When I pitched this idea to Ian Wright I had a coronation in mind — and now it feels more like a wake. Arsenal have been chased down by Manchester City at the top of the Premier League and, as I wait for my old mate on a chilly lunchtime in north London, I wonder about my timing and his mood. I needn't have worried. Wrighty is a force of nature; irrepressible and optimistic, a one-man antidote to dejection.
I love him, both as a colleague on Match of the Day and a friend. I didn't always. When we embrace in front of the old facade of Highbury, Arsenal's former stadium, on Avenell Road, a cold tingle brushes my spine. This place, man. Classy, with its fabled marble halls, but forever hostile; a narrow pitch with their fans on top of you and Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown, their warrior centre-halves, unleashing hell.
I poke my head into the lobby and nod at Herbert Chapman's bust and have a flashback to those times when I hobbled through the door after matches, whether for Newcastle United or Blackburn Rovers. There was a broken nose, four stitches in my lip, six in my eye, the savoury tang of blood on my tongue. Cheers Tony and thanks for the memories. I swear I can still feel an echo of that pain.
Wrighty was their goalscorer: instinctive, athletic, prolific, gifted, brilliant. We got on well when we were away with England, but less so here. He was an irritant and a wind-up merchant, a pinch on the neck, a sly slap. At least I'm not being serenaded with an off-key soundtrack, sung by thousands of Gooners, “Shearer is a wanker!” I tell him. He tilts his head back and roars and I chuckle back at him — Wrighty's laugh is a raging, contagious virus.
I only scored once at Highbury — a penalty — and, truth be told, that's why I hated it. Some grounds made the goals and juices flow — for no obvious reason, it was always Elland Road for me, but here it was the opposite: a gory, barren battle.
It was horrible and it was Arsenal and there was a terrible beauty to it — mean and physical under George Graham and expansive and physical under Arsene Wenger — and then they left Highbury for the Emirates Stadium in 2006 and something shifted. Still expansive, still beautiful and still capable of winning trophies, but also locked in a gilded cage of Champions League football, with less hunger, less hostility and no league title since 2004.
This season… Well, it's been different, right up until recently. There has been a savagery to Mikel Arteta's team and the Emirates has stirred; a library no longer. This is why I originally wanted to meet Wrighty and to meet him here, because it felt like Arsenal had finally come home. And now, with Manchester City on the march, I want to understand how robust his former club's rejuvenation is —whether this change of identity and attitude is permanent. After all, nobody knows them better.
We are speaking in the aftermath of Arsenal's 4-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium but before City's victory over Fulham, when Wrighty's old side were still clinging to first place. Halfway through the season, they were eight points clear, but Pep Guardiola manages a team of laser-focused winners and now, chasing a treble, City are top by a point with a game in hand. I ask Wrighty how he's feeling about it all. His words sprint away.
“We needed a lot more of a cushion going into that City game, especially with the way they've kicked into form,” he says. “I'm a bit disappointed but, at the same time, you can't be disappointed with what we've done up to this point. People are saying we flew too close to the sun, but I don't think that's fair. We were playing well enough to be up there, but City are an immovable force when they get to this stage of the season.
“I don't think anything's gone wrong particularly — we just needed to have no injuries, we needed to have beaten Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton. City always knew they were going to get here. Look at what they've done to Liverpool… they've broken them. They knew they had to keep doing what they do and stay with us and replicate what we were doing because we're the ones who are going to feel the pressure, whose squad isn't so deep.
“They know how to navigate this stage of the season. They're in a place where they know what's at stake, the urgency of what they need to do. They want to get things done: to win all their remaining games, win the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League. They are a monster, bro. They're like that bloody big battle cruiser you see on Star Wars, coming in ominously and it's just there, ready to cause problems.
“For us to be where we are… Look back to last season when we lost at Newcastle (on May 16). If we'd beaten them we would have gone above Tottenham to get into the Champions League. For that team to grow into this team, challenging for the Premier League, it's huge strides. It's only disappointing because we were so close.
“We can't let it fizzle out now because that would be a waste of a season. They've worked too hard. It's a massive ask because City are in exactly the position they want to be in, but it's not over. We've got to keep going, hang on to any little bit of hope and make sure heads don't drop.”
Talking as we walk, we turn right into Highbury's shell. There are gardens where the pitch was and apartments rising above it, maintaining the stadium's footprint and shape. It is silent today, although news of Wrighty's presence soon spreads and he is posing for selfies. When one fan says she is reeling from Arsenal's result at City, he offers reassurance. “Don't reel,” he says. “It only feels like a disappointment because they're flying high.”
Wrighty signed for George Graham's Arsenal in 1991 for a club-record fee of £2.5million ($3.1m at today's rates) and went on to score 185 goals in 288 appearances. “It's so creepy when I come here,” he says. I ask him what he means. “It's just strange; really weird. You can still see the top of the stands in here and outside it looks exactly the same. It's eerie because you know the amount of unbelievable things that happened here.
