Ian Wright fights back tears as he signs off on final Match of the Day appearance

Ian Wright shed tears as he signed off from Match of the Day on his closing look on the enduring BBC soccer highlights present.

Wright, who first appeared on the present 27 years in the past, introduced in December that this might be his final season on Match of the Day, saying: “Finally, it’s time to do a couple of extra various things with my Saturdays.”

The previous Crystal Palace, Arsenal and England striker has change into one of the crucial common pundits on tv for his uncooked emotion and good humour, mixed with a deep data of the sport and of goalscoring.

“I’m going to overlook you guys, I actually am,” he informed host Gary Lineker and lead pundit Alan Shearer, following the ultimate day of the season on Sunday. “Match of the Day means the entire world to me.”

Shearer held Wright’s hand and Lineker added: “It’s been an absolute delight and a pleasure to work with you for therefore lengthy and you’re a breath of contemporary air. You all the time have been.”

Wright stated earlier this season: “After my debut present while nonetheless a participant in 1997 and plenty of extra memorable years, I’ll be stepping again from BBC MOTD on the finish of this season. I really feel very privileged to have had such an unimaginable run on essentially the most iconic soccer present on the earth.

“Anybody that is aware of my story is aware of how a lot the present has meant to me since I used to be a younger boy. MOTD is my Holy Grail. On my first ever present, I informed [presenter] Des Lynam, ‘That is my Graceland’. It’s going to all the time be my Graceland and I’ll all the time be watching.”