“Even if you don’t necessarily support Man City, you watch them for the way they play”: Shaun Wright-Phillips

Shaun Wright-Phillips, former Manchester City, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers midfielder, was in Mumbai recently. (Image via Twitter.com/@swp29)

As the season’s English Premier League (PL) levels to a close finish, Shaun Wright-Phillips sidesteps a prediction. The former Manchester City, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers midfielder feels it’s too early to take that decision—even if he is leaning towards City (winning the title) more out of loyalty and hope than conviction.

“It’s too close to call,” says Wright-Phillips, who was in Mumbai—Bengaluru before that—on a promotional tour with the Premier League trophy, over a Zoom call. 

Prior to this weekend’s matches, only one point separates leader City from Liverpool with several games to go. “If you look at Liverpool’s run of (upcoming) seven games, there are some tricky ones there, especially an in-form (Tottenham) Spurs side (8 May). Man C have some tricky ones too because there are a few (opponents) that are fighting for survival. City needs to focus on winning all their games and they will be fine,” he says.

Irrespective of the current standings, admitting to having no bias on the matter, he thinks City is the most impressive of the League’s teams because he loves the way they play football. “Even if you don’t necessarily support Man City, you watch them just for the way they play. The way they interact, change positions and rotate and it’s brilliant to watch.” 

Several City players have made an impression on Wright-Phillips, who is now a Premier League television pundit, including João Cancelo for “the way they tweaked his position. He makes a statement every time. It’s almost like he plays left-back, left-wing, attacking mid-fielder, and for me, as an attacker, I appreciate everything he is doing.”

The 40-year-old English former mid-fielder, who played in the Premier League for a decade and a half starting 2000, won the title with Chelsea in 2005-06. Wright-Phillips had 316 appearances in the league, scoring 32 goals in the process, besides representing the England national team in the 2010 World Cup. He ended his playing days in England in 2015 when he left Queens Park Rangers, moving to the US to New York Red Bulls and then Phoenix Rising FC. He retired from professional football in 2019, switching seamlessly to commentary.

Having played within the City club’s academy teams, he is deeply appreciative of the talent the academy produces. Wright-Phillips points to 21-year-old midfielder Phil Foden, who was part of the England team that won the U-17 World Cup in India in 2017. Cole Palmer, 21, is another one of his favourite City players. 

“Foden is the icing on the cake. He got picked at a young age by Man City. He has worked hard and tirelessly and is one of the best young players in England with a fab career in front of him.”

“I have to say, I am fan of James McAtee,” Wright-Phillips adds of the teenager who has made only a few appearances for the City first team and plays for the junior side. “He hasn’t featured as much as Palmer but the times he has come in, he has been outstanding. He hasn’t just played but scored goals and created them. It’s a hard team to break into, a team where the players are in their prime and many are not even 25-26 yet.”

The City team today has evolved from the time Wright-Phillips was a part of it a decade ago. “The fact that they play without a specialist striker… Everyone in the front five up to (Kevin) de Bruyne and you got a front three that could be Jack (Grealish), (Raheem) Sterling, (Riyad) Mahrez. Just the way they all know to play each other’s positions—it makes so easy for them to rotate and interject into different positions where it’s hard for defenders to pick them up.”

Wright-Phillips’ love and knowledge of football comes not just from his playing career but also from strong family ties. Shaun’s father, Ian Wright, spent the majority of his career at Arsenal in the 1990s, and the striker-turned-commentator gets mad when Arsenal lose. “He won’t reply to me or answer my calls,” says Wright-Phillips, laughing. Brother Bradley spent a couple of seasons in Manchester City while Shaun’s son, D’Margio, recently signed with Stoke City after coming up from the Man City academy pool.

“Dad knows where my loyalties are,” says Shaun Wright-Phillips. “We have a good understanding and we analyse when we have done games together. I highlight things that he agrees with luckily because, obviously, he is my dad. He wants to shut me down he can. We are always laughing about stuff.”

“D’Margio plays a similar position to me but he plays different to the way I played, so we all have our own playing style. It always seemed to fit the time we are playing professional football.”

It makes him feel “very, very old” seeing his son playing professionally, says Wright-Phillips who looks much younger than his 40 years—at least on a Zoom screen. “I am so chilled and happy for him, honestly. I am proud of how he is handling the many challenges right now because he got put into the team quickly and did well.”

For a household full of footballers, extended family lunches are interesting because some of his uncles support Liverpool. “We don’t argue but there’s lots of fun and banter.” 

He says he never felt any pressure being Ian Wright’s son, explaining also why his son should remain unburdened by legacy. “I am a great believer that if people want to talk, they can talk. That’s not my problem. I just know how to block stuff out and I knew I was creating my own paths within the game. It’s the same thing my brother did and same thing I teach my son.”

“If he is playing terribly,” he says about D’Margio, “I will gladly point it out and let him know I have done it. He needs to know the truth.”

Wright-Phillips does have some lessons he learnt from his father, who turned his life experiences of adversity to triumph into a novel for older children, Striking Out.

“Never give up,” says Wright-Phillips of what he learnt from his father. “That’s the basis of it. He was turned down by a number of clubs before he became the man he became. It’s a matter of opinions—you just need that one person to like you, believe in you and your life in football can change in general.”