“I remember the marble halls and looking up at them for the first time and it was really nerve-wracking. I was coming to play in front of a set of fans already used to their team being champions — twice in the previous three years. I felt so much pressure. George had a newspaper column and he was saying things like, 'He could be the most expensive substitute in the history of the game. He's going to have to fight his way in'.”
His relationship with the club was formed when David Rocastle joined them as a kid. “From our estate, this was something that just didn't happen,” Wrighty says. “We're south Londoners, this is north London and you don't get people from our side of town getting to play for Arsenal. When he made his debut and started doing great stuff, that's when I started to support them. Once I got here myself, my love for the club grew very, very quickly.”
We gaze around. I tell him I hated it, mainly because they were so good and so hard, a cramped pitch patrolled by giants.
He laughs again.
“We wanted to make sure people knew we were there,” Wrighty says. “Before a match, Tony would talk about 'our patch'. Players in the dressing room would be really pumped, veins popping on their necks. That's what Tony was like. And you don't need to say too much to someone like Martin. Just something like, 'Yeah, last time we were with England, Shearer was saying he'd have you in his pocket', and Martin would just explode. Same with Tony. 'NOT ON OUR PATCH!'.”
F****** hell, Wrighty. So those bruises and stitches and fractures were all your fault.
“Know what I didn't like about you, Al?” he says. “I admired you so much and was so jealous of you because you scored so many goals and we would be with England together and then a league game would come around and I'd be thinking, 'Ah, Al's there, I'll go and say hello' and you'd just walk past me. I'd think 'Jesus…'. When you were in game mode, you were a different guy. You'd have the eyes, those ninja eyes. That's the levels, though. That's what you need to do.”
Now it's my turn to laugh. Ninja eyes!
Arsenal were bloody dogged back then. “I had to train with those guys every day and it was the same,” he says. “When you went away with England the intensity was unbelievable, but every single training session with Arsenal was like that. I look back and it was stupid. We'd be leaving to go up north on a Friday and people would be flying into tackles in five-a-sides beforehand, there would be skirmishes and everything. The dressing room was really tough.
“And this place — you've got to love it! It was so tight, so small. I loved the night times in here, the European games, because it was so tight, so intense and you could really put teams under pressure. Especially that season when we were flying, 1997-98, when we won the league. When people came here it was a real noise and a real problem for them.”
It is the very reason we have come here, I say, because hasn't that ferocious version of Arsenal finally returned? Not just in the way Arteta's team have performed, but in the way their supporters have responded? I'm thinking about Bournemouth at home in early March: that extraordinary match where Arsenal went 2-0 down and won 3-2, with Reiss Nelson scoring in the 97th minute. The volume was so loud that the Emirates shook. Wasn't it Highbury reborn?
Arsenal celebrate their memorable victory over Bournemouth (Photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
“It's getting back to that now,” Wrighty says. “It's a work in progress, but the way the fans are involved now — the way the whole club is involved, from the youth team to the women's team to the men's team — that's what we've changed. What Mikel needed to do was get the fans onside and he's done it. Right from the off, he's talked about the fans and what they need and deserve, and they've slowly got on board with it.
“We saw it with Bournemouth. It's here. That was an unbelievable moment — every hair was standing up. And it's now up to the team to create those moments. You don't want to be having to score last-minute winners, but what you do want is being in the Champions League, playing top teams and winning big games. That's when you'll see it really catch fire.”
Arsenal have kindly given us permission to continue our conversation pitch-side at the Emirates, although when I say 'us' I naturally mean 'Wrighty'. He is a bona fide Arsenal legend and they adore him here, just as he loves them. You can't help but be swept away by his personality; he was a fantastic footballer and he's a seriously good pundit, but he's also a bundle of energy, engaging and bubbly (and occasionally exhausting).
We are less than half a mile from Highbury, but it sounds and feels very different. Construction work is being done, there are sirens blaring outside. When staff open the gates to let us in they tell us they keep them locked to keep foxes out. It is urban and noisy, far removed from the genteel, residential backdrop of Avenell Road.
Why has it taken this magnificent ground so long to feel like home, I ask? “In the end, this stadium was like a noose for Arsene Wenger,” Wrighty says. “Arsenal wouldn't sanction the stadium unless he signed a new contract, so he was here almost under duress with the mantra of having to qualify for the Champions League to help pay for it. And as much as he did it well, players started to realise it had become more about finishing fourth rather than trying to win leagues.
“Players left, the quality began to fall off, the levels started to fall off. It felt like Arsene was a lot less strict with his players than in the time we were here and it changed completely to the point where the fans, the players, everybody was… It felt like there was no accountability for the fact we weren't Arsenal. It was starting to get really low in confidence and, in terms of morale, people were just coming here. It felt mundane and same-ish.”
Arteta, of course, had played for Arsenal, winning two FA Cups under Wenger. “When he came back as manager, one of the major things he wanted to get back at the club was the fans and the players, the fans and the manager, the owners, everybody, to be together. When we were at Highbury, we were. We were very successful there. Then the Wenger years petered out and he's had to find it again because it became lost.
