the future of the club.
Grant Wahl:
Yeah. I mean, news by the day seems to be changing. So we'll see how that plays out in the coming weeks and days. It's also a men's World Cup year, and England has reached the final of last year's Euros, the semifinals of the last World Cup. What sort of things do you think need to happen for England to take that next big step and win a major final for the first time since 1966?
Ian Wright:
I think we need someone like Phil Foden or Jack Grealish to control that midfield. I think that defensively, he might be able to get away with it with the players that he could put maybe in front of the defense, maybe Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, but then we need that guy, that midfield guy, the number 8, the number 10, that can link midfield and forwards. Somebody who can control the game for us like when we saw Italy against us in the final, they just kept coming. We couldn't get them off us. We couldn't get the ball and play in a way where we could make Italy have to drop back. And it's the same what happened with Croatia. We saw in 2018, we couldn't deal with [Ivan] Rakitic and [Luka] Modric being able to control the game. And they just kept coming at us.
We need to find that player, that midfielder. Well, I think we've got him now, but it depends on how he's used in the team Grant, because I'm thinking someone like Phil Foden is the guy, Phil Foden could be that guy to link us, to get us from back to front, control the game, maybe Grealish as well if the manager can trust him in that midfield to not lose it, but we need that because we've got the goal scorer. I think we've got a defense, we've shown we've got the defense to at least get to the latter stages. We've got a goal scorer in Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling. I believe that we can breach defenses, but we need that midfielder to help us to control the game so as we can dictate to the teams as well.
Grant Wahl:
Thanks to Liverpool, we might actually have a title race in the Premier League. Who do you see winning it, Man City or Liverpool?
Ian Wright:
Well, at the start of the season, funny enough, when Chelsea signed [Romelu] Lukaku, watching how they played, I thought, "Yeah, that's the final piece." Obviously it's all gone wrong for them. Man City, we know, are going to be the favorites, but I'm just starting to feel like I'm leaning towards Liverpool. I just feel that Liverpool are getting a momentum and a belief that they can do it. And now that they're closer now, I think that... What was it? I think Man City was 13 points ahead. And everybody was kind of thinking, "Oh, that's it." But Liverpool, when they lost [Mohamed] Salah, they lost [Sadio] Mané, they lost players to the Africa Cup of Nations and never made a dent on them. And they came back and they've hit the ground running again. And City, City has seen that they cannot afford to slip up, because Liverpool at the moment are grinding out those games, whether it's 1-0 or whatever it is, 4-0, they're doing it.
And City know that they can't slip up, because if they slip up, then the pressure goes firmly onto City and Liverpool, who nobody fancied, can just say, "Well, it is fine. We're just doing what we do." So I'm probably going to go with Liverpool because I want the chase to happen.
Grant Wahl:
Wow!
Ian Wright:
I want the chase to happen, and it'd be more exciting.
Grant Wahl:
Yeah. And they're playing each other at the Etihad, so that's an opportunity. If Liverpool wins the rest of its games, it wins the league. And they're capable.
Ian Wright:
They can do that, Grant. They can do that. We know that City can do the same, but City know that Liverpool can do that. So that's why that game is so important. It's wildly important to both of those teams, because they both win that game. If City win it, they know that we have to win all the games, we'll do it. And if Liverpool do it, we win all the games and we do it. It's going to be amazing.
Grant Wahl:
I want to finish up here with what I call my Rapid-Fire quiz. And I don't know if you've gotten this before, but it's some questions about your career. What did you achieve in football that you are most proud of and why?
Ian Wright:
Winning the Premier League, because I think the test is the longevity of the league. Now, FA Cup was amazing. I watched it when I was a kid and I wanted to win it. But winning the Premier League shows that you can go the distance, and that's what champions have to do. You have to go the distance to take the good and the bad, and then you still come out and you win. So that is it for me, the Premier League.
Grant Wahl:
Who is the player you most admired in your career and why?
