MalaProper

Ian Wright grew up in South London without his dad, who walked out when he was 18 months old. The man who replaced him was a heavy drinker and gambler who regularly mistreated Wright and his mum. “He was a nasty piece of work.” There wasn't much warmth from his mum either, and he grew up feeling unwanted under his own roof. “I was watching other people in households getting love, but I wasn’t getting anything.” He couldn't remember ever being hugged as a kid, and the anger from that stayed with him for years. What he never got his head around was how someone could walk into a family and treat another person's child like that. “And I could not understand, even with having nothing, how somebody could come in and treat a child like my stepdad treated me.” It never left him. In 1982, aged just 19, Wright got together with a young woman called Sharon, who already had a little boy, Shaun, nearly three. Wright had no professional contract and no real direction, but his mind was made up about Shaun. “I was 19, didn’t have a job, and no means, but I took him on because it was the right thing to do.” He adopted Shaun and raised him, despite barely having enough to look after himself. “I never thought twice about it.” “He was a lovely kid.” He'd spent years at trials, getting knocked back time after time, and he'd been getting into trouble off the pitch too. That same year, 1982, he was sent to Chelmsford Prison for two weeks over unpaid driving fines. “So there I am, 19 years old, with a young son at home.” He'd never been through anything like it. “My life has never gotten lower than that.” Once he was out, he decided things had to change, starting with giving up on becoming a professional footballer. He learned bricklaying, then plastering, and eventually got maintenance work at Tunnel Refineries in Greenwich. By then he and Sharon had another boy, Bradley. Weekend football carried on, but providing for Shaun and Bradley came first. “I’m going to just work hard and try and help my boys.” He wanted them to have the childhood he never had. “I didn’t want any of my kids to not be loved, like how I felt.” And for Shaun especially, having a stepdad was never going to mean living through what he had. “When I started going out with his mum, I knew I wanted to treat him like my son.” “He is my son.” Football found him again when Crystal Palace offered a trial in 1985. From there it was Arsenal, where he became the club's record goalscorer, and then England. Shaun was carving out his own path too. Released by Nottingham Forest as a youngster, he joined Manchester City and worked up through the youth sides into the first team. By November 2000 he was playing Premier League football for City, with Wright watching from the stands. “I’m very proud of him.” In March 2004, Shaun got his first senior England call-up for a friendly against Sweden. “As a dad I am so proud.” “He’s done it all of his own back.” He went on to play for Chelsea, came back to Manchester City and went to the 2010 World Cup with England, finishing on 36 caps. Years on, Wright still talks about him with the same pride. “It chokes me when I think how he’s grown up and succeeded.” He got none of the love he needed as a kid and made sure Shaun never went without it. That's what being a dad looks like.