How a flower seller helped Ian Wright turn pro

Ian Wright celebrates a goal in 1992It’s incredible to think that Ian Wright, a striker blessed with razor-sharp finishing ability, explosive pace and a natural instinct for finding the net with both feet, didn’t sign a professional contract until the comparatively late age of 22, when he put pen to paper for Crystal Palace.

Wright’s eventual elevation to superstardom at Arsenal, where he remains our second-highest goalscorer of all time, was shaped by a unique set of circumstances and professional relationships both before and during a six-year spell at Selhurst Park.

As Wrighty attempted to make it as a professional, Arsenal midfielder David Rocastle, though four years younger, was always…