Posts Tagged ‘Ian Wright’
Arsenal: Ian Wright serenades the post-Chelsea glow under a Red Moon
A Red Moon soars into the night skies. But not only God is a Gooner. Bathed in the glow of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday evening, Ian Wright shared a video on Instagram of giving full throat to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Wrighty. So good they named him thrice.
Arsenal balls: Ramsey could stay
Being a pundit is easy. You speak. And then move on to the next bit of mindless chatter. Which brings us to former Arsenal striker Ian Wright who is waxing lyrical about Aaron Ramsey, the midfielder who delayed signing a new deal for so long ever Arsene Wenger left the club. Arsenal offered Ramsey an eye-wateringly expensive long-term deal and then withdrew it. Ramsey is now free to leave at the season’s end. Says Wright:
“I think it might be the perfect time for us (Arsenal) and for him to move on. I think the boss should be given now the time, especially the money, to try and find maybe one or two replacements for someone like Aaron Ramsey, rather than giving Aaron Ramsey the kind of money he was asking for… It isn’t something I’m too disappointed about, I’m pleased for him and I’m pleased for the new ruthless Arsenal in respects of the way they are saying ‘if that’s the way it is going to be then that’s the way it is going to be’.
This the same Ian Wright who opined in September:
“Ivan Gazidis has got a lot to answer for for this to happen because Ramsey should be a focal point in the team… I’m desperate for him to stay.”
In other news, Arsenal have found a replacement for the very replaceable one-goal-a-season Aaron Ramsey. It’s Villarreal midfielder Pablo Fornals. The Sun says the the 22-year-old has a €20m release clause. If not him then the Mirror says it could be one of five – yeah, just five – players Arsenal could sign to replace Ramsey. The Express says they could replace him by picking another player already at Arsenal. Oh, and in the Standard, Arsene Wenger says Ramsey might yet stay at Arsenal.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 20th, November 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: maths say Gunners will be champions and Ramsey will score 20 goals
We do all love the hyberbolic rantings of football pundits. Right now they’re raving about Arsenal. Stan Collymore uses his tired Daily Mirror column to tell readers Arsenal “will win 90 per cent of their games and lose the other fixtures they’re expected to lose, that means no titles”. It does? Since when have Arsenal ever won 90% of their matches over a season? Since Stan Collymore made it up.
If Arsenal win 90 of their Premiere League matches, they most likely win the title. Last season, Manchester City scored records number of points by winning a mere 84% of their PL matches. In the Europa League, you can win the trophy by winning just 8 of 15 matches – that’s 53%.
Over on Sky Sports, Ian Wright is backing Arenal in their stance over Aaron Ramsey. Say Wright: “We’ve seen him [Ramsey] in the Euros dominating when he was absolutely fantastic, we’ve seen the season [2013-14] he has with Arsenal scoring 20-plus goals and was amazing, we’ve seen he can score in big games, winning cup finals.” Ramey has never scored 20-plus goals in a season. In the Mirror, John Cross also thinks Ramsey can be relived upon to score, noting:
It will be a massive blow to lose one of Europe’s top goal-scoring midfielders on a free, and once again the north Londoners’ dealings in the market and over contracts will come under the spotlight.
Ramsey has scored once season. He did score 7 PL goals last season – the same number as: Abdoulaye Doucoure (Watford), Pascal Groß (Brighton) and Marcos Alonso (Chelsea). In season 2016-17, Ramsey scored – get this – one Premier League goal. In 2015-16 he scored 5; in 2014-15 he got 6; and in 2013-14 he scored 10. Is he one of the continent’s best goal-scoring midfielders? Does he get 20 goals season? No. In season 2013-14, Ramsey scored 13 goals.
But let’s spare some sympathy for the pundits. It’s not as though there’s an easy resource you tap into to access a myriad facts in seconds. And until there is, guesswork will triumph over homework.