“People talked about us having no leaders, no backbone, no accountability for poor performances. When you look at what Mikel and Edu (the sporting director and another Arsenal old boy), have done, they've cleared all that out. They've brought in great players and leaders with winning attitudes. It's happened very quickly, from last season to this, where we've jumped to the level of eating at the top table.
“Last season was the start, simply because we got so close (to finishing in the top four), and that stood us in good stead to do what we've done this time. The goal was to get into the Champions League and we've already done it, so the main thing now is not to rest on our laurels. This season deserves a great finish, with the guys really going for it. But Mikel will make sure of it. He won't let them sleep, because he's a winner. The whole club is a winning club. That's the mentality now.”
Supporters have bought into it, backing their young, vibrant team. “You've got the Ashburton Army, they've got themselves going, young Arsenal fans, all dressed in black, building the atmosphere and everybody is feeding off that,” Wrighty says. “It's been a concerted effort by the whole club; more noise, more singing, more vociferous support. Then there's the North London Forever song, which is played before kick-off. It's better than You'll Never Walk Alone!”
Wrighty smiles at his own audacity. I point out that, post-takeover, there's been a similar process of reconnection at Newcastle.
“Yeah, because Newcastle are trying to copy us,” he says. “Have you even got a song, Al?! 'Geordie Boys, we are here?'.”
Has he never heard of The Blaydon Races, one of the most iconic anthems in football?
“Rubbish. It's not as good as North London Forever. It makes me feel like I'm going to cry every time I listen to it. It's a nice moment when everybody is connected. It's very short, it gets right to the point of exactly where we are and — bam — it's done. It's like a last gathering before the game — 'Come on, here we go' and it's brilliant. Genius.
“We're chasing Manchester City, so it's easy for everybody to get on board, but you can see with the young team that progress is being made. There are players everybody can relate to, who have come out of the academy like Bukayo Saka. It's all starting to happen. This is why I celebrate like I do because you can feel something happening. That's why I don't want people to be too disappointed now. It shouldn't take away from what we've achieved.”
He is just as enthused about Arsenal's women's team, who began this week playing Wolfsburg in a Champions League semi-final. “Listening to someone like Leah Williamson talking about being afraid to dream when she was younger because she didn't feel like it was a possibility and now look at her: England captain, European Championship winner, successful player with Arsenal,” he says. “That's what you want. I'm a massive advocate for it.”
There are no guarantees in such a competitive Premier League, but Wrighty is confident Arsenal's return to prominence will be lasting. They have been strongly linked with a summer move for West Ham's Declan Rice and they will have to go again to keep pace with City.
“I went to the training ground the other day and I was with Edu and Mikel, and what's happening now at the club is we're not having to go out and cajole other people to come and join Arsenal,” Wrighty says. “They can see what we're doing. Edu is saying his phone is ringing off the hook and they're very confident about the calibre of player they're going to sign. If you're going to challenge this City team, you're going to have to come correct.
“Ideally, we want to finish as high as we can — we want to win it — but I'm excited about the next phase. When you speak to Edu and Mikel, everything is about winning, man. They just want to win. And even with some of those games we drew it's only because we were trying to win. It's a new mentality. We're trying to win games, we're not trying to sit off and say, 'Let's hold onto this'.”
Whatever happens next, it won't be easy. Liverpool will rise again, Manchester United will potentially be boosted by new owners, Chelsea can't be this shambolic forever, Spurs will have a new manager and then there is Newcastle, my club. I look around the top tier of the Emirates where Arsenal's trophies are listed in silhouette and wonder when there will be another Premier League for the collection.
“And City won't be giving it up,” Wrighty says. “They're only going to get stronger; they're as hungry as I've ever seen them. It's going to be tough. It's about learning from this season, having that belief, going again. But yeah, 2004 is a long time…”
Hey, I interrupt. It could be worse and it could be a lot longer. I should know.
“Yeah, but your lot are on the way, Al,” he says. “Eddie Howe is doing unbelievable things. We've got to go to St James' Park this weekend and you saw what they did to Tottenham the other week. Teams are going to Newcastle now and they're afraid. Eddie has got his guy-next-door face, an altar-boy face, but underneath he's Clint Eastwood. He is so perfect for them, exactly like Mikel is for us.”
We're coming after you, I say.
“Yeah, f***'s sake,” he says. “Just when you think 'here we go' and we're starting to think it's happening — bang — Newcastle get money.”
And we're both giggling now, and in the spirit of Highbury — and in the spirit of Wrighty's old role as wind-up merchant — I tell him we have just one more stop to make and then we'll be done. We're going to head out to his statue…
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Oh, I'm sorry”, I say, all innocence. “Have you not got one? I didn't realise…”
“I'm going to put a pair of glasses on Thierry Henry's and then it'll look like me,” Wrighty says.
Statue or not, Wrighty is at home. Arsenal are home.
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