Ian Wright was forced to confront Manchester City’s title win head on on Saturday after his son Shaun Wright-Phillips placed the Premier League trophy next to him.
City secured their fifth title in the past six seasons when Arsenal were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening. The defeat left a four-point gap between the Gunners in second and City at the top ahead of their match against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola’s side will lift the trophy at the Etihad Stadium following the Chelsea game, regardless of the result. But the trophy was in the Optus Sport studio on Saturday and it was carried in by former City winger Wright-Phillips, who was keen to rub it in the face of his Arsenal-supporting dad.
Wright didn’t know his son was even there and, as the programme was winding down, he suddenly appeared carrying the trophy with sky blue ribbons on. Bursting into laughter, he placed it down next to his dad, who struggled to see the funny side.
“It’s not funny. It’s not funny,” Wright said while shaking his head. “Are you sure?” asked Wright-Phillips, to which he replied, “Yeah”.
Wright-Phillips was then reminded of the fact he had promised not to rub a City win in his dad’s face. “I did say it at the start of the season,” he said. “But, like dad said, sometimes when you get it, you have to keep it going. You have to be involved in it.”
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Fellow pundits Michael Owen and Stuart Peace enjoyed the joke immensely, but Wright did not, making it clear that everyone in the production staff being in on the joke had been below the belt.
“You know, it’s such a shame,” he said. “It’s too close. I’m going to have a word with Dolly and all of them lot about this because I don’t like the way this has worked out.
“My club has given me so much love and fun this season trying to go for it. But, again, we’re coming up against a monster in City and they deserve it for the way they’ve finished the season.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was disappointed after Arsenal slumped to defeat at Forest, but still summoned some words for City. He said: “Congratulations to Manchester City, they are the champions and they deserve to be champions for what they have done over 38 games. But this is a very sad day for us because we thought we could go all the way and fell short.
“I apologise. We believed we could do it but we haven’t and that is my responsibility. I am so sad because we wanted to find a way to do it. We fell short and I apologise because it’s my job and it’s my responsibility and I have to analyse this.”
