2023-11-11 09:45:52
Second all-time goalscorer Arsenal FC and legend of Premier League. Ian Wright He made a name for himself in English football books by breaking nets, an achievement that no one thought he would achieve, except for one person: Sidney Pigden.
Ian Wright’s childhood was marked by a series of hard experiences. Between his mother immersed in him alcoholisman absent father and a stepfather who abused himthe then student found in his teacher a role model, the one who It marked him as a person and forged his path as a footballer..
A connection that started at school
Meanwhile, the story of Sidney Pigden is not without its own lights. At the age of 18, he joined the British Air Force (Royal Air Force) and became an airplane pilot – one of the youngest of his generation – to the point of flying over the Buckingham Palace in full celebration of the allies in the Second World War.
After his time in the RAF, Pigden’s life took a turn when he became a professor at the Turham Academy -south of London-, where he met a little Ian Wright, who one day met him following being taken from his classroom.
Sydney Pigden nota Ian Wright Arsenal contexto – nota FDS
There, the mentor-to-student advice began and clearly, it gave results.
“What he did was put me back in the classroom and then my writing improved.. He wouldn’t let me play football If I had heard that I had misbehaved in class. “It just gave me the feeling that he had something useful,” the former footballer confessed in dialogue with the BBC.
Of course, the passion for football moved them both. “He He was the first person who taught me that when you get close to the goal, you don’t have to shoot into the back of the net.(…) it was thanks to him that I first learned regarding Jimmy Greaves,” Wright recalled in an interview with The42.
And that defined the lethality of the Englishman in his years as a forward in the Crystal Palace and in the Arsenal. Fast, agile and with a remarkable scoring instinct, Ian Wright scored 287 goals in 581 games in his professional career, in addition to playing 33 duels with the England team.
Arsenal, Highbury and an emotional reunion
In his time as a ‘Gunner’ footballer, the current member of the English Football Hall of Fame lived his peak, winning two FA Cupsa Premier League, League Cup and the extinct UEFA Cup Champions Cup.
Of course, there was no shortage of goals: in his eight years in London, Ian Wright He played 288 games and scored 185 goals, what it has earned him to be -to date. he second historic goalscorer for Arsenalbeing only surpassed by a certain Thierry Henry… Nothing bad.
In the middle of an interview regarding his glorious time in the Highbury Stadiuman iconic moment occurred that transformed the crack, once more, into a child.
It was 2005, when following almost twenty-five years, Ian Wright received a surprise visit from Sidney Pigden, in a video that clearly does not know the passage of time. And his face says it all.
“Hello Ian, long time no see,” Pigden smiled at the stunned look of the former attacker, stunned to see his mentor once more. “I can’t believe it, he’s alive… Someone he told me he had died”.
In an unconscious and immediate sign of respect, Wright took off his hat and began to cry..
“As you can see I am very alive and I am very glad that it went so well for you.”said the professor, while the crack sobbed uncontrollably and hugged him.
More than a teacher, He was his father figuresomething that the player -even with all the fame he achieved- never forgot.
“He said how proud he was of me. Then I hugged him and as he was three or four steps up, I felt like I was seven years old once more.“, commented the former athlete regarding his viralized video, whose original version in English has more than six million views.
Ian-Wright-and-Pigden-at-Arsenal-Stadium—on loan
The posthumous tribute of the Arsenal goalscorer to his teacher: “The best thing I have done in my life”
“It was devastating news, simply devastating.”Ian Wright commented to the NewsShopper newspaper following learning of the death of Sydney Pigden on December 27, 2017.
Two years later, already retired and became an English football legendalso a former player of the Nottingham Forest, West Ham United y Celticamong others, returned to his childhood school, Turnham Academy, for a special reason.
Ian Wright was the guest of honor to unveil a plaque in memory of Sydney Charles Pigden“for his dedicated service to the Lewisham community: WWII Spitfire pilot, teacher at Turnham Schoolsecretary of Lewisham Primary Schools Football Association and sports coach and mentor.”
That occasion, defined by Wright himself to the BBC as “the best thing he has ever done”.
“He was prouder that I played for England. what of him flying over Buckingham Palace in World War II,” Wright confessed in 2021.
“He was a light that guided me throughout my career, as people saw in the video when I met him. I dedicated my book (autobiography) to him and I think it was the least I might do for someone who, literally changed my life“concluded the excited former goalscorer.
Ian Wright unveiling plaque in recognition of Pigden in Turnham
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