Shaun Wright-Phillips

Football player infobox
playername = Shaun Lombe Wright-Phillips


fullname = Shaun Lombe Cameron Wright-Phillips
height = height|m=1.66
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|10|25|df=y
cityofbirth = Greenwich, London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Manchester City
clubnumber = 8
position = Right winger
youthyears = 1993–1996
1996–1999
youthclubs = Nottingham Forest
Manchester City
years = 1999–2005
2005–2008
2008–
clubs = Manchester City
Chelsea
Manchester City
caps(goals) = 153 (26)
082 0(4)
005 0(3)
nationalyears = 2001–2002
2004–
nationalteam = England U21
England
nationalcaps(goals) = 006 0(1)
020 0(4)
pcupdate = 11:21, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 11:21, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Shaun Lombe Cameron Wright-Phillips (born 25 October 1981 in Greenwich, London) is an English football player and is currently playing in his second spell at Premier League side Manchester City.

He is the adopted son of the famous player Ian Wright and the half-brother of fellow player Bradley Wright-Phillips. He grew up in Brockley, South London, and attended the state school Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in New Cross Gate.

Club career

Manchester City

Wright-Phillips was released by Nottingham Forest at the age of 15 and Manchester City took him to Maine Road. He made his debut as a substitute in the second leg of a League Cup against Burnley, replacing Terry Cooke. [cite book |last=Buckley |first=Andy |coauthors=Burgess, Richard |title=Blue Moon Rising: The Fall and Rise of Manchester City |publisher=Milo |location=Bury |date=2000 |id=ISBN 0-9530847-4-4|pages=194] His League debut came two months later at Port Vale. Playing a striker, his substitute appearance helped his team turn a 1–0 deficit into a 2–1 win. His shot resulted in the first Manchester City goal, which Wright-Phillips attempted to claim, though the strike was later credited as a own goal instead. ["Blue Moon Rising", p201] He then started the next two matches, in place of Paul Dickov, who was absent through injury. Once Dickov recovered, Wright-Phillips returned to the reserves, making only one further first team appearance that season. City finished second in the First Division, resulting in promotion to the Premier League for 2000–01. Wright-Phillips featured more regularly than the previous season but was still not fully established in the first team, making 12 starts and seven substitute appearances playing in a variety of attacking positions. Manchester City's stay in the Premier League was brief; at the end of the season they were relegated. The demotion brought about a change of manager, Kevin Keegan replacing Joe Royle.

Under Keegan Wright-Phillips firmly established himself in the first team, not as a forward, but as a wing-back.cite web
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2430344/Wright-Phillips-finds-niche-to-prosper-at-City.html
title=Wright-Phillips finds niche to prosper at City
accessdate=2008-08-31
publisher=Daily Telegraph] Keegan was known for playing attacking football, and decided to use the attacking Wright-Phillips in a traditionally defensive position due to his mobility and dribbling ability.

From 2000–2003 he won Manchester City's "Young Player of the Year" award four times in succession, [cite book |last=James |first=Gary |title=Manchester City - The Complete Record |publisher=Breedon |location=Derby |date=2006 |id=ISBN 1-85983-512-0|pages=232] surpassing Steve Kinsey's record of three times. [cite book |last=Clayton |first=David |title=Everything under the blue moon: the complete book of Manchester City FC - and more! |publisher=Mainstream publishing |location=Edinburgh |date=2002 |id=ISBN 1-84018-687-9|pages=216]

On 17 November 2004, he became one of the main targets of racist chants from the crowd at an international friendly between England and Spain in Madrid. However, he brushed that aside with an incredible match-winning performance in his next Manchester City game at Portsmouth, saying to reporters after the game, "I just let the football do the talking." Fact|date=September 2007

He also has a similar response regarding his father, saying in an interview with manchesteronline.co.uk: "The press brought up my adopted father's name. They relate to his name and that is fine by me -- it comes with the name, but I will be my own man. I have made my own path and started to take my own steps." [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_city/s/86/86286_shauns_england_dream.html Manchester Evening News] ]

The young winger completed his £21 million move to Stamford Bridge on 17 July 2005 to join the Premiership champions and return to his native London.

Chelsea

Wright-Phillips joined Chelsea on a five-year contract after agreeing to personal terms and passing a medical. He had previously said he would not leave Manchester City. His appearances were initially limited, starting only fifteen times for Chelsea in the 2005–06 season and struggling to find scoring form.

His first goal for the club came in a 2–0 Champions League win over Levski Sofia on 5 December 2006, almost 17 months after his transfer. An unhappy first season with Chelsea culminated in him missing out on the opportunity to travel to Germany with the England squad for the 2006 World Cup.