Posted: 11th, October 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Arsenal balls: shameless Ian Wright joins the Get Ozil bandwagon
Arsenal great Ian Wright has responded unkindly to Mesut Ozil’s polite request that former Gunners “stop talking and start supporting” the team. The much maligned Ozil – often unfairly criticised (see here, here and here) – posted a message on Facebook. He wants the clubs, former players working in the media and its fans to get together.
The bit of Ozil’s message that irked Wright and his fellow to-deadline media whores was:
Personally I’ve had to accept a lot of criticism during my time in London. ‘Too expensive, too greedy, bad body language, and lacking fight’ – this is what people have said about me.
Some of these comments are made by those who do not know me, some are made by former players – both successful and unsuccessful during their time here at the club.
Although criticism is something that all football players have to deal with, I nevertheless expected legends to behave like legends – my advice to these former Gunners: stop talking and start supporting!
Wright careered onto BBC Radio 5 Live to rant:
Sign a contract if you feel that strongly about people criticising the team because you’re somebody who is integral to Arsenal’s success.
You’re not signing a deal and you’re probably going to continue to hide behind the fact that (Alexis) Sanchez is the one that everybody’s going to say, “Is he going to go?”.
Why haven’t you signed yet? That’s what I would say to you. If you feel that strongly, why haven’t you signed yet?
A player that is not actually performing on the pitch is coming out, calling people out and he’s not signing a contract.
It’s laughable.
Ozil must wonder what he ever did wrong to end up Arsenal.
Arsenal in decline: blame the greedy board not Wenger
Alex Oxlade-Chambelrin, the 24-year-old Arsenal footballer is worth – get this – £40m and £220,000 a week in wages. Possessed of less fight than a LibDem activist at a cannabis conference, the man media calls ‘The Ox’ (on account of his running style?) becomes the player who will next year or maybe the year after that or the year after that be utterly brilliant for Chelsea.
Surely Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s was wearing blinkers or a salesman’s shiny jacket when he told everyone a few days ago how Oxlade-Chamberlain was “one of the players we want to build around in the future’, who caused Wenger to say: “I’m convinced that he will be in the next two or three years the English player everyone looks at.”
The smart move would be for the Gunners to now ship out Alexis Sanchez and any other player not keen on staying the course. Arsenal should take the £70m (Daily Star) Manchester City are willing to part with for Sanchez. They should then sack Wenger and the patently useless Ivan Gazidis, the chief executive who called for a “catalyst” for change, and saw it delivered in a 4-0 tonking at Liverpool in which Arsenal performed like moving cones on a training pitch. Although, in fairness, Gazidis didn’t specify which way the line of travel would be. But now we know it’s clearly downwards.
Sacking Wenger is the opinion of Ian Wright, the former Arsenal striker , who tells Sun readers: “GO, ARSENE.” A pall of uncertainty hangs over Arsenal and, according to Wright, it’s all Wenger’s fault. Wrong. It’s the owners who are to blame. They hire. They fire. The Arsenal board has grown fat on Wenger’s ability to delivers Champions’ League cash and a team capable of packing out The Emirates. They suits merely call for more of the same year on year. Coming fifth placed in last season’s Premier League should not have earned him a new two-year deal on an increased wage.
The Mirror says senior players are “fuming” over the lack of changes and singings at the club. Others might wonder why just a year after buying Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez for a combined fee in excess of £50m, both are being touted for sale.
After yet another poor start to the season, Arsenal are “stale”. The Mail says the training routine never changes, adding that the club’s majority shareholder, ‘Silent’ Stan Kroenke, will keep backing Wenger – until the dividend cheques stop coming and the fans stop buying shirts.
If you want to know what’s gone wrong at Arsenal, be like ‘The Ox’ and follow the money.
