Despite having had trials at Southend United and Brighton & Hove Albion during his teens,[4] he was unable to attract sufficient interest to win a professional contract offer.

[4] After a spell of poverty during which his wife was expecting their first child, Wright spent 32 days in Chelmsford Prison for failing to pay fines for driving without tax or insurance.

[12] Having believed for years that Pigden had died, Wright was reunited with his former mentor in a 2005 episode of the BBC programme With a Little Help From My Friends.

[17] After six or seven matches at Greenwich, Wright was spotted by a Crystal Palace scout after a tip-off from Dulwich Hamlet manager Billy Smith and was invited for a trial at Selhurst Park.

[18] Having impressed then-manager Steve Coppell,[4] he signed a professional contract with Palace in August 1985, just three months short of his 22nd birthday, the agreed fee being a set of weightlifting equipment.

When Mark Bright arrived on the Palace scene the following year the duo soon established a successful striking partnership and it was largely their goals which took the club back to the top flight via the playoffs in 1989.

[22] The next season, he gained full international honours,[4] and reached a hundred goals for Crystal Palace,[20] as the club finished in their highest ever league position of third place in the top flight.

[4] Wright became renowned for his deadly striking ability, as shown when he scored a hat-trick in just eighteen minutes in Palace's penultimate game of the 1990–91 season away to Wimbledon.

[20] Wright scored 117 goals in 253 starts and 24 substitute appearances over six seasons for The Eagles in all competitions,[4] making him the club's record post-war goalscorer[20] and third on the all-time list.

Wright scored in every round but the final of Arsenal's 1995 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up campaign,[4] and scored freely in the Premier League,[27] but it was a difficult time for Arsenal following the dismissal of manager George Graham over illegal payments, and under caretaker Stewart Houston they could only manage a 12th-place finish in the league.

[4] The arrival of Dennis Bergkamp brought a brief but fruitful striking partnership: in their first season together, they helped Arsenal finish fifth in the league and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

[34] On 13 September 1997, he broke Cliff Bastin's club record to become Arsenal's then-all-time top scorer with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers, and his memorable goal celebration saw him reveal a shirt with "Just Done It" written on it.

[36] He scored his final goal for the club on 6 January 1998 in a League Cup quarter-final victory against West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground.

[4] He spent fifteen months as a West Ham player, scoring the winner on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday,[40] without reaching the same form he had at Arsenal.

Celtic's performances had been poor and Wright, Barnes and Regi Blinker were considered by some to be not sufficiently talented to improve the club.

Wright said of the incidents, "I felt I was caught up in a war crisis in Kosovo not involved in a football result that wrecked John Barnes' career as Celtic manager.

[47] Taylor, who became England manager after the 1990 World Cup in Italy[49] and remained in charge for 38 matches,[49] only handed Wright nine starts and seven substitute appearances.

[53] Terry Venables replaced Taylor as manager after the unsuccessful 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign[49] but Wright's appearances in the side became even more limited.

[49] After being absent from international football for 21 consecutive matches, Wright was recalled to the England team by Hoddle in November 1996 when he came off the bench in a 2–0 1998 World Cup qualifying victory in Georgia.

Four of Wright's nine international goals were scored under Hoddle's management, including the winner in a 2–1 friendly win against South Africa at Old Trafford in May 1997,[56] and the opener a month later in a 2–0 victory over Italy in the Tournoi de France.

England went on to qualify for Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands,[63] by which time, Wright was approaching his 37th birthday and retired from club football shortly after the tournament.

[69] He was later signed up by ITV to present his own chat show, Friday Night's All Wright,[69] on which he interviewed celebrities such as Elton John,[70] Mariah Carey and Will Smith;[71] it ran for two series.

[82] Wright makes a number of appearances in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.

[83] On 10 March 2023, Wright announced he would boycott the next broadcast of Match of the Day in solidarity with presenter Gary Lineker, who stepped back from his duties amid a row over comment criticising the government's immigration policies.

[87] In 2010 Wright joined Absolute Radio, hosting Rock 'N' Roll Football, post match analysis and chat on Saturdays from 5 till 7.

[89] Wright appears in the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, alongside Seema Jaswal as the co-host of the fictional sports show, Forza Love of the Game.

[92][93][94] On 17 April 2008, Wright quit his job on Match of the Day and criticised the programme for using him as a "comedy jester", saying "Fans want people who are dressed like them.

Since October 2020, Wright has co-hosted his own podcast, Wrighty's House, on The Ringer FC, with a rotating panel of guests including Musa Okwonga, Ryan Hunn, Jeanette Kwakye, Flo Lloyd-Hughes, Carl Anka and Mayowa Quadri.

[105] In 1997 he starred in Nike's "Park Life" commercial (set to the tune "Parklife" by Blur) where a group of pub league players playing amateur football at Hackney Marshes in east London are suddenly joined by top Premier League footballers, including Wright, Cantona, David Seaman and Robbie Fowler.

Shortly after his retirement from playing, Wright was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to football.