“We all went, everybody, loads of people” Wright-Phillips says “That’s one game I will never forget. I can’t remember the build-up other than that it was at Wembley and we all went on a coach A great day out. Most of Brockley was at Wembley that day.”He was there to see his stepfather, on as a substitute, score two goals in an epic 3-3 draw and finally make his name as a striker at the highest level. Back in south-east London, Wright’s adopted son hadn’t had much luck getting a game. At his primary school in Brockley, the most promising footballer of his generation was allowed to play football only on the condition that he also played netball “My teacher said it helped with your awareness,” he recalls “I was goal attack and we played in a mixed team. Actually, we won a medal.”When he arrived at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s school in New Cross – “yeah it was posh until my riffraff got there” – he was selected to play on the right wing, although unfortunately when the ball came his way it turned out to be oval instead of spherical. “They wouldn’t let us play football until we were 14,” he says, “it came to a stage where all the lads just refused to play rugby.” But the biggest sporting injustice of his young career was still awaiting him.His performances for his Sunday league side had earned him the attention of the scout Kieron Rafferty, who introduced the young footballer to Nottingham Forest.

Wright-Phillips trained there at weekends when he was not playing Sunday league football and opinion is still divided at Forest as to why he was allowed to leave. The then-head of the academy, Paul Hart, who later became the Forest manager, said that Wright-Phillips had found the travelling up from south-east London too difficult and was released on those grounds. The player himself has a different assessment.”They basically said I was too small and wasn’t good enough – if there was a misunderstanding then they never came back,” Wright-Phillips says “It made me a better person A better person and a better player. Yeah, it was hurtful but with family and friends you just turn the next page and get on with life City gave me a trial within a week and a half. I wasn’t on academy forms with Forest so I could sign.”In those days, he was so exhausted by pre-season at City that he would come back to his digs from training and go straight back to bed. He signed his first contract in 1998 on the darkest day in the club’s modern history when they were relegated from the old First Division into the Second Division.

But his emergence was swift: he made his debut as a 17-year-old one year later and has played a part in the last six seasons. He has come to symbolise the club’s revival and at City he is regarded as the player they can bank on when someone is needed to present awards or sign autographs for fans.How much longer he will be able to watch Bradley, Ian Wright’s biological son, in the reserves will depend on how quickly this second Wright-Phillips, who has already scored his first Premiership goal, makes himself a regular in the City first team. Together they are well-schooled in the kind of fame that football has to offer. Between them they look more than capable of launching English football’s latest family dynasty.Wright angles: what the experts saidHe puts a smile on everyone’s faces.The former Manchester City manager Joe Royle. When he first came into my squad, at a time when he had just broken into the City team, he did very well But he never really forced himself beyond that.

But what has happened since then, he has continued to improve and just got better.The former England Under-21 coach David Platt.To have a debut like that must be a dream for every English schoolboy or young player. It was absolutely perfect.Sven Goran Eriksson after Wright-Phillips’ scoring debut against Ukraine.Shaun is a guy we have an eye on. He has a tremendous workrate and tremendous power.The Arsenal manager Ars? WengerShaun was a good player when I came here He’s a great player now. I would stake my reputation on him not only earning England recognition but also holding down a regular international place.The Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan.Shaun’s quicker than me and he runs at players. He’s a very talented young player, he’s proving that he can do it in the Premiership.The England captain David Beckham.