Posted: 29th, August 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports, Tabloids | Comments (2)
Ian Wight Balls: Chelsea must sell ‘foolish’ Costa, the Blues’ best player
Chelsea striker Diego Costa is playing well. Ian Wright has noticed. He says Chelsea are riding high in the Premier League because of Costa above all else. The former Arsenal striker writes in the Sun:
“I have a message to all those who say Diego Costa has finally got his game under control: It always was. There are plenty of people who reckon it’s all down to the fact he has calmed down. Yet to me, even when Costa was picking up yellow cards, he remained massively in control…. he always knew how far to push it. He’d have picked up far more than a single red card in his time at Stamford Bridge if that wasn’t the case.”
In Marxh 2015, Costa was sent off in the FA Cup at Goodison Park. It was his first red card in a Chelsea shirt. It was his first because he’d been lucky / sneaky. Before that red card, Costa was banned twice in a Chelsea shirt, both retrospectively, by the FA for incidents missed by the officials during games against Arsenal and Liverpool.
So much for the facts, then. And what about all those who say Costa is a hothead? People like Ian Wright, who opined in 2015:
“I would sell him at the first opportunity I get for Costa. I’d sell him… He’s antagonised at the moment. If I was a defender I would just keep talking to him, it takes him away from his game.”
And:
“Martin Keown… would have relished the challenge of Costa. Whatever we say about Costa, he plays on the edge. His hold up play and the runs he makes, honestly, he’s good. Martin could deal with all that and the foolishness as well.”
Such are the facts.
Posted: 24th, November 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Arsenal great Ian Wright says any England win with Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling would be hollow
“KEVIN PIETERSEN let his country down — but Jack Wilshere hasn’t, say Ian Wright, who adds in his Sun column:
The flak Jack copped for his views on foreign players representing England is outrageous. And I agree with everything Jack said. You MUST be English to play for England. KP can say whatever he wants but he was born in South Africa — it isn’t the same him having the Three Lions on his chest…
It’s like cheating. Any victory that requires foreign help is hollow. If you’re English and not good enough to play for England you don’t just go and play for Ireland.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 11th, October 2013 | In: Liverpool, Sports | Comments (6)
Pick Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand for England because he pushes striker’s over
IAN Wright still writes for the Sun. He wants to talk about Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand. Over pages 50 and 51, Wright supports Rio for England. Good. Ferdinand is a great player. If he’s good enough to play for United against Real Madrid, he ‘s good enough for England. But what can England expect from Wrighty’s England stopper?
“Rio earned the last of his 81 caps against Switzerland in June 2011 and, over the course of time, has lost some of his pace. But as he has continued to show, the guy has not lost his quality. As he illustrated with his shoving of Fernando Torres in Sunday’s FA Cup tie with Chelsea, he still has some fire in his belly.”
Great. Rio’s the man for the big occassion becsue he pushed over a Spanish striker facing the other way. How will that ever fail..?
Ian Wright gets confused explaining racism anti-racism T-shirts
IAN Wright has things to say about the decision of Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand to show he has a mind of his own and not wear an anti-racism T-shirt:
Says Wrighty on the 12th paragraph of his rambling rant:
“I hate the attitude of some people who have questioned the players for not wearing the tops. Players have been wearing T-shirts for years and it has not made any difference. That is why I never get involved in their campaigns as it is tokenism. T-shirts? Is this the best we can do?”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, October 2012 | In: Sports | Comment (1)
Ian Wright begs us to like weak-minded Ashley Cole and respect authority
TIME for our occasional look at the Sun’s writings of former England, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and West Ham footballer Ian Wright.
When the Andrew Mitchell pleb gate-gate row was on the Sun’s front page days after day, Wright told readers:
IN football, we have a campaign called Respect. It’s a code of conduct for players and managers aimed at stamping out abuse aimed at referees. Tory MP Andrew Mitchell clearly needs to learn some respect after his outburst at police officers…
We need to show the police force respect. This is absolutely vital, especially in these times….
