Ian Wright
You came to professional football late. Did you think you’d missed your chance?
Lee Harvey, Exeter
Yes, all the time. I was just a normal boy from South London who loved football and I tried to get into the professional game from the age of about 12 but for whatever reason it just wasn’t happening. I went to trials and didn’t get in, went to more trials and still didn’t get in. I went to Brighton when I was 19 and they turned me down, but I kept going and in the end I went to Palace at 21 and they signed me. I don’t know why the other clubs didn’t take me. I thought I was a good player when I was younger. I was quick, scored goals, could use both feet – everything. I can only put it down to the fact that I was quite small and skinny.
Off the bench in the 1990 FA Cup Final. First touch turned Pallister inside out and scored, a few minutes later volleyed in what looked like the winner, before Hughes equalised and took it to a replay. Do you think you should have started that match?
Jimmy Moyes, via e-mail
I would like to have started the replay because Bobby Robson said that if I had started the replay he would have taken me to the World Cup in 1990. He would have seen that I was fit enough to start a game, so not starting is a hard thing to swallow. And I do genuinely believe that I should have started the replay but Steve Coppell had his ideas for what he wanted to do and I wasn’t going to argue with him. I had just come back from injury, but having scored two goals in the first game, I thought he might start me and play 4-4-2. I don’t know why he didn’t. Maybe he thought that would have meant changing things too much? It’s something that will always plague me because I was desperate to play.
As a Chelsea fan I remember you having a good rapport with our supporters and taking the banter in your stride, which rarely happens nowadays. Do you feel that the game has started taking itself too seriously and lost some of its entertainment value?
Adam, Lancashire
Great question, great question. I was talking to someone about this the other day, and I did used to get stick at Chelsea. The thing with Chelsea fans is, I used to give it back when I got close to the touchline and at the end of the game I’d clap the Chelsea fans and they’d clap me back. But you’d go to places like Coventry, Southampton and Villa and they give you stick and then report you to the FA if you said something back. I was close to signing for Chelsea and their fans know that if I played for them I’d be just the same and they can appreciate that. That’s why even now, when I go to Chelsea to watch Shaun, I get on so well with the fans. Of course, there is less of it in the game now, because people take it too seriously and players don’t have as good a rapport with the fans. Because of money, there is such a distance between them now and it’s quite worrying. It’s an “us and them” situation and it shouldn’t be like that.
How did you feel after George Graham left Arsenal? What was your relationship with Bruce Rioch like?
Jayne Greaves, Leeds
I was disappointed in the way George Graham left, and I had a bad relationship with Bruce Rioch. The club was just too big for him, and he wasn’t for me. I did what I was told but he was picking me out just for the sake of it, trying to get his foothold in the dressing room, and I gave as good as I got. In the end I wanted to put myself on the transfer list because I didn’t want to play for him. You can’t go into training everyday and dislike somebody to the point of not wanting to look at him or train. How are you going to play football in that state of mind? Football is meant to be enjoyed. I hated it and I hated being anywhere near the guy.
Do The Wright Thing – better or worse than Andy Cole's single Outstanding?
Kevin Elliot, London
My one was much better than Andy Cole’s, but the less said about both the better.
Uri Geller famously said that he made you hit the post in Rome in the World Cup qualifier against Italy to prevent riots between rival fans. Did you feel a mystical presence as you hit the ball?
Mike Springett, via e-mail
No. And the thing is, if I’d seen Uri afterwards and he’d said that, I’d have knocked him out. If that is to be believed, then he denied me arguably my finest hour. It was my greatest game in an England shirt and he’s saying that. It’s bollocks. It hit the post because that’s the way it was meant to be, as is Vieri going up the other end and missing a header almost straight away. It had nothing to do with Uri Geller or anybody else. He’s talking shit.
Do you look back on your England career and consider yourself lucky because you won so many caps after coming into the game late, or unlucky because you missed out on playing in a major finals?
Adam Spencer, via e-mail
Both. I’m unlucky that I missed out on all the major championships for one reason or another. As I mentioned earlier, I missed out in 1990 because Bobby didn’t think I was fit enough. I was on form in 1992 but for some reason Graham Taylor didn’t take me. We didn’t qualify in ‘94. In ‘96 Venables said he was going to bring me back but in the end he didn’t – and I know I would have scored the Golden Goal in the semi-final. I would have gone in ’98 but I missed out with a hamstring injury the week before the finals. But I have to be pleased with the fact that I came into the game at 22, was playing for England at 26, and won 33 caps. I’ve got to be say, “Fucking hell, that’s unbelievable.”
When you broke the Arsenal goalscoring record, on the match day you took off your shirt revealing the Just Done It vest, but after scoring your first goal which didn't break the record but equalled it! What happened there, then?
Lewis Bartlett, via e-mail
It would have been the most embarrassing moment in my whole life had I not scored a second goal. It was like premature ejaculation! Can you imagine if I’d taken but shirt off and not ended up breaking the record that day?! In the end I scored a hat-trick, but I wasn’t thinking straight at the time, because it was so in a moment. I’m just pleased I can laugh about it.
Place these partnerships in order: Wright and Bright, Wright and Bergkamp, Henry and Bergkamp…
Madan Sheina, San Francisco, California
I’d have to put Henry and Bergkamp at the top, but they’re not a million miles away from me and Bergkamp. Dennis can make anybody great – he definitely did that with me. Me and Brighty would have to be third unfortunately, but no one would begrudge me that.
What’s the best goal you’ve ever scored?
Andrew Wright, Runcorn
My second goal against Everton in 1993. Flick, flick, flick, I was in a flicking move. I flicked all over the place. Then I flicked it over the goalie as well. It was Neville Southall’s face that did it for me.
Which team did you most enjoy scoring against and why?
Nick Evans, via e-mail
Southampton, because I hated their fans. Coventry and Villa were really horrible as well. Like I said, they didn’t clap you after the game, they wanted to report you to the authorities and that’s not what the game’s about. Spurs fans were always good. They gave me and my family loads of stick, but I never met a Tottenham fan in the street who said: “you c**t”, “you wanker” or anything. Tottenham fans actually said that out of the Arsenal players, me and Tony Adams were the players they’d have playing for Tottenham so I’m quite pleased with that.