Despite making few first-team appearances, Wright-Philips maintained that he was happy at Chelsea and wanted to stay and fight for a first team place. He received a boost from his then manager José Mourinho, when the latter declined to make an approach for Spain and Real Betis (as of the 2006-07 season with Valencia CF) winger Joaquín, stating that he had enough options in terms of wingers.

As the 2006–07 season progressed, Wright-Phillips picked up form and scored his first league goal against West Ham, he followed up with his second in the same match. Subsequently, he started in several games towards the end of the season including the FA cup final which Chelsea won however Wright-Phillips was substituted during the second half.

In the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Wright-Phillips maintained his starting place on the right wing.He also maintained his place after Jose Mourinho left Chelsea and under new coach Avram Grant. Wright Philips was selected to play in the League Cup final, which Chelsea lost to Tottenham. Avram Grant didnt use Wright Phillips after the League Cup final. He only made several appearances from the bench and not used in important games. Wright-Phillips lost his place in the starting XI and ended up not even making the bench for the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final.

Return to Manchester City

Having made just 43 starting appearances, Wright-Phillips struggled to break into the Chelsea team under both Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant and subsequently also fell out of favour with the new Chelsea boss, Luiz Felipe Scolari. On 28 August 2008, he re-joined his former club Manchester City on a four year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £8.5million.cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article4626665.ece |title=Shaun Wright-Phillips re-signs for Manchester City |accessdate=2008-08-28 |publisher=The Times |date=2008-08-28 ] cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7584964.stm|title=Man City re-sign Wright-Phillips |accessdate=2008-08-28|publisher=BBC Sport |date=2008-08-28 ] He was allocated the number 8 shirt for the 2008–09 season. On his second debut, Wright-Phillips scored two goals against Sunderland in the 3–0 away win in the Premier League.cite web |url=http://www.setantasports.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/08/31/Prem-Sunderland-v-Man-City-report/?facets/sport-space/football/great-britain-locale/|title=Wright-Phillips the hero for victorious City |accessdate=2008-08-31|publisher=Setanta Sports |date=2008-08-31|first=Robin|last=Hackett ] Wright-Phillips' third goal for Manchester City came in a 6–0 victory over Portsmouth on 21 September. After his dismal spell at Stamford Bridge, Shaun equalled his entire record goalscoring record at Chelsea just over a month after returning home. His right footed drive in the second half against Omonia Nicosia on 2nd October 2008, helped steer City through to the group stages of the UEFA cup for the first time.

International career

Wright-Phillips made his England debut as a substitute against Ukraine on 18 August 2004 and scored an impressive goal late in the second half. A real bundle of energy, he was frequently called upon throughout England's World Cup qualifying campaign. However, after a decline in form, especially a poor performance away to Northern Ireland, and a lack of games following his move to Chelsea he missed out on a place in the 2006 World Cup squad.

Wright-Phillips played on the right wing during England's two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Macedonia and Croatia. After a good start to the 2007–08 campaign, Wright-Phillips received an England recall to play against Germany in a friendly match at the new Wembley Stadium. Wright-Phillips was brought on as a substitute in the second half during the match in which England lost 1–2 to Germany and he was named the England sponsor's Man of the Match after an impressive performance.

Selected to start against Israel on 8 September, he scored the first goal in the 3–0 victory and won the England sponsor's Man of the Match award with his performance.

He was once again selected to start for England against Estonia and scored his third goal for England and the opener in a third consecutive 3–0 win at Wembley.

He was controversially selected in England's critical Euro 2008 qualifying game against Croatia ahead of David Beckham. He was substituted at half time in favour of Beckham with England trailing 2-0. It turned out to be a good substitution as Beckham set up England's 2nd goal and leveled the scores; however, England lost the game 3-2 and therefore missed out on Euro 2008.

International goals

:"Scores and results list England's goal tally first."

Honours

Chelsea

Winner
*Premier League: 2005-06
*FA Cup: 2007
*League Cup: 2007
*Community Shield: 2005

Runner-up
*UEFA Champions League: 2007-08
*League Cup: 2008
*Community Shield: 2006, 2007

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=14892|name=Shaun Wright-Phillips
* [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Players/Postings/2004/03/PlayerProfile_ShaunWrightPhillips.htm TheFA.com profile]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/bsp/hi/football/statistics/players/w/wright-phillips_154949.stm BBC profile]
* [http://www.clubswp.com/home.html Official Shaun Wright-Phillips Website]

Persondata
NAME= Wright-Phillips, Shaun Cameron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Wright-Phillips, Shaun
SHORT DESCRIPTION= footballer
DATE OF BIRTH= 1981-10-25
PLACE OF BIRTH= Greenwich, London, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=