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 10th, October 2012 | In: Sports | Comments (3)
Ian Wright explains Robin Van Persie’s thinking to Sun readers
A FEW quick words on Robin Van Persie’s looming departure from Arsenal:
‘That Robin van Persie should want to leave Arsenal should be no surprise to anyone.” Steven Howard, Sun, July 6, 2012
“I was astonished when I was told Robin van Persie wants to leave Arsenal.” – Ian Wright in his Sun column, July 6, 2012
More inside knowledge from Ian Wright every week in the Sun.
Ian Wright outlines his vision for England to win the World Cup
CAN England win under Roy Hodgson? At Euro 2012, the team did as well as Sven Goran Eriksson’s sides ever did (three times in major tournaments), chucking themselves into tackles and running themselves into the ground, as is the custom. But can they improve? Ian Wright outlined his vision to Sun readers:
1. Blame the foreigners:
While no one can knock the quality of entertainment on show every week, we have to realise why that is. And, in my book, it’s because of the huge number of foreign stars lighting it up rather than our own.
2. Bring in the old losers
Read the rest of this entry »
Ian Wright On Garry Cook And ‘Shambolic’ Manchester City Is The Most Stupid Thing You Will Read This Year
IAN Wright wades into the self-awareness and guile of a Glastonbury camper with diarrhea heading to the portaloo. His article for The Sun is so appalling, so lacking in nous, insight and sensible thought you wonder for his sanity – and that of the paper than continues to employ him. He writes:
I FELT extremely disappointed when I read the story in yesterday’s Sun about the e-mail sent to Nedum Onuoha’s mum from Manchester City. How can anyone possibly think it’s acceptable to joke about someone suffering from cancer?…
Now City have to investigate this disgusting behaviour by a member of their staff and sack whoever wrote that e-mail.
Have to. Wright has spoken. They. Have. To.
They can’t sweep this one under the carpet. Nor can the FA and the Premier League.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 6th, September 2011 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comments (29)
Peter Doherty Spits Up On Live At Five
LIVE From Studio Five features Pete Doherty in the vicinity of Minnie Stephenson, one of the actual hacks who appear on the show to remind you that Ian Wright rolling his eyes and rocking back and forwards like a demented Weeble is not necessarily hard news. Anyhow, Minnie is “splashed” by Doherty’s beer as the singer promotes the Libertines reunion.
Minnie looks at the wetness and says “it’s so rock and roll”. Well, actually it might not have been splash, more spittle. If so, Minnie should count herself lucky. That spittle is worth a few quid on open market. A quick lick of her blouse and she’ll be rocking and rolling like that poor sod who sits in the doorway of your local Londis.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 2nd, April 2010 | In: Celebrities | Comments (9)
Katie Price Meets Jermaine Jackson, Peter Andre Opens Up a Virgin
SO what’s Katie Price been up since she was on I’m A Celebrity Me Out Of Here? You can find out as Katie Price speaks to Live From Studio Five, the Channel shout-a-thon presented by former footballer Ian Wright, model Melinda Messenger and Apprentice runner-up Kate Walsh.
Also on the show is Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine, who has also been notably quiet since appearing on Celebrity Big Brother and California raisins stopped using his hair in their adverts.
Jermaine says that he never saw Michael Jackson “act in any way that was out of the ordinary“.
… for Michael Jackson?
In other news Peter Andre has been in London opening a Virgin – a Virgin Media store at the sprawling Westfield mall. Tsk!
Posted: 14th, September 2009 | In: Celebrities | Comments (3)
Ian Wright MP: Indepedent Schools Offer Less Choice Than State Schools
EDUCATION Minister Ian Wright brings shocking news to independent school pupils and their parents and guardians. Put down your wargaming soldiers, your hockey stick, your rugby boots, your flute, your paint brush, your school magazine, your running spikes, your passport and hear the words of Ian Wright:
“Private schools have a much narrower range; the choice is much narrower. There is a much broader suite of subjects and qualifications available in maintained schools and colleges. In that respect, the maintained sector are doing just as well, if not better.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, August 2009 | In: Politicians | Comment