Ian Wright:
I think the player I most admired would be probably Dennis Bergkamp and the way he approached the game, the way he saw the game and the way he played the game, the way, everything, the way he thought about the game. And to end up playing with a player of that caliber for me, made me realize that my hard work was not in vain, because then I knew that I got myself to a level where I could play with a player of that caliber. And when Dennis came to our club, he changed the DNA of our club. All the success came from our club. We were on an upper trajectory when Dennis got to our club, and the common denominator in it is Dennis Bergkamp.
Grant Wahl:
Who was the best player you ever played against and why?
Ian Wright:
[Zinédine] Zidane, that's self-explanatory. Zidane was amazing. I played against Ronaldo 9 as well, the Brazilian, and it was amazing watching him, but Zidane, playing against Zidane when we played for England against France and watching how easily he made the game and how in the moments when he had to be great, he just done it very effortlessly. The fact that once he got the ball under control, you just left him to do what he'd done, because he'd make you look silly otherwise. The passes that he'd done when you hadn't even seen him look at it yet, it was amazing to watch. It was amazing to be on the same field as him. And when you are on a pitch with a player that good, you realize some people are just born to do it. They're born to do what they're doing. He's one, he's one of those.
Grant Wahl:
Best goal you ever scored and why?
Ian Wright:
I scored a nice goal against Everton.
I scored a really nice goal for England against Italy in the Tournoi which meant the world to me.
But I scored a great goal against Everton at Highbury, which is the best goal I've ever scored. It was a beautiful goal.
Grant Wahl:
Best manager you ever had and why?
Ian Wright:
I probably have to go with Steve Coppell, my first manager at Crystal Palace, because he got me from... I literally walked off of a building site into a professional environment, and he turned me into a professional footballer and then gave me the basic tools to build myself into a professional person. So he has to take all the credit for that.
George Graham was amazing, Arsene Wenger was amazing, great, Glen Hoddle. But Steve Coppell, a different manager could have treated me differently and I would've had a different outlook, but Steve Coppell gave me a good base to build on to become a professional player, a good professional player.
Grant Wahl:
Two more quick ones, and then we're done. Best teammate you ever had and why?
Ian Wright:
Best teammate? I probably would say it would've been Mitchell Thomas. I get on really well with my friend Mitchell Thomas. And I only played with him at latter stages of my career, but because we've been friends for so long, I have to give Mitchell a comment, a mention, and also David Rocastle, because I signed for Arsenal because of David Rocastle, and we came from the same state when we grew up, came from the same area. But I'd probably say my best teammate was probably Mitchell, we are so tight. We're still close now to this day.
Grant Wahl:
Last one. Who is your favorite player in the world today and why?
Ian Wright:
You know something? Kevin de Bruyne.
Grant Wahl:
Ooh.
Ian Wright:
Kevin de Bruyne. Kevin de Bruyne. I mentioned just now, I mentioned to somebody I'd like to have played with Neymar. And I think it's just the first thing that came into my mind, maybe because I was watching PSG the other day, but I probably should have said Kevin de Bruyne, because the way I played and the way Kevin de Bruyne plays, I know I'm scoring a lot of goals playing in a team with him. Watching him play is brilliant. His attitude towards the way he plays, his ability is frightening. The passing, for someone like me, you make the move and he'll get the ball to you, and so I watch him and I wish I could have played with a player like him because he would've only made me better. He is easily, for me he's the best midfielder in the world at the moment.
Grant Wahl:
Ian Wright is an Arsenal legend and former England international who's in New York City this weekend on behalf of GREAT Calling a campaign, asking Americans to see the UK differently. Ian, great to see you. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Ian Wright:
No problem, Grant. I look forward to seeing you again soon in the flesh. So people can see that we are literally twins.
Grant:
I like that.
Ian Wright:
Brothers from another mother.
Grant:
One of the highlights of my career was World Cup 2018. When you said you admired some of the clothing I was wearing, I don't get that very often, particularly from stylish folks, so much appreciated my friend.
Ian Wright:
It's no problem, man. And I look forward to seeing you, man.