Bradley Wright-Phillips transfer to Saints was unique. Manchester City wanted three quarters of a million for their 21-year-old forward and a third of that was met by Coca Cola who had pledged that amount in a competition open to football fans. A Saints supporter, Chantelle Legg, won which paved the way for Bradley to venture south. He was the son of Ian Wright (of Arsenal and England fame) and the younger half-brother of Shaun, also an England International and Ian’s adopted son. The boys were raised in London but joined Nottingham Forest as youngsters before moving on to Manchester City. Bradley top-scored for City’s U-19’s and Reserves and netted with almost his first touch on his senior debut.

After that he struggled to break into the first team and scored only once more in 32 Premier League appearances, before George Burley signed him for Southampton. He scored what the programme described as a “cracker” on his Saints debut, coming on as a substitute for Ricardo Fuller at Derby County. There were highlights thereafter, notably the stunning brace in a 2-1 win at Reading in the last of his three seasons with the club. But he would be subbed in more than half the games he started and the suspicion remains that he was more effective as an impact player coming off the bench.

In fact only Matt Le Tissier made more substitute appearances for the club. He sometimes played out wide but was happiest using his pace and feeding on the scraps in and around the penalty box. Off the field there were problems as he and Nathan Dyer were charged following a well-publicised burglary incident at a Southsea nightclub. The case against him was later dropped. On another occasion he and David McGoldrick were arrested on suspicion of assault on a Saints fan but no charges were preferred. Out of contract at the end of season 2008-09 Bradley moved on a ‘free’ to Paul Sturrock’s Plymouth Argyle.

Sidelined for lengthy spells by knee injuries, he nevertheless scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Exeter City in the ‘Devon Derby’ during his second season with the Pilgrims. Shortly afterwards he signed for Charlton Athletic and chipped in with 22 goals as the Addicts stormed to the League One title.

He struggled for goals back in the Championship and went on loan to Uwe Rösler’s Brentford in February 2013. Voted “Man of the Match” after scoring twice and providing the winning ‘assist’ in a victory over Portsmouth, he endured fearful abuse from the away fans. Brentford came within a missed penalty of automatic promotion, then lost to Yeovil Town in the League One play-off final. Bradley came on as a second-half sub but couldn’t prevent the Bees’ eighth failure in eight attempts to win a play-off final. With the expiry of his Charlton contract at the end of the season he joined Major League Soccer franchise New York Red Bulls and within a year had become the first Englishman to win the MLS Golden Boot. By the time he departed New York in November 2019 he had scored over 100 goals for them, won another Golden Boot in October 2016 and been described by Red Bull’s sporting director, Denis Hamlett, as

“one of the best forwards in MLS history”.

He finally retired, aged 36 after a final season with Columbus Crew, in March 2022.